Application Support Manager (DevOps)

Monroe Consulting Group, an Executive Recruitment firm, is partnering with a leading organisation in the Information Technology sector to hire a Manager, Application Support & Operations. This opportunity is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Position Overview

Lead the Application Support and Operations function, ensuring the stability, performance, and continuous improvement of business-critical enterprise applications. Drive operational excellence through strong team leadership, incident management, service optimisation, governance, and the adoption of modern technologies and automation practices.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of application support engineers.
• Manage workload distribution, task prioritisation, and team performance.
• Conduct regular coaching sessions, performance reviews, and operational meetings.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and knowledge sharing.
• Ensure operational KPIs, service levels, and support metrics are consistently achieved.

Application Support & Production Operations

• Lead daily support operations across multiple business-critical applications.
• Manage L1, L2, and L3 support activities, including escalation management.
• Act as the primary escalation point for critical production incidents.
• Drive incident investigation, troubleshooting, resolution, and stakeholder communications.
• Lead Root Cause Analysis (RCA) activities and implement preventive measures to reduce recurring incidents.
• Monitor application health, system performance, integrations, and operational risks.

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical guidance to support teams and collaborate closely with development and engineering functions.
• Support enterprise applications built on:
  • C# .NET
  • SQL Server
  • MySQL
  • ETL and data integration platforms
• Review and analyse technical issues, production defects, and performance concerns.
• Participate in troubleshooting discussions and provide direction on complex application issues.

Automation & Continuous Improvement

• Drive the adoption of modern technologies and AI-powered tools across support operations.
• Leverage technology to improve:
  • Incident investigation
  • Troubleshooting efficiency
  • Root Cause Analysis
  • Knowledge management
  • Documentation processes
• Identify opportunities to automate repetitive operational activities and support workflows.
• Promote innovation to improve service quality, operational efficiency, and team productivity.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure support operations remain audit-ready and compliant with internal policies and controls.
• Support internal and external audit activities.
• Maintain documentation, operational procedures, support records, and knowledge repositories.
• Oversee access reviews, approvals, and governance processes.
• Ensure adherence to operational standards, controls, and service management practices.

Stakeholder Management

• Act as a key liaison between business users, support teams, and technology teams.
• Communicate incident status, service updates, operational risks, and project progress effectively.
• Translate technical issues into meaningful business impact assessments.
• Build strong relationships across business and technology stakeholders.

Key Requirements

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in Application Support, Production Support, IT Operations, or related functions.
• Minimum 3 years of people management experience leading technical support or operations teams.
• Proven experience managing production incidents, service operations, and application support environments.
• Experience leading teams responsible for L1, L2, and L3 support functions.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Experience supporting audit, compliance, and governance activities.
• Experience working within regulated or highly governed environments is advantageous.

Technical / Functional Expertise

• Application Support and Production Operations.
• Incident Management and Root Cause Analysis (RCA).
• C# .NET application environments.
• Microsoft SQL Server.
• MySQL databases.
• ETL and data integration processes.
• ITIL principles and IT Service Management (ITSM) practices.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS and/or Microsoft Azure.
• Exposure to API integrations and web services.
• Experience with monitoring, observability, and application performance management tools.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted support tools and operational automation solutions.
• Exposure to application modernisation, platform transformation, or cloud migration initiatives.

Soft Skills & Leadership Competencies

• Strong people leadership, coaching, and mentoring capabilities.
• Excellent problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Ability to remain calm and effective during major incidents and critical situations.
• Strong sense of ownership, accountability, and operational excellence.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Ability to balance day-to-day operational priorities with long‑term improvement initiatives.
• Strong collaboration and cross-functional leadership capabilities.
• Continuous improvement mindset with a focus on service quality and operational efficiency.