Application Manager

Application Manager - Functions Technology

Liverpool | 12-Month FTC | Hybrid

We are working with a leading UK wealth management group, who are looking to appoint an Application Manager into their Functions Technology team.

This is an opportunity to take ownership of a portfolio of enterprise applications supporting key corporate functions, including Finance, People, Risk and Compliance.

The role combines application management, technical leadership, supplier management and service improvement. They're looking for someone who can bring greater stability and control to the application estate while supporting ongoing development, configuration and wider technology improvements.

The Role

You’ll be accountable for the operational performance, resilience and ongoing improvement of the Functions application portfolio.

Working closely with business stakeholders, technology teams and external suppliers, you'll lead a small application team and help develop a more mature approach to application and production management.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading a team of application professionals and coordinating embedded systems engineers.
• Taking ownership of application performance, availability, support and operational resilience.
• Improving production management, addressing recurring incidents and strengthening service stability.
• Managing strategic application suppliers, service levels and commercial relationships.
• Supporting application development, configuration, integrations and ongoing improvements.
• Driving application lifecycle management and contributing to wider technology architecture rationalisation.
• Strengthening application governance, risk management, controls and audit readiness.
• Ensuring new application changes and releases transition safely into production.
• Building strong relationships with senior stakeholders across Finance, HR, Risk and Compliance.
• Developing service reporting, improvement roadmaps and consistent application management practices.

What They're Looking For

You’ll ideally have:

• Experience managing a portfolio of enterprise business applications.
• A background in application engineering, development, configuration or application support.
• Experience leading application teams and coordinating technical resources.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise applications such as SAP, Workday, SuccessFactors, SunSystems or similar platforms.
• Experience managing application suppliers, service performance and contractual obligations.
• A good understanding of ITIL-based service management, including incident, problem and change management.
• Experience improving production stability, operational resilience and application support models.
• An understanding of application integrations, data flows, identity and access management.
• Experience working within a regulated or highly controlled environment.
• The ability to influence senior stakeholders and translate business priorities into technology improvements.

ITIL certification would be beneficial, although practical experience is equally important.

The Opportunity

You’ll be joining at an important point in the development of their Functions Technology capability.

The immediate focus is improving application stability, strengthening supplier performance and maturing production management, while also supporting application development and longer-term architecture rationalisation.

You’ll have direct leadership responsibility for three team members, alongside oversight of additional embedded systems engineering resources.