Job Title: Problem Manager – ITSM
Location: India (Pune) – Hybrid
Department: Employee Services Technology & Operations
Love solving puzzles and getting to the real root cause? Zendesk is looking for a Problem Manager who thrives on uncovering patterns, driving systemic fixes, and preventing incidents before they happen. This role is critical to building a proactive, data-driven IT operations culture—reducing recurring issues, stabilizing key platforms, and improving the employee experience.
The Problem Manager will be responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of problem management across Zendesk’s internal IT services. This includes identifying, analyzing, and eliminating root causes of recurring incidents; ensuring long-term stability of applications, infrastructure, and productivity platforms; and fostering a culture of continuous improvement in partnership with Service Desk, Business, and Platform teams.
This is a hands-on role that combines analytical rigor, process ownership, and stakeholder management. You will serve as the single point of contact for all problem records and drive accountability across teams for implementing permanent resolutions.
Own the Problem Management process — ensure consistent execution across IT, HRIS, Collaboration, Network, and Workplace platforms.
Perform root cause analysis (RCA) for major and recurring incidents; identify patterns, systemic issues, and areas for proactive remediation.
Facilitate post-incident reviews (PIRs) and lead problem review boards to drive accountability and track resolution actions.
Partner with Observability & Monitoring to detect emerging issues through trend and event analysis.
Collaborate with Change Management to validate that implemented fixes are tested, validated, and successfully deployed.
Develop KPIs and dashboards to measure problem resolution time, recurrence rate, and mean time between incidents (MTBI).
Advise service owners and engineers on preventive measures and operational improvements that enhance reliability.
Champion process maturity by aligning ITSM practices to ITIL principles and supporting automation opportunities within Zendesk’s Employee Services platform.
Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives that strengthen IT Operations performance and reduce operational risk.
Required: 5+ years of experience in ITSM, Service Operations, or IT Infrastructure roles.
Preferred: Experience in a global, high-growth tech company.
Strong working knowledge of ITIL and practical experience applying ITSM processes in an enterprise environment.
Experience leading root cause investigations using methodologies such as 5 Whys, Fishbone (Ishikawa), or Kepner-Tregoe analysis.
Familiarity with modern ITSM tools and CMDB relationships.
Exposure to Observability, Monitoring, or Incident Management practices and tools.
Excellent analytical, facilitation, and communication skills—able to synthesize complex technical details into clear business narratives.
Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration capabilities.
Experience with SaaS platforms and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP)
Understanding of APIs, integrations, and microservices architectures
Basic SQL/data analysis skills for trend analysis
ITIL 4 Practice Manager or Service Strategy certification
Experience with automation/scripting (Python, PowerShell)
Knowledge of Agile/DevOps practices and SRE principles
Previous experience at a SaaS company or in a customer support tech stack environment
Reduction in recurring incidents and mean time between incidents (MTBI).
Timely completion of RCA reports and corrective actions.
Improved service availability and stability metrics.
Adoption and compliance with problem management process KPIs.
Demonstrated integration of problem management insights into change and observability practices.
Hybrid role in Pune,India collaborating with global teams; core hours aligned to IST with occasional off-hours participation for major incidents or change windows.
Part of an on-call rotation with follow-the-sun support.
Please note that Zendesk can only hire candidates who are physically located and plan to work from Karnataka or Maharashtra. Please refer to the location posted on the requisition for where this role is based.
Hybrid: In this role, our hybrid experience is designed at the team level to give you a rich onsite experience packed with connection, collaboration, learning, and celebration - while also giving you flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. This role must attend our local office for part of the week. The specific in-office schedule is to be determined by the hiring manager.
The intelligent heart of customer experience
Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.
Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.
As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.
Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.
Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.