Application Support Engineer Lead

Job Summary:

We are looking for a highly experienced Lead Application Support Engineer with 12+ years of experience in supporting enterprise-critical applications. The ideal candidate should possess strong expertise in Application Support, Python, and SQL, along with proven experience in leading support teams, managing production incidents, driving service improvements, and ensuring 24x7 application availability.

The role requires a blend of technical leadership, operational excellence, stakeholder management, and team mentoring to ensure seamless support of business-critical applications.

Mandatory Skills

• Application Support
• Python
• SQL
• Team Leadership
• Incident & Problem Management
• Production Support

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership

• Lead and manage a team of Application Support Engineers responsible for supporting critical business applications.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to team members.
• Drive troubleshooting efforts for complex production issues and critical incidents.
• Review and improve application support processes, standards, and best practices.
• Ensure application availability, reliability, and performance by proactively addressing risks and recurring issues.

Application Support & Operations:

• Own end-to-end production support for enterprise applications.
• Monitor application health, performance metrics, and system alerts.
• Analyze logs, application behavior, and infrastructure components to identify issues.
• Perform root cause analysis (RCA) and implement preventive and corrective actions.
• Coordinate major incident management activities and lead bridge calls during critical outages.
• Support application deployments, release activities, and post-production validations.

Python & Automation:

• Develop and maintain Python-based automation solutions for operational efficiency.
• Automate monitoring, alerting, reconciliation, reporting, and routine support tasks.
• Improve support productivity through scripting and workflow automation.

Database Support:

• Create, optimize, and troubleshoot complex SQL queries.
• Investigate database-related incidents and performance bottlenecks.
• Work closely with DBAs and development teams to improve database performance and reliability.

Stakeholder & Team Management:

• Act as the primary point of contact for business stakeholders, delivery teams, and leadership.
• Manage support team workload, shift planning, and resource allocation.
• Conduct performance discussions, mentoring sessions, and skill development initiatives.
• Track and report support metrics, SLA compliance, and operational KPIs.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across support functions.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 12+ years of experience in Application/Production Support.
• Minimum 3-5 years of experience managing or leading support teams.
• Strong hands-on expertise in Python scripting and automation.
• Strong expertise in SQL query writing, database troubleshooting, and performance tuning.
• Experience handling high-severity incidents and critical production environments.
• Strong understanding of ITIL methodologies and support processes.
• Experience working in Agile and DevOps-enabled environments.

Preferred Skills:

• Unix/Linux Administration
• Shell Scripting
• Azure or AWS Cloud Platforms
• Splunk, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, Grafana, ELK Stack
• CI/CD Tools (Jenkins, GitHub, Azure DevOps)
• ServiceNow, Jira, Remedy
• API and Microservices Support

Leadership Expectations:

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of support engineers.
• Drive operational excellence and continuous service improvement.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and business communications.
• Ensure SLA adherence and effective incident management.
• Build high-performing support teams through coaching and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Drive automation and innovation within support operations.

Key Competencies:

• Team Leadership
• Production Support Management
• Incident & Problem Management
• Python Automation
• SQL & Database Management
• Stakeholder Communication
• Root Cause Analysis
• Service Delivery Management
• Performance Monitoring
• Decision Making & Escalation Management