Application Support Analyst

VANRATH; Belfast City District; Hybrid; GBP 43,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Private medical cover

Pension matching

Enhanced annual leave

Wellbeing programme

Free car parking

Onsite EV charging

Complimentary lunch

Professional development

Career progression

Wellbeing days

Job summary

VANRATH is seeking an Application Support Analyst on a 12-month fixed-term contract in Belfast. The role focuses on 1st/2nd line support for business-critical applications, with hybrid working (3 days in the office, 2 days at home) and a 36-hour week.

You’ll manage incidents, monitor systems and work with IT teams and vendors to improve availability and performance. The ideal candidate has strong troubleshooting skills, experience in high-availability environments, and excellent stakeholder

Qualifications

• Third-level IT/CS or related degree or equivalent experience.
• Experience supporting business-critical applications in high-availability or 24/7 environments.
• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills.
• Experience collaborating with business users, IT teams and third-party suppliers.
• Good organisational and communication skills, including documentation.
• Ability to prioritise incidents in time-sensitive environments.
• Willingness to participate in on-call/out-of-hours support.

Responsibilities

• Provide 1st and 2nd line application support, resolving incidents and service requests.
• Monitor application performance, availability and system health to minimise downtime.
• Investigate recurring issues and perform root-cause analysis.
• Support incident, problem and change management per SLAs.
• Assist with upgrades, releases, testing and deployment activity.
• Collaborate with IT teams, business users and suppliers to resolve issues.
• Maintain technical documentation and support procedures.
• Own assigned applications and understand their dependencies.
• Identify opportunities to improve performance, monitoring, automation and service delivery.
• Support business continuity and resilience testing.

Skills

Troubleshooting

Analytical skills

Stakeholder management

Organisational skills

Communication

Documentation

On-call readiness

Education

IT/Computing degree

Tools

SQL

Linux

ITIL

Job description

Application Support Analyst - 12-Month Fixed-Term Contract

Location: Belfast (Hybrid - 3 days office / 2 days home)
Salary: 43-48k pa
Contract: 12-month Fixed-Term Contract
Working Hours: 36 hours per week

The Opportunity

I'm working with a leading organisation within Northern Ireland's energy and utilities sector to recruit an Application Support Analyst on a 12-month fixed-term contract.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a technology operations team responsible for supporting business-critical applications that underpin essential services and infrastructure.

As an Application Support Analyst, you'll play an important role in ensuring key systems remain available, secure and reliable, working closely with internal technology teams, business users and external software suppliers.

You'll be involved in application support, incident management, troubleshooting, system monitoring, upgrades and continuous improvement activities, gaining exposure to a complex and highly important technology environment.

The Application Support Analyst role would suit someone with experience supporting business-critical applications who enjoys investigating technical issues, working with different stakeholders and taking ownership of systems and services.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide 1st and 2nd line application support, investigating and resolving technical incidents and service requests.

• Monitor application performance, availability and system health, helping minimise service disruption.

• Investigate recurring issues, undertake root cause analysis and implement preventative solutions.

• Support incident, problem and change management processes in line with agreed SLAs.

• Assist with application upgrades, releases, testing and deployment activities.

• Work closely with internal IT teams, business users and third-party software suppliers to resolve technical issues.

• Maintain technical documentation, support procedures and knowledge repositories.

• Take ownership of assigned applications, understanding their functionality, dependencies and operational requirements.

• Identify opportunities to improve application performance, monitoring, automation and service delivery.

• Support business continuity, disaster recovery, resilience testing and relevant compliance activities.

• Participate in an out-of-hours support rota when required.

Essential Criteria

• A third-level qualification in IT, Computer Science, Business Information Systems or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.

• Experience supporting business-critical applications within a highly available or 24/7 operational environment.

• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills, with the ability to investigate and resolve complex technical issues.

• Experience working with business users, technical teams and third-party suppliers.

• Good organisational and communication skills, including technical documentation.

• Ability to prioritise incidents and manage competing demands in a time-sensitive environment.

• Willingness to participate in an on-call and out-of-hours support rota.

Desirable Experience

Experience in any of the following would be beneficial:

• ITIL processes, particularly Incident, Problem and Change Management.

• SQL and database technologies.

• Linux administration and scripting.

• Application integrations, interfaces and data exchange services.

• Application testing, release and deployment activities.

• Cybersecurity and information security.

• Operational technology, utilities, energy or other critical national infrastructure environments.

What's on Offer?

• Salary of 43-48k pa.

• 12-month fixed-term contract.

• 36-hour working week.

• Hybrid working - 3 days in the Belfast office and 2 days from home.

• Performance-related bonus.

• Private medical cover and pension matching.

• Enhanced annual leave and family-friendly benefits.

• Wellbeing programme and additional wellbeing days.

• Free car parking, onsite EV charging and complimentary lunch.

• Professional development and career progression opportunities.

• Exposure to a highly important technology environment within the energy sector.

Why Work With Me?

I'm JP Rooney, a specialist IT Contract & Interim Recruitment Consultant with VANRATH, supporting organisations across Northern Ireland with their technology recruitment.

Over the past few years, I've placed hundreds of IT contractors, with the vast majority securing extensions or permanent opportunities.

I take a personal and honest approach to recruitment, meeting candidates to understand their experience, career ambitions and what they're looking for next. I also provide ongoing advice and support throughout the recruitment process and beyond.

VANRATH has been supporting organisations across Northern Ireland for over 25 years, with access to a network of more than 60,000 local candidates.

If you're an Application Support Analyst looking for your next opportunity, or have experience supporting critical business applications, I'd be keen to hear from you.