Art Technology and Software - Application Support Analyst

Application Support Analyst

Job Description :

Application Support Analyst profile being recruited is making sure that the existing software architecture within the business is working well and being used efficiently. You will be involved with a blend of programming and administration tasks; working with various stakeholders to resolve technical problems through analysis, diagnosis and solution definition. The role will require a balance of technical skills, business knowledge, troubleshooting expertise, and excellent soft skills.

Responsibilities include (but are not limited to) :

- Provide technical and application support to the operation of the production environment ensuring that Service Delivery meets the required standard.

- Deliver professional 2nd-3rd line application support for middleware and integration systems, performing in-depth root cause analysis or request fulfilment

- Drive excellence in application monitoring, log mining and performance tuning.

- Identify opportunities for more effective use of resource across the operations, 2nd Line and 3rd line support teams through co-operation, knowledge sharing, optimum allocation of tasks

- Produce high quality support documentation and diagrams on collaborative platforms e.g. Wiki

- Investigate and prioritise requests for support raised by business users.

- Investigate root cause and impact of incidents and escalate to 3rd line support and management where appropriate.

- Ensure all investigations and work undertaken is logged in a timely and comprehensive manner.

- Monitor progress of requests for support and ensure users and other interested parties are kept informed.

- Document and implement work rounds and revised procedures for both Application Support and Operations teams.

- Complete regular tasks to ensure system availability and follow up exceptions accordingly.

- Ensure correct procedures are followed and SLAs achieved when progressing tasks and that procedures and checklists are kept up to date.

- Focus on completing work within agreed timescales and reducing any downtime and operational impact

- Adhere to appropriate departmental and company procedures and policies : change control, security, auditing, release promotion, configuration management, incident management

- Change Implementation

- Participate in the planning and implementation of software and configuration changes to the live environment in accordance with release instructions, agreed service impacts and timescales.

- Work alongside project teams (analysts, developers, testers and implementation managers) during software release.

- Work with the operations team to ensure changes are implemented and handed over appropriately and ensure updates are made to operational procedures.

Qualifications and Experience :

Essential :

- 5+ years of experience as an Application/Production Support Analyst or similar role.

- Experience in a Windows based environment including 1st/2nd line support

- Experience in writing and using transact-SQL queries

- Experience in an low latency, high volume application support role, administering, configuring & maintaining some of the following multi-tier environment :

1. OpsView (Nagios)

2. MS SQL/Windows

3. XML

4. Splunk

- Scripting/coding experience in Python or Powershell.XC

- A logical approach and ability to think outside the box when problem solving and the flexibility to work in a fast changing 24/7 operational support environment

- Bachelors degree in Information Systems, Computer Science or equivalent technical discipline.

- Ability to deal with both technical and non-technical staff and all levels of management

- Excellent organisational, interpersonal skills

- A great communicator

Desirable :

Proven experience with several of the following :

- Oracle

- .NET

- Firewalls

- Internet security

- SOAP

- HTML

- Java Frameworks

- IIS Server knowledge

- Experience in the financial sector, ideally involving payment processing

- Experience of working in a high pressure environment where system functionality has a direct effect on the bottom line

- Understanding of transaction processing systems, preferably with some exposure to electronic point of sale and ATMs

- Knowledge of ITIL (the IT Infrastructure Library) for service management

The project operates in a secure environment and all candidates will be Credit and Background checked to the extent permitted by law.