Head of Application Management & Support

Head of Application Management & Support

Role Overview

The Head of Application Management & Support is responsible for leading the team that manages, maintains, and supports live client-facing trading systems operating in global financial markets. This role ensures operational resilience, client satisfaction, and continuous service quality, while driving the implementation of structured processes aligned with ITIL and financial industry best practices. The position requires strong leadership, accountability, and the ability to coordinate cross-functional collaboration between Development, Quality Assurance, and DevOps. The Head of Application Management & Support plays a critical role in ensuring client success, operational stability, and product reliability, while fostering a culture of efficiency, autonomy, team spirit, and continuous improvement.

Summary of Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Application Management & Support team, ensuring service excellence and operational reliability.
• Oversee incident management, problem resolution, and SLA compliance.
• Ensure proactive monitoring, capacity planning, and performance optimization of production environments.
• Collaborate with internal teams (Product, Development, Quality Assurance, DevOps,) to ensure seamless operations and continuous service improvement.
• Promote accountability, autonomy, and efficiency across all support and maintenance activities.
• Implement ITIL-based processes and best practices for service delivery and incident management.
• Guarantee client success and customer care through transparent communication and timely issue resolution.
• Maintain confidentiality, compliance, and professionalism in all client-facing operations.
• Provide regular updates and report activities to management.
• Ensure support activities throughout the entire duration of client operations, both within and outside Europe, through a rotation system, if needed.

Detailed Responsibilities

Service Operations and Incident Management

• Lead the day-to-day management of live trading systems and client-facing environments, ensuring availability, stability, and performance.
• Oversee incident anticipation (if possible), detection, prioritization, escalation, and resolution in accordance with defined SLAs.
• Coordinate cross-team collaboration during critical incidents to ensure timely and effective resolution.
• Maintain accurate and comprehensive incident documentation, including timelines, impact analysis, and corrective actions.
• Ensure strong operational monitoring, health checks, and capacity planning to anticipate and prevent service disruptions.
• Manage release and deployment activities, ensuring controlled transitions from development to client-facing environments.
• Collaborate with the Quality Assurance and DevOps teams to continuously improve system reliability and deployment quality.
• Maintain up-to-date operational procedures, playbooks, and knowledge bases for internal and client use.
• Build and maintain accurate maps of client-facing environments in terms of infrastructure, application configuration, deployed software versions.

Quality, Accountability, Efficiency, and Compliance

• Foster a culture of responsibility, autonomy, and commitment within the Application Management & Support team.
• Ensure compliance with internal processes, SLA commitments, and regulatory standards applicable to trading environments.
• Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as uptime, incident response time, resolution quality, and client satisfaction.
• Identify recurring incidents, perform root cause analyses, and ensure preventive actions are implemented.
• Guarantee that all activities are executed with the highest standards of efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness.
• Maintain confidentiality of client systems, trading data, and infrastructure information.
• Promote continuous improvement of operational processes, tools, and communication channels.
• Report regularly to management on operational performance, incident trends, and improvement initiatives.
• Provide regular updates and report activities to management.

Collaboration and Client Success

• Act as the primary escalation point for clients during major incidents or critical production events.
• Ensure that all communication with clients is transparent, timely, and professional, reinforcing trust and confidence.
• Collaborate with Product, Development, Quality Assurance, and Client and Programme Management teams to ensure alignment between technology, support, and business priorities.
• Translate client feedback and operational insights into actionable improvements for system reliability and user experience.
• Proactively engage with clients to review service performance, gather feedback, and ensure satisfaction with operational quality.
• Champion a culture of customer care, ensuring that all support activities contribute directly to client success and product reliability.
• Encourage strong team spirit and cross-department collaboration to maintain efficient end-to-end service delivery.

Leadership, Mentorship, and Continuous Improvement

• Lead, mentor, and develop team members to strengthen technical expertise, accountability, and autonomy.
• Establish clear performance objectives, training plans, and career development paths for the Application Management & Support team.
• Encourage ownership, initiative, and a commitment to excellence under pressure.
• Promote continuous learning in areas such as ITIL, trading systems, and production management best practices.
• Drive post-incident reviews and lessons-learned sessions to ensure improvement and knowledge sharing.
• Collaborate with the CTO and other department heads to refine operational frameworks and enhance overall service governance.
• Demonstrate leadership, professionalism, and resilience, setting a standard for efficiency, reliability, and teamwork across the organization.

Profile & Qualifications

• BSC in Computer Science, Engineering or relevant field.
• 5+ years of experience in Application Support, Production Management, or Operations within a financial software or trading technology environment.
• Proven experience leading a support or application management team with measurable success in SLA adherence and client satisfaction.
• Strong understanding of trading system workflows, production monitoring, and post-trade operations.
• Familiarity with ITIL frameworks, incident management tools, and ticketing systems (e.g.ServiceNow, Jira).
• Knowledge of Linux systems, networking, and basic scripting for troubleshooting and automation.
• Experience with monitoring tools (e.g.Grafana, Prometheus, Splunk) and alerting mechanisms.
• Understanding of DevOps principles, release management, and system integration best practices.
• Awareness of compliance, security, and data protection standards relevant to financial environments.
• Demonstrated accountability, autonomy, and commitment to service quality and deadlines.
• Excellent organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong leadership and communication abilities, especially under high-pressure conditions.
• Focus on client success, customer care, and operational reliability.
• Team-oriented mindset fostering collaboration, trust, and efficiency.
• High level of professionalism, confidentiality, and ethical conduct.
• Fluency in English and Italian (spoken and written).
• Dedication to continuous learning and staying current with technologies and best practices in production management.

W e are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, gender, age, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, or any other legally protected factor. We value the unique talents of all our people, who come from diverse backgrounds with different personal experiences and points of view and we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect.

Additional Information

This job description is only describing the main activities within a certain role and is not exhaustive. It does not prevent to add more tasks, projects.

#J-18808-Ljbffr