Application Support Manager

The Application Service Manager is responsible for ensuring the effective delivery, governance, and continuous improvement of application support services across a portfolio of business-critical applications.

This role serves as the primary liaison between internal technology teams, business stakeholders, and managed service providers to ensure service quality, operational excellence, adherence to ITIL practices, and achievement of service level commitments.

The role is accountable for vendor governance, service performance management, operational readiness, disaster recovery coordination, and support model oversight. The Application Service Manager will partner closely with the Application Support leadership team to drive operational stability, continuous improvement, and assist in the successful execution of the Global Disaster Recovery program.

Responsibilities

Application Service Management

• Ensure application support services are delivered in accordance with agreed service levels, operational targets, and business expectations.
• Own the operational governance of assigned application services throughout their lifecycle.
• Monitor application availability, performance, service quality, and support effectiveness.
• Analyze service trends and identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency and user experience.
• Support the successful transition of new applications, enhancements, and projects into operational support.
• Ensure support documentation, operational procedures, knowledge articles, and runbooks are maintained and regularly reviewed.
• Participate in application lifecycle planning and support model development.

Vendor Management & Service Governance

• Act as the primary operational contact for managed service providers supporting Application Support.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with strategic vendors and suppliers.
• Monitor and govern vendor performance against contractual obligations, SLAs, KPIs, and operational commitments.
• Lead regular service review meetings and drive follow-up actions to improve service delivery.
• Manage vendor escalations and coordinate resolution of service issues impacting business operations.
• Support contract reviews, service improvement initiatives, and operational governance activities.
• Ensure clear accountability exists across internal teams and external service providers.

ITIL Service Management

• Promote and ensure adherence to ITIL-based service management practices.
• Support Incident, Problem, Change, Release, and Service Request Management processes.
• Act as an escalation point for major incidents and service disruptions.
• Coordinate post-incident reviews and root cause analysis activities.
• Drive corrective and preventative actions to improve service stability and reduce recurring issues.
• Participate in Change Advisory Board (CAB) activities and assess operational impacts associated with planned changes.

Disaster Recovery & Operational Readiness

• Support the planning, coordination, and execution of the Global Disaster Recovery program.
• Work with application owners, infrastructure teams, vendors, and business stakeholders to maintain disaster recovery plans and recovery procedures.
• Coordinate disaster recovery testing activities and ensure lessons learned are documented and addressed.
• Track application recovery objectives and ensure disaster recovery requirements are maintained.
• Identify operational risks, resilience gaps, and remediation opportunities.
• Provide reporting and recommendations regarding disaster recovery readiness and test results.

Stakeholder Management

• Develop strong partnerships with business and technology stakeholders across multiple regions.
• Communicate service performance, operational risks, and improvement opportunities to leadership teams.
• Translate technical issues into business impacts and actionable recommendations.
• Support business stakeholders during major incidents, service reviews, audits, and recovery exercises.
• Collaborate with project teams to ensure operational support requirements are incorporated into solution delivery.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify and implement opportunities to improve support processes, service quality, and operational efficiency.
• Support automation and standardization initiatives across application support services.
• Drive service maturity by leveraging operational metrics, customer feedback, and industry best practices.
• Contribute to the ongoing evolution of the Application Support operating model.

How I make a difference in this role

• Ensure business-critical applications remain stable, available, and well-supported.
• Foster productive partnerships between internal teams and external service providers.
• Strengthen operational governance, service quality, and customer satisfaction.
• Improve disaster recovery preparedness and application resilience.
• Drive continuous improvement through effective service management and operational oversight.
• Reduce business risk through proactive planning, governance, and issue resolution.

Essential Skills & Experience

• 5+ years of experience in Application Support, Service Management, IT Operations, or related technology support functions.
• Experience working with managed service providers and outsourced support organizations.
• Strong understanding of ITIL principles and service management best practices.
• Experience supporting Incident, Problem, Change, Release, and Service Level Management processes.
• Experience governing vendor performance through SLAs, KPIs, and regular service reviews.
• Experience supporting business-critical enterprise applications.
• Experience coordinating or participating in Disaster Recovery testing and recovery planning activities.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building capabilities.
• Ability to influence outcomes across teams without direct authority.
• Ability to prioritize multiple activities and effectively manage competing demands.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience supporting SaaS, cloud-based, and on-premises applications.
• Experience working within a global support organization and follow-the-sun support model.
• Experience with ServiceNow or other IT Service Management platforms.
• Experience supporting operational resilience, disaster recovery, or business continuity initiatives.
• Experience driving service improvement and operational transformation initiatives.
• Familiarity with application monitoring and reporting tools.
• Knowledge of SharePoint, SQL, and Active Directory., * ITIL Foundation Certification required.
• Bachelors degree in information technology, Computer Science, Business, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.

RS is a high-service global product and service solutions provider for industrial customers, enabling them to operate efficiently and sustainably.

We operate in 33 markets, stock over 875,000 industrial and specialist products and list an additional five million relevant for our industrial customers, sourced from over 2,500 suppliers. This extensive range supports our customers across the industrial lifecycle of designing, building and maintaining equipment and operations. We enhance their experience through a tailored service model, leveraging our efficient physical, digital and process infrastructure sustainably. We combine a technically led and digitally enabled approach with an exceptional team of experts; ultimately, it’s our people that make the difference.

Our purpose, making amazing happen for a better world, reflects our focus on delivering results for people, planet and profit.