Application Support Lead

Newcastle University; Newcastle upon Tyne; Hybrid; GBP 47,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Excellent pension

Flexible working options

42 days holiday (including publichols)

Job summary

Newcastle University is seeking a senior technical leader in the Application Support Team to provide technical authority, drive service excellence, and own end-to-end hosting of multi-platform systems across Windows, Linux, Azure and SaaS.

You will mentor staff, set technical standards, lead major incidents, and work with stakeholders to ensure resilient, available services while advancing the team’s capability within ITIL frameworks.

Qualifications

• Experience with multi-platform and cloud troubleshooting across Windows, Linux, Azure and SaaS
• Advanced database management skills covering SQL Server, MySQL and MariaDB
• Proven experience with ITIL processes, change and incident management
• Ability to lead major incidents and coordinate resolver groups
• Experience onboarding complex applications from requirements to live production
• Strong mentoring skills and capability-building within teams
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders

Responsibilities

• Design, integrate and manage enterprise-level, cloud, SaaS and hybrid applications on Windows/UNIX-like systems
• Manage application databases ensuring data integrity and performance
• Develop new functionality to enhance existing applications using various tools
• Lead business analysis and consultation before tendering or purchases
• Gather requirements and design IT solutions that are resilient and highly available
• Maintain knowledge of systems and services to support incident management and continual service improvement
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders to align university requirements with the service
• Lead on projects or changes as part of wider NU project teams
• Develop and enforce best-practice policies and standards across the service

Skills

Multi-Platform & Cloud Troubleshooting

Database Administration & Data Quality

ITIL Frameworks & Service Governance

Major Incident & Technical Leadership

Application Onboarding & Lifecycle

Adaptive Mentoring & Team Development

Stakeholder Advisory & Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Relevant technical qualification or equivalent experience

Tools

Windows Server

Linux

Azure

SaaS environments

SQL Server

MySQL

MariaDB

Job description

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Salary: £47,389 to £50,253 with progression to £56,535 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits . We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 18 October 2026

The Role

As a senior technical leader in the Application Support Team, you will be the primary technical authority and a proactive driver of service excellence across our diverse application landscape. You will take end to end ownership of multi-platform systems, actively pinpointing areas for continuous improvement and setting technical standards. In addition to delivering resilient services and advising University stakeholders, you will lead new application hosting and mentor team members to build capability across the service.

The Application Support Team consists of 10 people with a broad set of skills, with diverse interests, and experiences. We support roughly 60 services, made up of about 80 applications across Windows, Linux, Azure and SaaS platforms. Our support ranges from building management systems to core teaching and learning services.

To succeed in this role, you should have experience in the following areas:

• Multi-Platform & Cloud Troubleshooting: Expert level root cause analysis and diagnosis across Windows Server, Linux (RHEL and other distributions), Azure, and SaaS environments hosting mission critical services
• Database Administration & Data Integrity: Advanced, hands-on database management skills across SQL Server, MySQL, and MariaDB, including query optimization, maintenance, data integrity, and disaster recovery
• ITIL Frameworks & Service Governance: Strong discipline and complete comfort working within structured ITIL processes. Highly proactive with change management, problem management, incident escalation, and diligent ticket documentation
• Major Incident & Technical Leadership: Proven ability to oversee high-priority incidents from a technical standpoint, coordinating resolver groups and guiding subject matter experts, with the hands-on capability to step in directly whenever necessary
• Application Onboarding & Lifecycle Management: Extensive experience taking complex corporate applications from requirements and hosting architecture through to live production, support standards, and staff training
• Adaptive Mentoring & Team Development: Ability to tailor your coaching and leadership style to individual team members, instilling technical confidence, encouraging knowledge sharing, and building team capability
• High Capacity & Stakeholder Advisory: Strong ability to absorb vast amounts of system knowledge quickly, balance multiple operational priorities simultaneously, and communicate complex technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders

About you

You are a versatile, highly proactive problem solver with the presence to inspire confidence across the organization and the capacity to rapidly master a large, diverse application estate. You thrive in a demanding environment where you manage multiple complex priorities at once, rather than coasting on routine tasks. Colleagues look up to you as a trusted advisor for both long term technical discussions and high-stakes problem resolution. You bring high standards, an adaptable approach to mentoring different personalities, and total comfort operating within structured ITIL frameworks.

