IT Applications Lead

SOHAR Port and Freezone; Schamal al-Batina; On-site; OMR 23,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

SOHAR Port and Freezone in Oman seeks an IT Applications Technical Lead to drive the design, development, and integration of core business software. You will translate business needs into functional and technical specs, supervise delivery, and ensure alignment with security and quality standards.

Your role includes leading the technical delivery of applications projects, coordinating with vendors, and maintaining documentation to support operations and change management.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and relevant certifications required.
• Minimum five years’ experience developing, maintaining and integrating business applications.
• Experience as IT technical lead or team lead in applications/digitalization.
• Fluent in Arabic and English (oral and written).

Responsibilities

• Provide technical input to the Digitalization Manager on applications roadmap and IT plan.
• Coach and guide applications team members and review designs for deliveries.
• Lead technical planning of IT applications projects and supervise implementations.
• Ensure applications support meets SLAs and user satisfaction.
• Direct day-to-day tasks of the team and vendors.
• Identify opportunities for automation, integration, cost savings and security improvements.
• Define and enforce architecture, integration, coding and secure-development standards.
• Supervise development and integrations for digitalization of workflows and BI dashboards.
• Coordinate with vendors’ teams and review activity against specs and standards.

Skills

Technical leadership

Team leadership

Application development

Project delivery

SLAs & support

Vendor management

Architecture standards

Automation opportunities

Security best practices

Business analysis

Change management

Arabic and English fluency

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, Information Systems or related field

Professional certification in software development, cloud platforms, Agile/Scrum or ITIL

Tools

.NET/C#

Java

APIs

SharePoint/Power Platform

Microsoft SQL Server

Job description

Sohar, Sultanate of Oman

• Major or specification Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services
• Nationality Omani
• Country Sultanate of Oman

About Us

SOHAR Port and Freezone is a deep-sea Port and Freezone in the Sultanate of Oman, managed by SOHAR Industrial Port Company (SIPC), a 50:50 joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam and the Sultanate of Oman.

Job Description

Technical Leadership:

• Provide technical input to the Digitalization Manager on the applications roadmap, priorities and the IT annual plan.
  
• Coach and guide applications team members and ensure design and quality reviews are carried out for applications delivered by the team and vendors.
  
• Lead the technical planning of IT applications projects and supervise their implementation.
  
• Ensure applications support is delivered within the agreed service levels (SLAs) to achieve user and customer satisfaction.
  
• Assign and direct the day-to-day application tasks of the team and vendors.
  
• Identify opportunities and propose solutions for business services automation, integration, cost savings, quality andsecurity improvement.
  
• Act as the technical design authority: define and enforce application architecture, integration, coding and secure-development standards.
  

Application Development and Project Delivery:

• Understand business processes and requirements by working closely with business units, and translate them into
  
• functional and technical specifications.
  
• Supervise applications development and integrations for the digitalization and automation of business workflows, as well as the development of Business Intelligence dashboards and reports.
  
• Lead the technical delivery of assigned IT applications projects within the agreed scope, schedule and quality, to achieve business objectives.
  
• Act as technical lead for applications-related projects initiated by the business units.
  
• Prepare technical solution designs and options (including build vs. buy) for assigned projects, for the Digitalization Manager’s review and decision.
  
• Provide progress, risk and issue updates on assigned projects to the Digitalization Manager.
  
• Work closely with vendors’ development teams and review their development activities against technical specifications and standards.
  
• Define the testing approach and quality gates; ensure functional, technical and performance testing is completed, and solutions are verified before UAT and release to production.
  
• Ensure technical and functional documentation for IT applications is maintained to agreed standards.
  
• Direct the development and enhancement of in-house applications to match business processes and requirements.
  

Applications Operations & Support

• Act as the escalation point for complex application issues and drive root-cause resolution.
  
• Lead the resolution of application incidents and problems with the Service Desk and vendors, within the agreed SLAs.
  
• Provide technical evaluation of vendors’ support performance as input to applications support and license contract renewals.
  
• Ensure application maintenance is carried out, including timely installation of software patches and upgrades, performance monitoring and analysis of usage patterns to identify modifications/enhancements.
  
• Ensure application access controls are implemented in line with security best practices and the company security policy, and support periodic access reviews.
  
• Ensure IT applications comply with internal and national policies and procedures, including periodic backup and restoration testing.
  

Change Management and User Readiness

• Lead the change management process for application-related changes, planning the smooth migration of modifications/enhancements to the production environment.
• Ensure knowledge transfer from vendors and user readiness (including end-user training) for new or changed applications.

• Direct vendors on the technical aspects of business applications, assess proposed functionality against business requirements and recommend suitable solutions.
  
• Track software updates/upgrades available in the market and evaluate them against business requirements.
  
• Identify and recommend opportunities for continuous improvement and sustainability of systems, processes and practices, considering global best standards, productivity improvement and cost reduction.
  
• Comply with and promote all relevant quality, health, safety and environmental management policies, procedures and controls within the applications activities, to ensure employee safety, legislative compliance, delivery of high-quality products/services and a responsible environmental attitude.
  

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, Information Systems or a related field.
  
• Professional certification in software development, cloud platforms, Agile/Scrum or ITIL is preferable.
  
• Minimum Experience & Knowledge & Skills
  
• Minimum five years’ experience in developing, maintaining and integrating business applications, of which at least three years as an IT technical lead or team lead of an applications team or digitalization unit.
  
• Excellent knowledge of popular enterprise business applications (e.g., ERP) in the market.
  
• Good technical and functional knowledge of common cloud computing and SaaS solutions.
  
• Solid understanding of enterprise application development technologies (e.g., .NET/C#, Java, web applications, APIs, SharePoint/Power Platform), sufficient to assess solution designs and guide the team and vendors.
  
• Good working knowledge of relational databases (e.g., Microsoft SQL Server), including data modelling, SQL, data migration and integration, sufficient to guide and review the team’s and vendors’ work.
  
• Knowledge of mobile programming (iOS, Android) is preferable.
  
• Experience with application integration (APIs, middleware) and Agile/DevOps delivery practices.
  
• Experience in building good working relationships with business users, stakeholders and vendors.
  
• Good experience in leading the technical delivery of business software development projects.
  
• Proven ability to write effective system and process documentation, including business and system requirements,process diagrams and data flow charts.
  
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills.
  
• Fluency in Arabic and English both oral and written.