Senior Application Manager

Job Summary

Partners with academic and business units within the University to understand their business needs and identify, implement, and maintain IT solutions that help meet their objectives. Provides expert technical guidance to others within the department and across all application services functions. Leads and develops business relationships and deep expertise in the operations of specific business units, handles the most technically complex applications and initiatives, develops internal operating standards, and provides guidance to team members. Works closely with vendors for issue resolution, oversees quality assurance, oversees application availability and security.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for executing the full lifecycle of complex enterprise application services and solutions, ensuring their quality, reliability, stability, recoverability, and security
• Manages and maintains relationships with key departments throughout the University to identify and understand customer needs, and implement solutions that best support objectives
• Provides advanced technical expertise and works closely with other technical staff, functional teams, and vendors to troubleshoot and resolve application and data issues
• Leads feasibility studies, reviews vendor contracts and SLAs, and leads development of procurement solicitations
• Develops best practices for monitoring and proactively determines resource needs to ensure application up-time and availability
• Manages vendor relationships to maximize the benefits the institution receives from their products, services, and agreements
• Leads implementation projects for the department, provides updates on project progress, and proactively communicates issues that may impact project success
• Develops best practices, develops standard operating procedures, provides guidance, provides technical expertise, and functions as an escalation point for the team
• Develops and maintains application inventories and documentation, such as application architecture diagrams, data flow diagrams, business process documentation, configurations, data governance documents, standard operating procedures, and run books
• Keeps stakeholders informed of all relevant updates (system enhancements, system upgrades, system outages, project updates, etc.) around applications, services, projects, initiatives
• Trains and mentors department staff as assigned

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's from an accredited institution of higher education or an equivalent combination of relevant education and/or experience
• Five (5) years of related IT experience demonstrating a progression of dealing with increasingly complex systems

Preferred Qualifications

• An advanced degree from an accredited institution of higher education in a related field
• A degree from an accredited institution of higher education in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field is preferred
• Previous experience working in Higher Education
• Experience with scripting languages for purposes of automation and integration
• Experience with CSS, HTML and/or JavaScript

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Able to troubleshoot complex issues independently to determine root cause while maintaining detailed documentation of the progress through completion
• Able to master new applications, in order to fully utilize their capabilities, including utilizing their scripting and process development logic
• Able to build relationships, elicit and understand customer needs, analyze, understand, and document business processes
• Able to think both tactically and strategically
• Able to function with autonomy, making sound and timely decisions as appropriate, and using good judgement to determine which decisions should be escalated
• Able to anticipate to assess problems, proactively develop appropriate solutions, and communicate risks, benefits, and alternatives
• Able to work well within a team environment
• Able to navigate user interfaces for Windows and Linux operating systems, and knowledge of application installation and packaging systems, debugging and analysis tools, OS and middleware (e.g., IIS, Apache/Tomcat, Nginx) related application dependencies and configurations
• Able to handle multiple tasks or projects at one time meeting assigned deadlines
• Extensive knowledge and experience supporting the full lifecycle of complex, cloud based, and on-premises applications and solutions
• Demonstrated experience advising and guiding less experienced team members
• Must be well versed in current and emerging technologies, technological trends, and industry best practices for their areas of responsibility
• Experience analyzing business processes and supporting implementations from a technical perspective based on the business requirements
• Experience with relational databases and a basic understanding of SQL
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with a focus on customer service and the ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technology staff
• Excellent interpersonal, prioritization, initiative, teamwork, problem solving, independent judgment, organization, time management, project management and presentation skills
• Proficient with computer applications and programs associated with the position (i.e., Microsoft Office suite)
• Strong attention to detail and follow up skills
• Strong customer service skills and phone and e-mail etiquette