Torstar Corporation is a broadly-based media company. Its businesses include the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper, six regional daily newspapers in Ontario including The Hamilton Spectator, and more than 70 weekly community newspapers in Ontario; flyer distribution services; and digital properties including thestar.com (with local editions in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax), wheels.ca, toronto.com, save.ca, a number of regional online sites. Torstar also holds a majority interest in VerticalScope, a North American vertically-focused digital media company.

The Toronto Star is Canada’s largest daily newspaper and is read in print and across desktop, mobile and tablet platforms by more than 6 million readers every week. Online, thestar.com is one of the most-visited newspaper websites in Canada.

Diversity & Inclusion
Torstar is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. Torstar is committed to ensuring employment opportunity to qualified applicants without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, family status or disability or any other factor protected by law.

About the job

We are looking for a Desktop Support Analyst to join our team and provide first & second level support to multiple internal stakeholders, with a focus on Editorial in the Toronto Star Newsroom.  

As the Desktop Support Analyst, you will report into the Director, Business Solutions, Development & QA, and are responsible for supporting critical applications and hardware.  In addition, you will play a role in IT Business Engagement and relationship management across a diverse group of stakeholders and play a leading role in facilitating and resolving day-to-day issues.

The ideal candidate will have a very strong technical foundation (Desktop Support focus), be customer service orientated, have an exceptional ability to multitask, manage competing deadlines, and work well under pressure. 

Key Responsibility Areas (KRA):

• Evaluate and resolve issues from stakeholders experiencing problems with hardware, software, network, and other computing related technologies, using Torstar incident management/service request tool. 
• Triage Work orders to determine area responsible for the problem. 
• Troubleshooting pc’s, laptops, desktops, cell phones, tablets, and basic network/print problems 
• Identifying, documenting, and validating requirements, to align IT practices with corporate objectives 
• Provide recommendations and assist in carrying out upgrades on the Editorial business systems/applications as required
• Enterprise application support – Required to troubleshoot application problems on behalf of Application support team. Often responsible for implementing the fix
• Work with 3rd party vendors to troubleshoot issues
• Problem triage and notification to appropriate Business Solutions or Infrastructure team
• Send out department-wide communications when needed 
• Responsible for following up on issues until they have reached resolution
• Work on IT related projects as required
• In-person front line customer support (phone, e-mail, and walk-up) as well as remote users/groups
• Processing Service Requests 
• Documentation of escalations, processes, and procedures 
• Assist Infrastructure teams by being their “Hands on” staff onsite 
• Make decisions regarding local hardware, i.e. recommend replacement, upgrade, purchases escalate decisions to Manager

Position Challenges

• Ability to communicate well, and empathize with customers’ situation 
• Must be patient, resourceful, technical, people savvy and diplomatic 
• Keep customers satisfied, maintain professionalism, and promote excellent internal customer service 
• Spend time troubleshooting before escalating 
• Own and manage work orders/tickets/projects 
• Ability to handle difficult customers or situations 
• Occasional travel required, between offices

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS

Education/Experience

• Post-Secondary education in Computer Science, or related technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and experience from which comparable knowledge and skills may be obtained
• Two or more years of desktop support, work experience involving systems and network administration, security, Windows 7/10 workstations, Mac OS workstations, Microsoft O365, MFA, Telephony, Citrix, AWS Workspaces and Internet based technologies (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP and SMTP)
• MCSA Certification, ITIL Foundations a benefit 

 Skills and Competencies

• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
• Excellent Customer Service, Interpersonal, and Communication skills
• Ability to manage conflicting agendas from different stakeholders 
• Business and Technical Acumen, with a keen interest to understand how the business works 
• Strong organizational skills 
• Ability to manage multiple priorities 
• Self-motivated and able to work with limited supervision 
• Knowledge of multiple Operating Systems (Windows, MAC, Unix/Linux, iOS, Android) 
• Knowledge and ability to support printers, and multi-function devices
• Knowledge of MDM would be an added advantage 
• Knowledge of PERL, Shell Scripting, HTML, Java Script, PHP and XML would be an added advantage 
• Familiarity or practical experience with any of the following Products: VoIP, VPN, Anti-Virus, Cisco Security/DUO/MFA, remote access tools and think client technologies
• Ability to create, compose and edit technical documents

Working Conditions:

• In-person position at 1 Yonge St. with occasional travel requirements to other offices.
• Available to answer phone as 1st level support; provide immediate support 
• Participation in the rotation of onsite support and emergency after-hours support. 
• Mental stress – constant deadline pressure 
• Ability to quickly triage problems
• Sitting for extended periods of time 
• Dexterity of hands and fingers to operate a computer keyboard, mouse and handle other computer components
• Ability to move/swap hardware, change cables, occasionally under desks/tight spaces
• Occasional Overtime for special projects or emergency situations required

We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process to applicants with accessibility needs in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). If you require accommodation during this process, please inform us of your requirements.