Application Support Lead || New York city, NY (Onsite Hybrid) || Contract

We are seeking an experienced Service Lead to oversee production support operations for business-critical web applications. The ideal candidate will bring a combination of leadership, operational excellence, and hands-on technical expertise in production support, incident management, and service governance. This role requires close collaboration with onsite stakeholders while leading offshore support teams to ensure service stability, rapid incident resolution, and continuous operational improvement.

Key Responsibilities

Service & Operational Leadership

• Lead and manage end-to-end production support services for customer-facing and internal web applications.
• Own service delivery metrics including SLA compliance, availability, incident response, and resolution timelines.
• Act as the primary point of contact for business stakeholders and customer leadership teams.
• Drive continuous service improvement initiatives to enhance stability, performance, and user experience.

Incident & Problem Management

• Lead Major Incident Management processes, including bridge calls, stakeholder communication, escalation management, and service restoration.
• Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and ensure implementation of corrective and preventive actions.
• Manage Problem Management activities and maintain known error repositories.
• Monitor service trends and proactively identify operational risks.

Offshore Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and manage offshore application support teams.
• Coordinate workload distribution, shift coverage, and follow-the-sun support models.
• Establish operational best practices and ensure adherence to support processes and governance standards.
• Drive team performance, knowledge management, and capability development.

Production Support & Application Management

• Provide hands-on support for web-based applications in production environments.
• Troubleshoot application, middleware, integration, and performance-related issues.
• Collaborate with development, infrastructure, and business teams to resolve complex production issues.
• Support deployments, releases, and change management activities.

Service Governance & Reporting

• Own Incident, Problem, and Change Management processes.
• Prepare operational dashboards and executive reports covering service health, SLA performance, MTTR, and incident trends.
• Participate in CAB reviews and operational governance forums.
• Ensure compliance with ITIL-based service management practices.

Required Skills & Experience

• 10-15 years of IT experience with a strong focus on Production Support and Service Management.
• Proven experience leading offshore support teams.
• Hands-on experience supporting enterprise web applications in production environments.
• Strong Incident Management and Major Incident leadership experience.
• Experience in Problem Management, RCA, and Change Management processes.
• Knowledge of ITIL Service Management practices.
• Experience with ticketing platforms such as ServiceNow or equivalent.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.