Application Support Manager / Sr. Manager

Role:
Application Support Manager / Sr. Manager

Experience: 10–15 Years
Location: Bangalore (Hybrid – minimum 2 days in office) + planned travel
to other Innover/client locations on need basis
Office Address: Innover Digital, Awfis, Summit-B, 12th Floor, ITPL Main
Rd, Brigade Metropolis, Mahadevapura, Bengaluru, Karnataka – 560048

About
Innover Digital

Headquartered
in Alpharetta, Georgia, Innover is an award-winning digital transformation
company focused on driving innovations in technology and the digital space to
create sustained business value for our customers. We are present across 15
global locations.

Our
broad array of services spans Data and Insights, Digital Experiences, and
Digital Operations. Through strategic alliances with global technology
partners, we help businesses across industries achieve true digital
transformation.

Role
Overview

The
Application Support Manager / Senior Manager will lead full-stack application
support and enhancement operations across multiple enterprise client
engagements at Innover Digital. The role spans the complete service lifecycle -
from L1 helpdesk through L3 technical resolution, production operations, and
minor-to-medium enhancements - across a mix of bespoke client applications and
COTS platforms.

The
individual will own service delivery outcomes, lead distributed and hybrid
support teams operating across time zones and shifts, manage client
relationships at the operational and mid-senior level, and drive continuous
improvement across supported environments. Critically, this role requires an
AI-first mindset - leveraging Innover's proprietary AI tools and accelerators,
and proactively identifying and overseeing custom AI interventions that make
support operations smarter, faster, and more proactive.

This
role sits within Innover's Digital Engineering practice and requires someone
equally comfortable running a disciplined operations rhythm, engaging
confidently with client stakeholders, and thinking ahead about how AI and
automation can reshape how support gets delivered.

Key
Responsibilities

Service
Delivery & Operations Management

• Own end-to-end
  application support delivery across multiple client accounts, covering the
  full support stack - L1, L2, L3, and production operations.
  
• Ensure consistent
  adherence to SLAs, OLAs, and KPIs across all managed engagements, with
  structured governance, reporting, and review cadences.
  
• Act as the primary
  escalation point for critical incidents - driving resolution, managing
  client communication, and ensuring RCA completion and preventive action
  closure.
  
• Manage 24/7
  support operations including shift planning, on-call coverage, escalation
  protocols, and business continuity during major outages.
  
• Maintain
  operational health dashboards and service reporting for client and
  internal leadership consumption.
  

Application
Portfolio & Enhancement Management

• Oversee support
  operations across a mixed application landscape - bespoke / custom-built
  applications as well as COTS platforms such as SAP, Salesforce,
  ServiceNow, Oracle, or similar, depending on the client account.
  
• Manage
  enhancements as a formal category of work within the support model -
  owning prioritisation, scoping, effort estimation, scheduling, and
  delivery of minor-to-medium enhancement requests alongside break-fix and
  operational tickets.
  
• Ensure clear
  governance over the enhancement backlog, balancing it against incident and
  service request queues without compromising SLA commitments.
  
• Develop and
  maintain working knowledge of application architectures, integrations, and
  business criticality across supported portfolios.
  
• Ensure adequate
  documentation - runbooks, SOPs, known error databases, knowledge articles,
  and enhancement logs - is maintained and kept current across all accounts.
  
• Partner with
  client application owners and internal technical leads on application
  health, patch schedules, lifecycle activities, and roadmap inputs.
  

AI-First
Support Operations

• Champion an
  AI-first approach to application support - actively leveraging Innover's
  AI tools, platforms, and accelerators to improve support quality, speed,
  and cost efficiency across managed accounts.
  
• Identify
  opportunities for custom AI interventions across the support lifecycle -
  including intelligent ticket classification and routing, predictive
  alerting, automated diagnostics, virtual agents for L1 deflection, and
  AI-assisted RCA.
  
• Conceptualise,
  scope, and oversee the implementation of such AI use cases in partnership
  with Innover's engineering and AI practice teams.
  
• Track and report
  on the measurable impact of AI interventions - ticket deflection rates,
  resolution time improvements, and reduction in manual effort.
  
• Stay current with
  emerging AI and automation capabilities relevant to managed support
  operations and bring relevant ideas proactively to both internal
  leadership and client stakeholders.
  

Incident,
Problem & Change Management

• Lead structured
  incident management processes including triage, prioritisation,
  resolution, and post-incident reviews.
  
• Drive problem
  management discipline - identifying recurring issues, root cause patterns,
  and permanent fixes to reduce incident volumes over time.
  
