From Service Desk to Director: A Career in Managed IT
Not the plan, but something better.
Sam Middleton joined Abacus as a Service Desk Analyst. His ambition at the time was straightforward: build a technical career, go deep on engineering, work as an individual contributor. Seven years later he is Enterprise Service Desk Director. The path was not the one he had mapped out. It turned out to be a better one.
Before Abacus, Sam had worked on an internal IT team at a large national company. The move to a specialist MSP serving the alternative investment space was a deliberate step up in intensity.
“It offered exposure to the forefront of technology, in an environment where innovative solutions and white-glove service were not just nice to have but expected by default.”
The shift in his career direction from technical expert to team lead came through the support and advice from the people around him. Colleagues and mentors opened his thinking to what he could achieve in a leadership capacity rather than purely a technical one. He did not see it coming. Looking back, he would not change it.
“When I reflect on this today, I now realise this was the best direction I could have taken for both my career and personal development.”
When the Stakes Are Real
Sam is precise about the moment that defined his early years at Abacus. During his first year, a fraudulent website and social media presence had been created to impersonate one of Abacus’s clients. It was convincing enough that a potential investor had already made contact through official channels to verify whether the offering was legitimate.
“This was not just a normal ticket with a technical issue. There was a real risk of financial harm to individuals and reputational damage for our client.”
The response required evidence gathering, coordination with third-parties and authorities, and, ultimately, involvement from the US Secret Service. For someone in their first year at an MSP that serves highly regulated entities, it set an immediate marker for what working in this environment demands: not just technical competence, but judgment and composure when the situation is serious.
Compliance Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling
Sam’s view on where financial services firms most commonly get cyber risk wrong is direct. Treating security as a compliance exercise is the mistake he sees most often.
“Compliance is paramount but should be seen as the baseline rather than the end goal. The best outcomes happen when both sides are proactive, have honest conversations, and work towards outcomes that genuinely improve security and resilience.”
Technology, in Sam’s view, should work for a business rather than create friction within it. The firms that get this right treat their IT partner as exactly that, a partner, rather than a supplier meeting a checklist.
What the Next Decade Looks Like
Sam points to AI as the defining shift ahead, not as a disruption to manage but as the next stage of what IT means for the clients Abacus serves. For someone who has always been drawn to how technology evolves, it is where his focus sits.
“The landscape changes fast and I have always been someone that enjoys continuous learning and the development of technology. As Abacus continues to grow and scale, I’m looking forward to where this journey will take us.”
Want to learn more about what it is like to be part of the Abacus team? Explore our culture and open positions.