Applications Support Lead

PDS Inc.; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

PDS Inc. seeks a senior Applications Services Manager to provide strategic oversight for an enterprise application portfolio supporting municipal water and wastewater services. You will guide lifecycle strategy, modernization planning, vendor engagement, and portfolio optimization.

The role requires deep technical fluency to oversee engineering teams, assess architectural decisions, manage risk, and ensure long-term sustainability, security, and reliability of business-critical applications.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, or a closely related field.
• Six years of experience developing, evaluating, using, and maintaining technical systems and enterprise applications with oversight or coordination of vendor-supported environments.

Responsibilities

• Manage enterprise application portfolio and rationalization efforts.
• Develop strategic lifecycle plans for sustainment, upgrades, modernization, and end-of-life activities.
• Provide oversight into development, configuration, integration, testing, deployment, and production support.
• Track work, metrics, and executive reporting; deliver weekly health and risk reports.

Skills

Portfolio leadership

Strategic planning

Stakeholder engagement

Risk management

Technical oversight

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/IS

Tools

Power BI

Job description

Compensation: DOE Seeking a senior level Applications Services Manager to provide strategic oversight and operational leadership for the enterprise application portfolio supporting municipal water and wastewater services. This role is responsible for guiding application lifecycle strategy, modernization planning, vendor engagement, and portfolio optimization, ensuring applications align with organizational priorities and deliver measurable business outcomes. The Applications Services Manager serves as a strategic portfolio leader with deep technical fluency, capable of aligning technology investments with business objectives, managing risk, and ensuring the long-term sustainability, security, and reliability of business-critical applications. While not a hands-on developer, the role requires sufficient technical depth to effectively oversee engineering teams, assess architectural and lifecycle decisions, and guide complex technical initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

Application Portfolio Management

• Manage and oversee an enterprise application portfolio supporting critical business and operational functions.
• Lead application portfolio rationalization efforts, including consolidation, modernization, replacement, or retirement of applications.

Application Lifecycle Planning & Strategy

• Develop and maintain strategic lifecycle plans and roadmaps addressing sustainment, upgrades, modernization, and end-of-life activities.
• Evaluate technical debt, obsolescence risk, operational impact, and cost to support informed investment decisions.
• Engage stakeholders to understand their business goals, priorities, and desired outcomes; capabilities and limitations; and develop actionable initiatives to address their needs and deliver measurable results.

Technical Oversight & Operations

• Provide oversight into development, configuration, integration, testing, deployment, and production support.
• Review technical designs, upgrade strategies, and implementation approaches to ensure stability, scalability, and maintainability.
• Guide technical staff and vendors during complex incidents, upgrades, and high-risk changes.
• Ensure consistent practices across development, change management, and production releases.

Work Tracking, Metrics & Executive Reporting

• Establish formal mechanisms to track staff and vendor work, project plans, and operational tasks.
• Monitor progress to ensure alignment with departmental priorities, timelines, and service commitments.
• Develop and deliver weekly executive-level reports summarizing application health, risks, milestones, and resource utilization.
• Utilize dashboards and reporting tools (e.g., Power BI) to provide visibility into work progress and portfolio status.
• Identify risks, issues, and resource constraints and implement corrective actions as needed.

Vendor, Contract & Financial Management

• Oversee vendor relationships supporting enterprise applications.
• Develop and manage operational budgets and Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) related to application modernization or expansion.

Governance, Continuity & Compliance

• Serve as liaison for disaster recovery, business continuity, and audit activities related to the application portfolio.
• Ensure applications meet continuity of operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, or a closely related field.
• Six years of experience developing, evaluating, using, and maintaining technical systems, hardware, and software, including oversight or coordination of enterprise applications, vendor-supported systems, and operational environments.

PDSINC, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.