Entry Level Analyst Jobs in Round Lake, IL (NOW HIRING)

Company Overview
Why Choose Us?
Novolex is a leading manufacturer of food, beverage, and specialty packaging that supports multiple industries including foodservice, restaurant delivery and carryout, food processing, grocery and retail, and industrial sectors. Novolex manufacturing and sourcing expertise spans a diverse range of substrates including resin, paper, molded fiber, aluminum and more. We provide customers a broad array of stock and customized solutions with 120 product categories, 250 brands and over 39,000 SKUs.
Our Sustainability Commitment
The Novolex sustainability vision is built upon three pillars: our products, our operations and our people. Each is critically important to our growth and future as a business. These pillars form the foundation of our company-wide commitment to sustainability, helping us achieve our ambitious goals through our wide-ranging initiatives.
Job Description
Position Overview
The Analyst II, IT Operations Support is an experienced, self-directed contributor within Novolex's IT Service Management function. Reporting to the Senior Manager, IT Service Management, this role owns the operational integrity of ITSM reporting, service data quality, and process execution across the enterprise - operating with a high degree of independence and accountability for measurable service outcomes.
Unlike an entry-level analyst role, the Analyst II is expected to drive operational discipline rather than just support it. This individual brings proven hands-on experience with ServiceNow, ITIL-aligned service delivery, and enterprise performance reporting - and applies that expertise to identify issues, lead improvement initiatives, and elevate the overall quality of Novolex's IT service operations. The role also serves as a functional resource for junior ITSM staff, sharing knowledge, reinforcing best practices, and contributing to team capability.
Role Context & Business Value
As Novolex scales operations across manufacturing, packaging, and distribution, the reliability and visibility of IT services are business-critical. The Analyst II, IT Operations Support delivers direct value across four strategic dimensions:
• Operational Intelligence: Operational Intelligence: Own the reporting and analytics infrastructure that gives ITSM leadership accurate, real-time insight into service health, SLA performance, and emerging risk - enabling data-driven decisions at every level.
• Service Data Governance: Service Data Governance: Ensure the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of ticket data, CMDB records, and catalog content - maintaining the foundation that reliable SLA reporting and ITSM governance depend on.
• Process Discipline: Process Discipline: Apply deep ITIL knowledge to enforce consistent execution across Incident, Problem, Change, and Request processes - reducing repeat failures, improving resolution quality, and strengthening service reliability.
• Continuous Improvement Ownership: Continuous Improvement Ownership: Lead CSI initiatives, track outcomes, coach peers, and embed a culture of measurable, sustained service improvement across the ITSM operations team.
Key Responsibilities:
Operational Reporting & Performance Analytics
Own the design, production, and continuous improvement of ITSM performance reporting across all service domains:
• Design, build, and maintain advanced ServiceNow dashboards and performance reports covering incident volume, SLA attainment, first contact resolution (FCR), mean time to resolve (MTTR), backlog aging, CSAT trends, and change success rates.
• Produce and distribute the weekly and monthly ITSM performance reporting package to the Senior Manager, Director, and IT leadership - presenting metrics in executive-ready formats with trend analysis and recommended actions.
• Develop and refine ad hoc reports and data extracts to support leadership decisions, operational audits, staffing analyses, and business case development.
• Build and maintain CSAT reporting pipelines - aggregating survey results, scoring trends by team and category, and surfacing verbatim feedback themes that inform targeted service improvements.
• Proactively identify data anomalies, SLA breach patterns, and queue health risks - escalating findings with analysis and recommended corrective actions to the Senior Manager before issues compound.
• Leverage ServiceNow Performance Analytics or equivalent BI tools (Power BI, Excel) to automate recurring report generation, reduce manual effort, and improve reporting reliability.
• Define and maintain report standards and documentation - ensuring all recurring reports have clear ownership, defined refresh cadences, and accurate metric definitions.
Ticket Quality & Service Queue Management
• Own the ticket quality assurance process - conducting regular audits of ServiceNow incident and request records to ensure accurate categorization, priority assignment, routing, and resolution documentation across all IT support tiers.
• Monitor service queues throughout the business day with a proactive operational lens - identifying aging records, approaching SLA thresholds, and mis-assigned tickets, and intervening directly or escalating as appropriate.
• Establish and enforce ticket lifecycle standards, working with the Senior Manager to define categorization taxonomies, closure criteria, and documentation requirements that support consistent SLA measurement.
• Analyze ticket categorization accuracy trends and produce structured findings - recommending reclassification of categories, updates to routing rules, and targeted training for service desk teams showing quality gaps.
• Process escalated or complex service requests within defined competency boundaries, applying ITIL best practices and coordinating with resolver groups to ensure timely, well-documented fulfillment.
• Support queue management during high-volume periods, planned maintenance windows, or staffing gaps - ensuring service continuity and SLA protection under variable operating conditions.
Incident & Problem Management
• Serve as the ITSM operations point of contact for active major incidents - maintaining incident timelines, coordinating communication actions, tracking resolution milestones, and preparing structured post-incident review (PIR) documentation.
• Lead recurring incident analysis: run weekly and monthly repeat-incident reports, identify recurring patterns across category, assignment group, and configuration item dimensions, and present findings with root cause hypotheses to ITSM leadership
• Own post-incident review (PIR) facilitation support - drafting agenda materials, organizing contributing timeline data, tracking corrective action items through to completion, and measuring recurrence reduction over time.
