Desktop Support Lead

The Team

The Global Desktop Support Team at Brevan Howard is a critical component of the firm’s technology platform, ensuring uninterrupted performance for portfolio managers, executives, and global users operating within a highly distributed, latency-sensitive hedge fund environment.

This London based role sits at the intersection of portfolio manager partnership, hands-on desktop support leadership, and strategic EUC contribution. Its primary purpose is the provision of high-class technical desktop support to portfolio managers, underpinned by day-to-day leadership of the London support engineers. It requires a highly credible, technically authoritative professional with a strong technical background gained specifically within the hedge fund industry, who understands the pace, pressure, and risk sensitivity of a hedge fund. Being credible in front of the C-suite is critical to the success of the candidate, who will interact daily with the Chief of Staff for Trading in both London and New York, alongside other senior stakeholders across the global business. The individual must appreciate the direct relationship between technology performance and P&L, operate with urgency during market hours, and always maintain absolute discretion.

The role demands someone who earns trust through competence, sound judgment, and consistent delivery. They must be a dependable and trusted source of technology support for senior leadership and portfolio managers, someone whose presence inspires confidence, and who is recognised as a trusted go-to member of the global Desktop Support team.

The primary mandate is to safeguard trading and leadership productivity. The role owns rapid response and resolution of issues impacting revenue-generating teams, delivering white-glove deskside and remote support with strict adherence to the 30-minute response SLA. Calm execution under pressure, proactive endpoint health management, and disciplined ServiceNow ticket hygiene are essential to minimizing downtime and eliminating operational friction.

Beyond operational support, this position carries strategic ownership of Enterprise User Computing (EUC) initiatives. The individual will be accountable for delivering key transformation programs across the firm’s in-house managed Windows 11 platform—ensuring structured execution, stakeholder alignment, risk mitigation, and zero trading disruption.

The role serves as the senior escalation point for complex end-user and desktop issues, driving root cause analysis and permanent remediation to eliminate repeat incidents. Success requires close coordination with infrastructure, networking, and security teams, alongside disciplined lifecycle ownership of incidents and continuous improvement initiatives.

A critical responsibility is the direct leadership of the London desktop support engineers. The successful candidate will lead, coach, and mentor the support engineer team on an ongoing basis, developing individual capability, addressing performance gaps, and elevating technical standards to ensure the team is resilient, skilled, and aligned to business demand.

The role also provides autonomy to contribute across broader infrastructure initiatives, influencing platform stability, automation, performance optimization, and service resilience beyond traditional desktop support.

This individual must be a visible, credible, and trusted presence in the London office—representing Technology with authority, integrity, and reliability, and acting as a trusted go-to member of the global Desktop Support team. Success will be measured not only by technical execution, but by the confidence senior leadership places in their judgment, discretion, and ability to consistently deliver in a high-performance hedge fund environment.

• Serve as the resolute technology partner to senior executives and portfolio managers in London, ensuring uninterrupted trading and leadership productivity.
• Operate with a clear understanding of hedge fund market dynamics, urgency during trading hours, and the direct impact of downtime on performance.
• Maintain daily credibility and engagement with C-suite stakeholders, including regular interaction with the Chief of Staff for Trading in both London and New York.
• Deliver white-glove deskside and remote support with immediate triage and ownership through resolution.
• Adhere strictly to the 30-minute SLA for portfolio managers, with disciplined communication and accountability.
• Proactively monitor endpoint performance, trading application stability, and infrastructure readiness to prevent disruption before market impact.
• Function as a credible and trusted source of technical guidance, demonstrating discretion, sound judgment, and authority in all executive interactions.
• Maintain rigorous ServiceNow ticket hygiene to ensure data integrity, SLA transparency, and service improvement insights.
• Remove friction for senior stakeholders, enabling focus on investment performance rather than technology issues.

Tier 2: Support Engineer Team Leadership, EUC Ownership & Infrastructure Contribution Mandate: Lead the London desktop support engineers, own EUC strategy and execution, modernize the platform, and strengthen support capability.

