Head - Production Application Management Team - Bank

Head - Production Application Management Group

Description:

Role Overview:

Application Management Group in a leading Private sector Bank, I oversee the seamless functioning of a highly complex and critical production ecosystem, supporting over 300+ enterprise applications spanning retail banking, corporate banking, digital channels, payments, risk, and compliance platforms.

My role is pivotal in driving operational stability, service excellence, stakeholder satisfaction, and technology resiliency. I lead a large-scale, hybrid team comprising over 70 full-time employees and around 300 contractors operating across multiple locations and time zones.

Core Responsibilities:

Production Stability & Operational Oversight:

- Ensure 24x7 stability of over 300 business-critical applications with zero tolerance for production outages in customer-facing platforms.

- Define and drive the Incident, Problem, and Change Management processes to ensure timely resolution, root cause analysis, and prevention of recurring issues.

- Implement monitoring, automation, and self-healing tools to improve observability and reduce manual interventions.

Business & Stakeholder Engagement:

- Serve as the primary point of contact for business heads and senior leaders on all production-related concerns.

- Provide real-time communication and transparency during high-impact incidents, ensuring timely updates and structured Post-mortem.

- Regularly engage with business units to prioritize production enhancements, manage demand, and align IT operations with evolving business goals.

Service Management & SLA Adherence:

- Govern and track performance against defined SLAs and KPIs for all support functions, ensuring measurable outcomes in service quality, availability, and user satisfaction.

- Lead weekly/monthly service reviews, highlighting performance trends, improvement actions, and escalations to leadership.

Vendor & Partner Management:

- Manage strategic partnerships with multiple IT vendors supporting various layers of the application stack ensuring cost-effective, compliant, and high-quality delivery.

- Lead vendor onboarding, contract negotiations, performance reviews, and drive value through commercial and operational levers.

People Leadership & Team Building:

- Lead and manage a diverse technology operations team of 70+ FTEs and 300+ partner staff, fostering collaboration across L1, L2, and L3 supporters.

- Drive resource strategy, training, succession planning, and talent development to create a resilient, scalable, and accountable workforce.

- Encourage a culture of ownership, agility, and continuous improvement within the teams.

Governance, Risk & Compliance:

- Ensure all production activities comply with regulatory guidelines, audit requirements, and information security policies.

- Partner with risk and cybersecurity teams to manage production access controls, vulnerability remediation, and incident response.

- Lead efforts on BCP/DR drills, production readiness, and crisis simulation exercises.

Strategic Initiatives & Transformation:

- Collaborate with engineering, DevOps, and platform teams to transition from legacy to modern, cloud-native operational models.

- Lead the automation of production workflows, proactive alerting, and observability enhancements.

- Support enterprise-wide transformation programs (core banking upgrades, digital launches, mergers) from a production readiness perspective.

Budgeting & Purchase Order Tracking:

- Oversee budgeting and purchase order tracking to ensure efficient allocation and utilization of financial resources within the organization.

- Present proposals and financial reports to the IT Tech Spend Committee, fostering transparency and informed decision-making regarding technological investments and expenditures.