• Maintain the known error database (KEDB) with current, accurate records - ensuring workaround documentation is actionable and communicated to service desk teams for consistent application.
• Partner with the Problem Management process owner to translate recurring incident trends into formal problem records, support root cause analysis activities, and track remediation efforts through closure.
• Track and report on problem record aging, corrective action completion rates, and measurable reductions in related incident volume - providing the data backbone for Problem Management governance reviews.
Change Management Support
• Support Change Advisory Board (CAB) operations by reviewing submitted change records for completeness, risk assessment accuracy, and testing evidence - flagging deficiencies to the change coordinator prior to review.
• Track change success rates, failed change volumes, and emergency change frequency - producing structured change performance reports for CAB and ITSM leadership review.
• Monitor post-change incident correlation, identifying changes associated with elevated incident rates and surfacing findings for CAB retrospective discussion.
• Maintain change management documentation, including process guides, CAB agenda templates, and change performance scorecards.
Knowledge Management & Self-Service Excellence
• Own the knowledge management quality program - conducting structured reviews of the ServiceNow knowledge base on a defined cycle, auditing articles for accuracy, clarity, and continued relevance, and coordinating updates with subject matter experts.
• Author high-quality knowledge articles, user-facing guides, and IT self-service content that measurably deflect ticket volume and empower employees to resolve common issues without contacting the service desk.
• Track and report on knowledge base utilization metrics - article view rates, deflection estimates, search abandonment patterns, and self-service portal adoption trends - and use findings to prioritize the content roadmap.
• Lead knowledge contribution campaigns within the ITSM and service desk teams, setting contribution targets, recognizing participation, and coaching staff on effective knowledge writing practices.
• Maintain the service catalog for accuracy and usability - auditing catalog items, coordinating updates with service owners, and validating that fulfillment workflows function as designed.
ServiceNow Platform Administration & Optimization
• Serve as a functional ServiceNow power user and operational administrator - maintaining SLA configurations, workflow routing rules, categorization taxonomies, assignment group structures, and dashboard content.
• Identify platform improvement opportunities through daily operational use and stakeholder feedback - documenting requirements, building a prioritized enhancement backlog, and coordinating implementation with the ServiceNow platform team.
• Perform ServiceNow data governance activities including CMDB record accuracy reviews, duplicate ticket identification, stale record cleanup, and catalog item alignment validation.
• Lead user acceptance testing (UAT) for ServiceNow enhancements, new feature releases, and workflow changes - documenting test scenarios, executing test cases, and providing structured go/no-go recommendations.
• Develop and deliver ServiceNow orientation and workflow training for new service desk staff and ITSM team members, ensuring consistent platform adoption and operational discipline.
Continuous Service Improvement & Process Governance
• Own the CSI tracking program - maintaining the active improvement register, monitoring initiative progress, reporting status to the Senior Manager at regular intervals, and measuring outcomes against defined success criteria.
• Design and lead service improvement projects of moderate scope - including process redesign, reporting automation, ticket quality programs, and knowledge management initiatives - from problem statement through implementation and outcome measurement.
• Author and maintain ITSM process documentation, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and operational runbooks - ensuring content is current, version-controlled, and accessible to all relevant team members.
• Facilitate operational retrospectives and post-implementation reviews, organizing findings into structured improvement recommendations with clear owners, timelines, and measurable targets.
• Mentor junior ITSM analysts and service desk staff on ITIL practices, ServiceNow platform discipline, reporting standards, and operational best practices - contributing to team capability development.
Qualifications & Experience:
Required Qualifications
• 3-5+ years of progressive experience in IT Service Management, IT operations support, or service desk operations within a large enterprise environment.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with ServiceNow ITSM, including incident management workflows, SLA configuration, reporting module, performance dashboards, and knowledge management.
• Proven ability to design and produce operational performance reports and dashboards that translate service data into actionable leadership insights.
• Deep working knowledge of ITIL-aligned service management processes: Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Request Fulfillment, and Knowledge Management.
• Demonstrated experience conducting ticket quality audits, managing queue health, and enforcing data governance standards in a high-volume ITSM environment.
• Track record of leading or contributing to continuous service improvement initiatives with measurable outcomes - reduced incident volume, improved SLA attainment, or enhanced CSAT.
• Strong analytical and data skills - proficient in Microsoft Excel and comfortable working with BI or reporting tools (Power BI, ServiceNow Performance Analytics, or equivalent).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present service data and process recommendations clearly to both technical teams and IT leadership.
• Highly organized and self-directed - able to manage multiple concurrent priorities, produce reliable recurring deliverables, and operate effectively with minimal supervision.
Preferred Qualifications
• ITIL 4 Foundation certification required; ITIL 4 Practitioner designation (or actively pursuing) strongly preferred.
• ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA) or ServiceNow Certified Implementation Specialist - ITSM (CIS-ITSM) is a significant advantage.
• HDI Support Center Analyst (SCA) or Desktop Support Technician (DST) certification.
• Experience in manufacturing, packaging, consumer goods, distribution, or supply chain-intensive industries.
• Familiarity with enterprise governance frameworks including COBIT, ISO 20000, or SOX IT controls.
• Experience mentoring or developing junior analysts or service desk staff in an ITSM environment.
Education
• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, Data Analytics, or a related field preferred.
• Equivalent combination of relevant education, ITSM