Benefits & Environment

The University is an exciting and dynamic place to work, dedicated to world-leading education and research. Benefits include excellent pension; flexible working options; 42 days holiday (including public holidays); discounted travel for the Metro and local bus services; and discounts for national retailers. You can find out more on our benefits web page.

We are committed to building and maintaining a fair and inclusive working environment and we would be happy to discuss arrangements for flexible working. The University and the Application Support team have adopted a blended working policy. While we offer flexibility, there is an expectation to be on site when required by the role, team, or department.

Key Accountabilities

• Design, Integrate, administrate, and manage enterprise level, cloud, SaaS, hybrid and server-based applications on Windows/UNIX/UNIX like operating systems
• Design, administrate and manage application databases to ensure continued integrity of the data and efficiency of the related systems
• Design and development of new applications and of new functionality to enhance and augment existing applications using a mixture of development tools and methodologies
• Lead business analysis and consultation phase prior to any tendering process or product purchase
• Gather requirements from stakeholders and design, implement and maintain IT solutions to meet those requirements. Ensure all systems are resilient and highly available. Perform regular disaster recovery testing of critical systems and report to University audit committee
• Ensure working knowledge of all systems and services provided by the application support team is maintained to perform incident management, root cause analysis of problems, and continual service improvement
• Maintain awareness of current cyber security threats and implement technologies to strengthen the University’s cyber security posture
• Act as a senior application support SME and use this knowledge to deliver excellence in operational support, project and change delivery and help in defining the future strategy and assist the team manager in delivering the overall service
• Act as a deputy to the team manager if so required and take responsibility for management of tasks and activities allocated to them by their manager
• Act as a coach and mentor to other members of the team, share their knowledge and help to build up the capability of the team overall
• Engage with stakeholders across NUIT and the University to build and maintain good working relationships and ensure there is a clear understanding of university requirements within the team
• Act as a trusted advisor, building robust and collaborative relationships with other IT and University leaders to develop a clear understanding of business needs
• Lead on any project or change related activity as part of wider NUIT or NU project teams
• Be responsible for developing best-practice policies, standards, procedures and guidelines, guided by NUIT standards and other stakeholders
• Any other reasonable duties that fall within the scope of the post, as allocated by the line manager

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Extensive Technical background in our core technologies including physical, virtualised, SaaS and hybrid application delivery, Windows, UNIX/UNIX like, Azure cloud services, SQL database management, Windows and UNIX/UNIX like user administration
• Experience of supporting and delivering application support in a similar sized, complex and geographically diverse organisation
• Experience of working with third party vendors and delivering an effective Platforms & Services service using their services
• Interest in identifying and implementing new and innovative technologies to support customer needs, drive up quality and improve value
• Experience of working with multiple support and resolver groups across a wide variety of technologies
• Able to demonstrate focus on customer needs
• Experience of working with Information Security teams and other governance groups to ensure that University assets are protected from internal and external attacks. A working knowledge of Cybersecurity processes and practices is essential

Attributes and Behaviour

Team Working

• Builds both formal and informal professional networks, and extends these networks within, across and external to organizational boundaries
• Encourages and facilitates collaboration, cooperation and results
• Inspires, motivates and guides more junior team members
• Supports organizational change agents to improve maturity and practices, in support of University goals and strategy
• Mobilizes others within and outside of their team to support and enable change efforts

Finding Solutions

• Supports Analyses situations quickly and effectively to determine the best way to deliver the required result
• Keeps their technical knowledge up to date and has a wider understanding of the technology landscape inside and outside their area

Delivering Services

• Sets and accomplishes challenging goals
• Defines standards in terms of doing what is appropriate and doing it well
• Leads by example in delivering high quality outcomes that they take responsibility for

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• A relevant technical qualification or equivalent technical experience

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

Newcastle University holds a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.