Application Team Leader

Description

Purpose of the Position

The Team Leader: Applications Support is responsible for leading the day-to-day operational support of business-critical applications, ensuring system availability, stability, and performance in line with agreed service levels.

The role provides hands-on leadership and technical oversight of the Applications Support team, acting as the first line of management and escalation, while ensuring effective incident resolution, problem management, and smooth transition of new applications and changes into production.

Key Performance Areas (KPAs)

Support Technology Strategy & Innovation

• Provide input into the Application Roadmaps, guidelines, and plans for future support
• Responsible for implementing components of the Technology Development Strategy through the execution of assigned tasks.
• Understand and align application lifecycles and future roadmaps to maintain that business plans and innovative solutions are current
• Assist in developing or maintaining policies, procedures, and processes related to Technology Development.
• Analyze market trends and emerging solutions to stay on top of technological advancements so that SBV can take advantage of technological advancements.
• Improve the performance, availability, reliability, and consistency of the application systems (predictability of performance).

Execute Analysis and Design Activities

• Analyze existing software applications to determine their requirements for enhancements.
• Analyze application performance, system capabilities, workflow, and scheduling limitations.
• Consult with users to determine business needs and formulate requirements for system development.
• Analyze complex business requirements and enhance, and test applications with application development standards.
• Design sound and effective solutions based on the client's needs and the organisation’s system capabilities.
• Write and maintain application support documentation and technical procedures in accordance with current standards.
• Manage and execute project plans and keep track of milestones and communicate checkpoints.
• Compile the scope, and work breakdown structures in terms of the project.
• Manage changes to scope and provide advice to the client on impact to project timelines, and resource requirements.
• Participate in planning and feedback sessions.

Technical implementation within own area

• Identify opportunities to streamline business processes with existing applications to enhance operational performance.
• Assist cross-functional teams in collecting information on system integration and functionality needs to verify that application design is synchronised across the end-to-end development process and continuous improvement opportunities are identified.
• Integrate application design with business processes, standards, policies, and rules.
• Support business to translate business requirements into a functional specification for a solution design.
• Monitor each phase of the application lifecycle to support future business decisions on new technology or systems.
• Maintain an ongoing evaluation of applications so that technical issues that could impact operational excellence can be identified and proactively resolved.
• Resolve second level support incidents and problems within agreed service level timeframes and confirm that problems escalated to own area are resolved successfully.
• Assist with the upgrade, installation, maintenance, patching and maintenance of all applications (both vendor-supplied and internal developed).
• Complete and maintain fault logging or project management systems according to organizational requirements.
• Drive the implementation of corrective measures for compliance and improved solutions.
• Determine the root cause of incident issues and devise appropriate solutions by analyzing, investigating, and testing systems.
• Coordinate system maintenance plans with cross-functional teams and manage interruptions outside of business hours (planned shutdown).
• Maintain a record of system technical issues and their solutions for future training and lessons learned.

Quality Management

• Implement quality processes and deliver solutions according to timelines, quality, and scope requirements.
• Participate in the development of systems integration testing approaches, test cases, and scenarios.
• Test applications and handover from project teams to business as usual to maintain quality and compliance with established business policies.
• Deliver test fixes and effective solutions based on client needs.
• Document test results.

Risk Management

• Identify risks and issues related to the implementation of the solution requirements and implement the necessary measures to address them.
• Control problems, issues, and incidents to prevent defects and repairs.
• Provide direction as needed to Support Analyst I regarding escalations.

Reporting

• Compile statistics and prepare reports for management and/or team members on the status of the programming process.
• Assist the team in compiling reports and status updates for MANCO.
• Provide handover to relevant support areas as required and relevant.
• Subscribe and align to SBV Services' ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standards, ensuring the department’s processes and quality management system is at all times in compliance with the standard.
• Support SBV Services’ ESG journey, reporting on and managing the ESG requirements to ensure a positive reflection and outcome.

Customer Management

• Foster a culture of innovation with key collaborators by establishing and nurturing sound professional relationships.
• Coordinate with Technical and Architecture teams to confirm that software required for applications is functioning correctly.
• Manage new requests through appropriate channels and documentation in order to support the process.
• Maintain response and resolution times in accordance with Service Level Agreements (SLA) requirements.

Team Development & Capability Uplift

• Manage performance, development, and coaching of team members.
• Coaching and training fellow colleagues and users when necessary.
• Maintain good time management to handle several projects at once.
• Plan and prioritize competing demands, demonstrating the ability to manage them.
• Protect and maintain the confidentiality of critical business systems and data.
• Adhere to SBV's development standards and principles.
• Stay abreast of industry and technological changes and trends within own area of expertise.

Governance

• Subscribe and align to SBV Services' ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standards, ensuring the department’s processes and quality management system is at all times in compliance with the standard.
• Support SBVs ESG journey, reporting on and managing the ESG requirements to ensure a positive reflection and outcome.

Lead as an Ambassador and executor of Change.

• Act as a change management architect in periods of change to ensure business continuity.
• Manage the integration of business units into a seamless end to end solution for customers.
• Effectively communicate and embed new processes and procedures as they occur, addressing or escalating matters/ concerns to the SME’s (subject matter experts) when required.
• Facilitate the necessary presentations, workshops, or forums to ensure consistent and accurate communication is given across one’s portfolio.

Requirements

Minimum Requirements: Work Experience

• 5-7 years’ experience in application support or IT operations.
• At least 2-3 years in a team lead or supervisory role.
• Experience supporting business-critical, integrated application environments.
• Exposure to regulated or high-availability environments advantageous.

Minimum Requirements: Education

• Diploma or Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field.
• ITIL Foundation certification (advantageous).

Behavioural Competencies Required

• Strategic Foresight and Proactive Improvement: Moves beyond basic monitoring to design and implement robust, end-to-end observability frameworks. Continuously analyses the monitoring landscape to identify coverage gaps, recommend new solutions, and implement proactive prevention measures.
• Ownership of Resilience: Takes full accountability for the organisation's disaster recovery and high availability strategies. Ensures that all new systems are onboarded with robust DR/HA plans and conducts rigorous testing to validate failover procedures.
• Accuracy and Analytical Rigour: Systematically analyses system behaviour, performance metrics, and log data to identify trends and potential issues. Ensures that reports on SLAs, uptime, and performance are accurate, insightful, and delivered on time.
• Boundaryless Collaboration: Acts as a central point of integration, working across diverse teams (Network, Applications, Database) to understand application behaviour and document monitoring requirements. Builds bridges across silos to ensure monitoring is a shared, collaborative effort.
• Data Storytelling and Communication: Transforms complex technical data into actionable insights for both technical teams and business stakeholders. Creates clear, insightful dashboards and reports and presents findings with clarity and purpose.
• Influencing and Driving Change: Effectively influences peers and stakeholders to adopt new monitoring tools, protocols, and best practices. Champions a culture of high availability and resilience throughout the technology organisation.