• Govern change and
  release management for supported applications, ensuring minimal production
  risk through proper impact assessment, approvals, and rollback planning.
  
• Facilitate regular
  service review meetings with clients, presenting incident trends, open
  problems, change and enhancement activity, and improvement initiatives.
  

Client
& Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the
  primary operational point of contact for client stakeholders across
  managed accounts.
  
• Build trusted
  relationships with client IT managers, application owners, and business
  leads through consistent delivery and proactive communication.
  
• Manage vendor and
  third-party support relationships where applicable, ensuring contracted
  obligations are met.
  
• Escalate risks,
  issues, and service concerns to Innover delivery leadership in a timely
  and structured manner.
  

Team
Leadership & People Management

• Lead and manage
  distributed and hybrid application support teams across multiple accounts
  - including onsite, offshore, and work-from-home team members operating
  across shifts and time zones.
  
• Own team
  rostering, shift scheduling, capacity planning, leave management, and
  on-call planning in compliance with applicable labour regulations.
  
• Ensure effective
  handover protocols and shift continuity practices are in place across all
  24/7 or follow-the-sun operations.
  
• Conduct regular
  performance reviews, provide coaching and feedback, and support career
  development for team members at all levels.
  
• Partner with HR
  and delivery leadership on hiring, onboarding, skill development, and
  attrition management.
  
• Build a support
  culture anchored on ownership, responsiveness, and a continuous
  improvement mindset.
  

Continuous
Improvement & Operational Excellence

• Identify and drive
  initiatives to reduce ticket volumes, improve first-time resolution rates,
  and optimise support costs across accounts.
  
• Lead or contribute
  to automation and tooling improvements - including AI-driven initiatives -
  that reduce manual effort in support operations.
  
• Support
  transitions-in of new accounts - working with presales, solutioning, and
  transition teams during knowledge transfer and steady-state handover.
  
• Contribute to
  proposals and solutioning for application support and managed services
  pursuits as required.
  

Skills
& Qualifications

Mandatory
Skills

• Bachelor's degree
  in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (Master's
  degree preferred).
  
• 12–15 years of
  experience in application support or managed services, with at least 4–5
  years in a team lead or management role within an IT services environment.
  
• Proven experience
  managing full-stack support operations (L1–L3) for enterprise clients
  across multiple concurrent engagements.
  
• Experience
  supporting a mix of bespoke applications and at least one major COTS
  platform (SAP, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Oracle, or equivalent).
  
• Experience
  managing enhancements within a support model - including backlog
  governance, scoping, estimation, and delivery tracking.
  
• Solid grounding in
  ITIL-aligned processes - incident, problem, change, release, and service
  request management.
  
• Familiarity with
  ticketing and ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow, JIRA Service Management,
  Remedy, or similar.
  
• Strong
  understanding of application monitoring, alerting, and basic
  infrastructure concepts (servers, databases, middleware, integrations).
  
• Demonstrated
  ability to manage and lead distributed, hybrid teams working across
  shifts, time zones, and delivery models (onsite / offshore / remote).
  
• Demonstrated
  ability to manage client relationships and communicate effectively with
  business and IT stakeholders.
  
• Working
  familiarity with AI and automation concepts as applied to IT operations -
  including chatbots, intelligent ticketing, automated workflows, and
  predictive monitoring. Hands-on experience is a strong plus.
  
• Strong people
  management skills - performance management, coaching, capacity planning,
  and team development.
  

Preferred
Skills

·       Hands-on
experience deploying or managing AI-driven support tools - virtual agents,
AIOps platforms, intelligent triage, or similar.

·       ITIL
Foundation certification (v3 or v4); higher-level certifications are a plus.

·       Exposure
to cloud-hosted application environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

·       Experience
supporting GCC or captive delivery models for global clients.

·       Domain
exposure in BFSI, Retail, Healthcare, or Manufacturing is advantageous though
not mandatory.

·       Experience
participating in or leading support transitions and steady-state onboarding.

What
Success Looks Like in This Role

• SLA compliance
  consistently met or exceeded across all managed accounts
  
• Measurable
  reduction in ticket volumes and repeat incidents quarter-on-quarter
  
• AI interventions
  delivering tangible improvements in deflection rates, resolution speed,
  and operational cost
  
• Enhancement
  requests delivered on time with high client satisfaction
  
• Well-governed,
  motivated support teams with low unplanned attrition and effective shift
  continuity
  
• Smooth
  transitions-in and steady-state operations for new account additions