Application Support Specialist III

Purpose of the Job: The Application Specialist III primary responsibilities are to independently participate in the coordination of projects requiring functional and specialised knowledge, working in close collaboration with, but not limited to, project teams, functional teams, and vendors. This role takes the technical lead in large or complex applications requiring deep specialised knowledge. The application specialist should be able to coordinate testing and perform quality assurance on the data and validate the outcome of the testing. Application Specialists are expected to be expert in several computer programs and data interfaces.

Job Objectives

• Manage, coordinate, execute and support application support activities within assigned business areas.
• Coordinate and manage application support and resolutions of multiple software applications /products of high complexity.
• Work with Analysts, Developers, Programmers, and business to lead and coordinate the identification and resolution of any software issues and effectively support end users.
• Lead and coordinate the review of and input into technical design specifications, and the provision of technical support to end users, including support with requests, issues and queries on system functionalities of high complexity.
• Investigate and analyse problems of high complexity to establish the root cause. Support the team with investigation of complex problems and integration of findings requiring expertise.
• Plan, coordinate and lead development, configuration and upgrading of varying complexity (low to high) system activities, effectively planning, and handling all assigned changes within the specified environment.
• Coordinate and lead multiple software releases and deployments.
• Plan, co-ordinate, oversee and lead activities across multiple functional lines, all assigned tasks are executed on time and within agreed frameworks and standards.
• Provide back-up to team members and leads as required.
• Coordinate, oversee end user training on applications on varying complexity and conduct same for applications of high complexity.
• Coordinate, support and participate in functional, regression and performance testing of varying complexity.
• Assign and co-ordinate and manage tasks for the team as required and support with quality assurance of system / application standards. Manage and coordinate timely and effective communication with team, stakeholders and users
• Work closely with team members and team managers to enable quick prioritisation and timely resolution of issues. Support team members with complex problems, queries and resolutions.
• Manage and maintain regular communication with users across multiple business areas, answering questions, updating on system changes, troubleshooting problems, and providing expert assistance.
• Manage and direct regular communication with internal and external stakeholders, branch teams, IT operations and other departments across all levels. Manage, coordinate and deliver effective day to day IT operations within the specified area
• Manage and handle all relevant support issues.
• Keep track of and identify support call trends and make recommendations on suitable resolutions to key stakeholders.
• Manage, monitor and follow-up all assigned service desk calls according to service level agreements.
• Advise teams on client-specific application configuration and lead highly complex application configurations.
• Manage effective delivery of Training and Support to Service Desk support.
• Coordinate and manage work of Application Support Specialists within assigned teams.?

Qualifications

• SDA - Service Desk Analyst Certification - (essential)
• ITIL 4 Bridge Certification - (essential)
• MS SQL fundamentals (Introduction to SQL) Certification - (essential)
• MS SQL - Querying data with Transact Certification - (essential)
• DevOps principles - (desired)

Experience

• +4 years’ experience in a Lead Applications Support Specialist or similar role within an IT support team, working with large and complex applications software and solutions – (essential).
• Extensive experience in cloud solutions – (essential).
• Extensive IT Support and Operations knowledge, with good exposure to mentoring and supporting a team – (essential).
• Experience of working on projects in both Agile and DevOps – (essential).
• Strong change management experience – (essential).
• Experience in a Retail / Wholesale / Financial Services industry - (essential)
• Experience in software development and testing - (desirable).

Knowledge and Skills

• Remedy software knowledge - (desirable)
• Exposure to vendor management - (desirable)
• Exposure to Project Management - (desirable)
• Knowledge of SDLC - (desirable)