Service Desk Technician (Austral Summer 2026)

Job purpose

Responsible for daily operations of the IT Help Desk providing high quality customer service and technical support to the user community at McMurdo Station. Coordinates with all Information Technology & Communications divisions within McMurdo as well as Denver HQ, to ensure the department is able to provide timely and quality support to the user community. Must develop and maintain a thorough understanding of applicable ASC policies and procedures as well as familiarity with relevant technologies used by various IT&C divisions.

Duties and responsibilities

• Provide Help Desk coverage during standard business hours and participates in afterhours duty pager rotation.
• Provide timely responses and technical support over the phone and email.
• Create and prioritize work orders for all IT&C divisions.
• Provide Tier 1 troubleshooting for computer hardware, software, systems, and network related problems.
• Isolate problem trends and identifies recurring problems to find solutions.
• Promote development of Help Desk processes and customer service focused philosophies in order to continually improve troubleshooting efforts.
• Document all reported problems in a work order database and follow up with technicians and customers to ensure timely resolution of issues and requests.
• Utilize Windows system management tools to perform account administration, password changes, group administration, and mailbox management.
• Assist users with Information Security training as needed.
• Handle confidential matters (personnel actions, management reports, etc.) in accordance with Sensitive Rules of Behavior policy.
• Perform annual/seasonal review of all Help Desk procedures and related documentation.
• Provide a central source of information enabling support personnel to recover from outages with minimum disruption to expected service levels.
• Develop familiarity with various technologies used by McMurdo IT&C divisions.
• Maintain technical competency through continuing education and on-the-job training.
• Train surge support staff as needed.
• All other duties as assigned.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Assist IT&C leadership with coordination of winterization/dewinterization, vessel evolution, airfield open/close, and other tasks of this nature as needed.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required. Associates degree in Computer Science preferred.
• Minimum of four years experience in end user support.
• Microsoft operating systems and application support experience is required.
• Working knowledge of desktop computer hardware and software, system and network troubleshooting methods and software tools, and ticket tracking software is required.
• Microsoft Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange experience preferred.
• Strong technical written and verbal communication skills are required.  Excellent customer service skills are required.
• US citizenship or permanent residence is required.

Competencies

• Customer Service.
• Technical Capacity.
• Organizational Skills.
• Strategic Thinking.
• Problem Solving/Analysis.

Physical requirements

• Deployment will be required in this position. The individual in the position must successfully complete the physical and dental examinations as required by the NSF for deploying to Antarctica. Failure to meet these requirements may result in withdrawal of employment offer or other employment action.
• Complies with applicable safety, environment, health, and waste management policies and procedure. Individual must be capable of operating a standard desktop computer; must be able to lift and carry up to 50 pounds.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Position Expectations

• This is a full-time, seasonal position located in Antarctica.
• All expenses paid while on-ice; meals, lodging, medical, gear, travel to and from Antarctica.
• Performance Period: Oct 2026 - Feb 2027

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer as defined by the EEOC