• Provide direct line management and leadership of the London-based support engineers, including workload allocation, coaching, performance management, and professional development.
• Own and deliver strategic EUC initiatives within London, ensuring alignment with global standards and hedge fund operational requirements.
• Own the ongoing performance, stability, and continuous improvement of the firm’s in-house managed Windows 11 platform for the London user base.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for complex end-user and desktop incidents, driving root cause analysis and permanent remediation.
• Enforce disciplined lifecycle ownership of all incidents and service requests within ServiceNow to improve transparency and performance metrics.
• Leverage AI tooling — including Claude — and automation platforms as part of day-to-day support delivery to enhance the end-user experience, shifting from reactive support to initiative-taking remediation and endpoint optimization.
• Provide direct leadership to the London desktop support engineers, coaching and mentoring the team on an ongoing basis, identifying capability gaps, and elevating standards to ensure a resilient, skilled team.
• Establish clear operating standards, accountability models, and performance expectations aligned to a high-performance trading environment.
• Contribute autonomously across broader infrastructure initiatives, influencing platform stability, automation, performance optimization, and service resilience beyond traditional EUC boundaries.
• Build and maintain extensive collaboration and credibility with other Technology Infrastructure heads across the global business, ensuring the London desktop support function is closely aligned with wider infrastructure, security, and network strategy.
• Work effectively within the peer group of 6 regional desktop support leads, sharing knowledge and best practice, and consistently operating with a single global mindset rather than a siloed, regional one.
• Function as a visible, credible technology leader in the London office and a trusted go-to member of the global Desktop Support team, reinforcing trust through consistent execution and strategic contribution.

Work Experience and Background

Essential

Min 3 years’ desktop support experience gained specifically within a hedge fund or similarly demanding front-office trading environment, supporting portfolio managers and executives, with a strong understanding of executive level service expectations.

Technical Skills

• Proven trade floor / white-glove VIP support experience gained specifically within a hedge fund environment; candidates from wider financial services will also be considered but hedge fund background is strongly preferred.
• Strong ServiceNow incident and SLA management discipline with excellent ticket hygiene.
• Strong service management oversight, with a clear understanding of ITIL-aligned incident, problem, and change management processes, and the ability to own and manage incidents through to resolution.
• Advanced Microsoft Windows 11 endpoint support, with deep expertise in build, deployment, and enterprise management standards.
• Strong Microsoft Intune expertise, including device enrolment, compliance and configuration policies, application deployment, and endpoint security management.
• Active Directory administration including GPO management and user lifecycle controls.
• Microsoft 365 administration
• Strong VMware vSphere and Omnissa Horizon expertise within enterprise environments.
• Experience supporting Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), including session host management, image builds, and end-user virtual desktop performance troubleshooting.
• Strong networking fundamentals (WAN/LAN, DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP) with effective troubleshooting capability.
• Experience supporting Bloomberg Terminal and other market data and front-office trading applications.
• Understanding of endpoint build, software distribution, and client management architectures.
• Familiarity with end-user experience monitoring tools and ITIL-based support frameworks.
• Confident leveraging AI tooling, including Claude, as part of day-to-day support delivery to enhance the enduser experience — for example accelerating troubleshooting, automating routine tasks, and improving the speed and quality of communication with portfolio managers and executives.

Competencies

Executive Credibility & Discretion Demonstrates mature executive presence, sound judgment, and absolute discretion when supporting senior leadership and portfolio managers. Being credible in front of the C-suite is critical to success in this role, with daily interaction expected with the Chief of Staff for Trading in both London and New York. Operates as a trusted and dependable source of technology guidance.

Hedge Fund Commercial Awareness Understands the direct relationship between technology performance and P&L, drawing on a genuine, technically strong background built within the hedge fund industry rather than wider financial services alone. Maintains a zerodowntime mindset during market hours, prioritising issues based on trading and business impact.

Calm, Decisive Leadership Under Pressure Remains composed and authoritative in high-stakes, time-sensitive situations. Makes clear, risk-aware decisions that protect trading continuity and executive productivity.

Business-First Service Orientation Translates technical issues into clear business impact. Delivers frictionless, high-touch support aligned to strict 30- minute response SLA commitments for revenue generating stakeholders.

Trust-Building & Professional Presence Naturally professional, empathetic, and confident. Builds long-term trust with senior users while representing Technology with consistency, reliability, and integrity.

Escalation Authority & Analytical Strength Acts as the senior escalation point for complex EUC and infrastructure-related issues. Applies structured troubleshooting and root cause analysis to eliminate repeat incidents.

Disciplined Process Ownership Operates with rigorous attention to detail and checklist-driven execution, ensuring nothing is overlooked in executive support, migration programs, or infrastructure initiatives.

Accountability & Data Discipline Takes full ownership of incidents and initiatives through to completion, maintaining strict ServiceNow ticket hygiene to drive transparency, metrics integrity, and continuous improvement.

Strategic Mindset with Operational Execution Balances hands on delivery with ownership of strategic EUC initiatives. Demonstrates the ability to execute transformation programs while maintaining day-to-day service excellence.

Team Coach & Global Collaborator Coaches and mentors the team on an ongoing basis, elevating standards and accountability. Builds extensive collaboration and credibility with other Technology Infrastructure heads across the global business, and works effectively within the peer group of 6 regional desktop support leads with a single global mindset, collaborating seamlessly across global IT functions to ensure follow-the-sun consistency and resilience.