Applications Support Team Lead at Absa Bank Limited

Job Purpose

• To manage the implementation, maintenance, and enhancement of all non-core banking Application systems to enable the use of appropriate platform technology, as an integral and reliable component of business process within country. Drive convergence of technologies, ensure delivery of technology projects associated with Applications and liaise and negotiate with internal customers and technology vendors.

Key Accountabilities:

Service (Application) Availability 25%

• The prime responsibility is for maintaining the availability and reliability of applications to ensure that Technology can effectively meet service targets in accordance with planned business objectives.
• The accountability also has a responsibility of analyzing existing application availability issues and problems to determine ways to improve availability at acceptable cost levels.
• The accountability has a responsibility to determine availability requirements for new applications or enhancements to existing applications.
• The accountability has the responsibility of ensuring that parameter set up on applications can effectively meet targets in accordance with planned business objectives.
• The accountability has the responsibility of ensuring that new parameters and amendments of existing parameters are thoroughly tested and signed off before effecting them on production.
• Finally, the accountability has the responsibility of Logical Access Management on the non-core banking systems

Key Activities

• Optimize the availability of the IT infrastructure to deliver cost effective improvements that deliver tangible benefits to business units and customers
• Provide a range of IT availability reporting to ensure that agreed levels of availability, reliability and maintainability are measured and monitored on an ongoing basis
• Provide holistic management of availability that includes people and processes as well as technology
• Take actions to achieve reductions in frequency and duration of incidents that impact IT availability
• Ensure shortfalls in IT availability are recognized and appropriate corrective actions are identified and progressed
• Create and maintain a forward-looking availability plan aimed at improving the overall availability of IT services and infrastructure components to ensure that existing and future availability requirements can be met
• Provide regular reports on availability to the Head of Service Management
• Organize and maintain a regular availability review process with both key business and IT representatives
• Agree appropriate actions to maintain or improve availability levels
• Initiate and coordinate actions required to maintain or improve availability of applications
• Act as a coordination point for changes to availability levels of applications when needed
• Determine the availability requirements from the business for new or enhanced IT applications
• Establish measures and reporting that reflect business, user and IT support requirements with regards to application availability
• Participate in Change Control meetings to assess and authorize changes from an availability perspective
• Assist in SLA negotiation efforts from an availability capability standpoint
• Define the key targets of availability required for the applications and their components that underpin a new or enhanced IT application as the basis for an SLA agreement
• Analyze and review actual availability levels achieved against SLAs and OLAs
• Maintain an awareness of technology advancements and best practices that support

Test Management – 10%

• Responsibility is to ensure that proper testing occurs for all Application changes released into the production environments
• Work closely with Release Analysts
• Review releases and assign appropriate release testing tasks
• Compiles and Review the Testing Deliverables
• Conduct installation procedure tests
• Oversee / Review functional, performance, and integration testing results
• Coordinate user acceptance testing
• Coordinate back out testing
• Conduct supporting documentation review
• Compile test results
• Conduct release test review
• Coordinate post release testing
• Validate and communicate results of testing activities

Business Liaison – 20%

• Single point of contact for one or more business units to represent IT services.
• Identify service needs for the Business Units represented to IT
• Escalate Business unit service issues to the Service Manager
• Communicate service status on service issues to the Business Unit
• Assist in SLA negotiation efforts with Business Unit(s)
• Report on quality of services rendered to Business Unit(s)

Risk Management – 25%

• Build relationship with country Technology Risk and Compliance team and provide support wherever required.
• Ensure that processes and controls are executed in daily work and understand the reasons for the controls and the consequences for failing to adhere to prescribed processes.
• Test a sample of activities on a weekly basis by reviewing documentation and checking work completed by team members to see if control requirements are being adhered to. Coach the team members on areas for improvement and highlight major failures to the manager of the area
• Provide evidence/supporting documents to auditors or management assurance consultants during formal reviews
• Identify losses due to processing errors or internal fraud in the department. Escalate to the manager and provide all the required information to allow logging of the Risk and Loss events. Participate in the investigations
• Make team members aware of all changes to policies, processes and procedures that are being planned for the area and ensure that they are able to incorporate the changes on the effective date. Ensure that team members read circulars that are relevant to the area and answer questions they may have.
• Contribute and deliver to the improvement of the risk profile by delivering improved governance, risk management, controls and compliance requirements.
• Devise and implement an effective plan to deliver a satisfactory risk and audit profile for Operations & IT and achieve audit and assurance targets.

People Management – 20%

• Responsible for driving own Performance Development, collating relevant documentation, preparing for and arranging reviews.
• By utilizing skills matrix, identify training and development requirements, formulating own plan to be agreed with team leader. Responsible for ensuring own plan is completed within agreed timescales.
• Undertake all necessary training in order to perform the role to the required standards, including gaining accreditation where appropriate.

Education and experience required

• Undergraduate or higher in Computer Science or any other Technology related field.
• ITIL Managers Certification or Equivalent
• Additional professional certifications will be an added advantage
• 7 years IT experience minimum
• Minimum of 3 years’ service management experience
• Project management experience
• Team Leadership experience

Knowledge and skills: (Maximum of 6)

• Translate Bus Requirements to Tech Solutions (Solid)
• ITIL - Governance Framework (Solid)
• Strategic Thinking (Solid)
• Negotiation Skills (Solid)
• Subject matter expertise (Solid)
• Communication Skills (Written and Verbal) (Solid)
• Understand the IT service delivery within a corporate environment (Advanced)
• Conceptual thinking, ability to analyse, make decision and initiate action (Solid)

Competencies: (Maximum of 6 competencies)

• Agile ways of working (Meets all the requirements)
• Business Analysis (Meets all the requirements)
• Commercial mindset - (Meets all the requirements)
• Creative and innovative thinking (Meets all the requirements)