Application Support Specialist Role

The Application Support Specialist is accountable for the availability, performance, cost optimizations, and risk management related to the bank's application services. This role provides enterprise-wide support for complex applications and interconnected technologies that require day-to-day support and administration to maintain optimal performance and utilization, with a focus on:

• Application availability
  
• Application performance
  
• Incident management
  
• Problem management
  
• Service quality
  
• Capacity management
  
• Backup and recovery
  
• High availability / Always-on support
  
• Troubleshooting (Incident diagnosis and analysis)
  
• Disaster recovery
  

1. Job Content
1.1 Availability Management

Application Availability

• Ensure that application availability exceeds defined service levels.
  
• Maintain the assigned application environment during business hours and off-hours.
  
• Install, configure, and maintain complex application environments.
  

1.2 Performance Management and Quality of Service

Performance Improvement

• Define performance management parameters for related applications.
  
• Ensure that application services exceed defined performance levels.
  
• Review application performance regularly and take proactive actions and communication to avoid service disruption.
  

1.3 Incident and Problem Management

Resolution of Incidents within SLA

• Provide second-level support for incident and problem tickets while maintaining service levels.
  
• Manage services from relevant vendors.
  

1.4 Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery Test

• Ensure disaster recovery system readiness.
  
• Support failover/failback activities.
  
• Update disaster recovery runbooks as required.
  

1.5 Compliance

Number of Audit Observations

• Ensure compliance with IT security policies and procedures.
  
• Ensure that the assigned applications comply with approved security standards. Report findings, recommend areas for improvement, and implement approved changes as required.
  

1.6 Innovations

Number of Innovations Suggested and Implemented

• Demonstrate measurable efficiency, stability, performance, and cost improvements through continuous improvement ideas, automation, and resilience.
  

2. Person Specifications
A. Education

• IT-based degree, university degree, or equivalent work experience required.
  
• Relevant certification (essential).
  
• Industry-standard certifications such as ITIL (preferred).
  

B. Experience (Years & Type)

• 5+ years of experience in a relevant technical position in large organizations.
  
• Experience in banking is essential.
  
• Candidate should be willing to work on a roster basis, including weekends and nights.
  

C. Knowledge & Skills

• Experience in application production support within the ITIL Framework.
  
• Excellent knowledge and hands-on experience in:
  • Application troubleshooting, configuration, and maintenance
    
  • Application performance tuning and optimization
    
  • Resolution of tickets with quality and within SLA
    
  • Proactive monitoring and incident analysis
    
  • Workflow maintenance and configuration
    
• Hands-on knowledge of:
  • Informatica BDM and PowerCenter for troubleshooting production issues
    
  • Hadoop components for troubleshooting production issues, including OOZIE, Ambari, PySpark scripting, and HDFS commands
    
  • Advanced Hive query writing
    
  • Relational and non-relational databases (Sybase IQ, Oracle, MSSQL, MongoDB, Hive, SAP HANA)
    
  • Unix command line
    
  • Reporting tools such as Power BI and Tableau
    
• Knowledge of open-source applications and application components
  
• Knowledge of application licensing
  
• Informatica administration experience (preferred)
  

D. Behavioral Competencies

• Continuous improvement mindset.
  
• Excellent communication skills (verbal, written, and presentation).