Purpose of the Job:
To provide day-to-day operational support for the business applications within Brit Insurance.
Responsible for supporting, troubleshooting, analysing and assisting in the resolution of application issues.
Principal Accountabilities:
• Provide business application knowledge and expertise & act as the senior technical lead.
• Deputise for the Applications Manager when required.
• Monitor and manage business application issues and change requests while pro-actively performing preventative maintenance.
• Analyse incidents of a technical and business nature relating to the use of business software applications. Assist other members of the team with complex technical solutions.
• Respond to incidents in a timely manner, ensuring these are resolved and any consequential fixes or changes are delivered within time, cost and quality constraints.
• Respond to calls raised with the Helpdesk related to bugs, requests for help and change requests for applications.
• Identify and analyse data issues and work with the Development team to ensure prompt resolution.
• Liaise with the Development teams to manage and plan application changes and bug fixes.
• Provide an effective interface between the users and service providers.
• Document problems, check progress, and ensure all diagnostic information is provided for error resolution and incident analysis. Work closely with the Problem and Incident Management Team to identify the root causes of major impact incidents, recommending permanent resolutions and appropriate action to prevent reoccurrence.
• Analyse and manage the prioritisation of change requests with the Development team.
• Assist users to make more effective use of applications through providing assistance with questions as well as hints and tips to increase productivity.
• Develop code for data fixes and migrate to application development for implementation.
• Run, monitor and modify scheduled batch processes and procedures to ensure application availability and accuracy.
• Manage the operation of system interfaces between the business applications.
• Be involved in testing and assist in the UAT of change requests and system fixes.
• Attend regular user group meetings to discuss releases, performance, projects and any ongoing problems.
• Identify and implement process changes and improvements to enhance the support process.
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert for the application and provide input to meetings and projects as required.
• Ensure that Service Level Agreements are met and Key Performance Indicators are managed. Provide trend analysis for the Applications Manager.
• Provide information on updates, known errors, changes in availability, new facilities etc.
• Liaise with server support teams to address application server issues.
Education, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills and Experience:
• Financial Services experience, preferably General or London Market insurance.
• SQL development skills - SQL Server and/or Oracle.
• Experience with analysing and debugging compiled language code.
• Knowledge of data structures and models.
• Experience of any of the following would be beneficial: ASP, ASP.Net, C#, Business Objects, Sharepoint, PerformancePoint, document management systems, work-flow systems.
• A detailed understanding of support processes such as ITIL framework processes.
• Good interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work well with others.
• Experience in providing support over the phone, email or in person to staff at all levels.
• Ability to establish relationships and maintain contacts with people from a wide variety of backgrounds.
• Excellent problem solving skills with the ability to visualize a problem or situation and think abstractly to solve it.
• Ability to handle a constantly changing level of workload and remain productive during slow times while being able to multitask effectively during busy times.
• Ability to work responsibly with or without direct supervision.
• Flexibility to ensure that service is provided during the required support times.
• Experience of maintaining high levels of customer care.
• Ability to operate in a complex organisational environment dealing with senior members of staff.
• Ability to respond constructively to changing demands, meet tight deadlines and maintain quality.