IT Service Support Specialist - Business Response

Job description / Role

IT Service Support Specialist - Business Response - Investment Management

Our client, a leading investment company is seeking to recruit an IT Service Support Specialist within their IT Business Response Department. You will report to the Business Response Manager. The role offers a generous tax free salary with exceptional benefits.

The Information Technology Department is responsible for the efficient sourcing, development and deployment of easy to use technology solutions that address the business needs. By being aligned to the business and working in partnership with them the Information Technology Department is focused on adding value through prudent innovation and disciplined execution.

Senior member of a team responsible for ‘Operating the Business Plant’, i.e. ensuring the continuous operation of business services, maintaining the readiness of business services and the management of technology operating risks.

Operating the Business Plant means providing desk-aligned service delivery and production support. Business Response/Front Office Technical specialists are assigned a desk/group of desks or business area; they are the point of contact for IT business service problems related to that Business and queries related to that Business’ use of those services. Calls are both from Users (e.g. Traders) and other stakeholders (e.g. Compliance, Audit, etc.). Business Response/Front Office Technical specialists are responsible for the continuous review and assessment of the effectiveness of our operational risk controls and for executing and ensuring key polices and best practice. A key aspect of the role is managing demands from the Desk and that may involve enhancements to business applications or the supporting application infrastructure.
- The team works on the trading floor or close to the relevant business.
- The team is involved in day-to-day interaction with Traders, Investment Managers and other key users.
- The team uses detailed knowledge of business processes and applications to anticipate or quickly diagnose and solve problems, whether the nature of the problem is pricing, technical, functional, or in usage
- After researching and diagnosing bugs, the team provides feedback to the development group on new application requirements, helping to prioritise fixes and liaising with Traders, Operations, etc. for acceptance.
- The team makes appropriate system enhancements in response to changing business needs. The team is focused on setting standards for services testing, documentation and deployment.
- A flexible approach to working hours is required. In order to cover business/trading hours, there is a rota system in place and team members are expected to carry a mobile.
- The team will naturally act as a key interface to the business from IT and is expected to provide input into re- engineering the business process as necessary.

Responsibilities:
- Point of contact and escalation, both for Users and other members of IT, for IT service problems and queries relating to that Desk’s or Business’ use of IT services.
- Resolution of business-impacting incidents and problems through direct action or co-ordination of other groups.
- Monitoring of the key components that make up the service delivery stack from front-end applications through to back-end infrastructure.
- Communication to the Desk/Business of problems that will affect their activities or operations.
- Demand management for the Desk/Business i.e. proactively identifying demands, specifying enhancements, tracking them, prioritising them and participating in UAT where appropriate. Making appropriate system enhancements in response to changing business requirements or business issues.
- Staffing a rota to ensure adequate coverage across the Desk/Business over business hours (trading, EOD, overnight, etc.).
- Specifying, performing and/or proactively monitoring preventative checks for improving service delivery to the Desk/ Business.
- Participating, where appropriate, in the release of new services and upgrades.
- Driving the definition of SLAs / OLAs to ensure effective dependency management for the delivery of IT services.
- Monitoring and reviewing performance against these SLAs / OLAs service.
- Proactively identifying areas for improving the availability of the production environment.
- Maintaining and updating contingency plans by using IT risk analysis methods, tools and techniques to identify potential exposures to services which support critical business processes e.g. single points of failure, lack of effective countermeasures or lack of tested, up-to-date recovery plans. Proving the readiness of contingency platforms.

Requirements

- Bachelor’s Degree is required
- Minimum of 3+ years’ experience in a production support and/or development role.
- User-facing exposure, particularly in a front office environment.
- Expertise in two or more of the preferred tools (SQL, Excel / VBA, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, UNIX Scripts)
- Securities industry business knowledge.
- Highly polished communications skills and ability to interact with business users.
- Excellent proactive approach to solving problems, and demonstrates a strong knowledge of problem management and root cause analysis.
- A flexible approach to working hours required for weekend and out-of-hours coverage.
- Strong team skills with the ability to work openly and co-operatively.
- Strong problem solving capabilities and analytical skills, with the ability to handle multiple tasks concurrently.

About the Company

Building businesses, changing lives

At Tandem, we’ve built a vast network of top-tier professionals across the globe. We empower businesses to thrive by delivering unmatched talent solutions. With our global reach, collaborative approach, and unwavering commitment to excellence, we drive transformative growth and shape exceptional teams.

Who we are.

We are a team of industry experts, driven by a passion for innovation and excellence. We are dedicated to providing unique talent solutions and nurturing collaborative partnerships that redefine success.