Senior Applications Support

Role summary

Incident resolution

• Resolve incidents and service requests for assigned Java applications within agreed SLAs.
• Analyze logs across application, integration, middleware, and database layers to identify root causes.
• Use thread dumps, heap dumps, and GC behavior to diagnose hangs, memory leaks, slowness, and crashes.
• Reproduce production defects in lower environments and verify failure paths in source code.
• Join major incident bridges and escalate out-of-scope fixes with diagnostic evidence.

Code fixes and maintenance

• Develop, unit test, and submit pull requests for Java/Spring Boot defect fixes and hotfixes.
• Implement approved configuration changes, data corrections, remediation scripts, and support-team enhancements.
• Write and validate SQL data-fix scripts with rollback statements prepared before execution.
• Follow documented change processes for every production modification.

Problem management and performance

• Own root cause analysis for recurring and high-impact issues and contribute to formal RCA documents.
• Profile and tune endpoints, queries, connection pools, caching, and JVM parameters.
• Maintain known-error records and workarounds; identify logging, error-handling, and retry gaps for remediation.

Monitoring and release support

• Monitor application health, batch schedules, queues, and integration flows, responding to alerts before user impact.
• Maintain health-check scripts, alerts, and dashboards and proactively close monitoring gaps.
• Automate repetitive operational tasks to reduce manual effort and errors.
• Support deployments and releases, validate post-implementation health, and be ready to roll back.
• Support UAT and regression cycles by triaging defects and coordinating fixes.

Documentation and mentoring

• Create and maintain runbooks, SOPs, troubleshooting guides, and knowledge base articles.
• Coach L1 and support colleagues to handle repeatable issues independently and mentor junior engineers on debugging.
• Complete structured shift handovers so issues are not lost between shifts.

Technical skills

• Java 8/11/17, Spring Boot and Spring Framework, Hibernate/JPA, native SQL, and Java concurrency debugging.
• JVM tools include jstack, jmap, jstat, jcmd, VisualVM, and Eclipse MAT; diagnose GC behavior and OutOfMemoryError.
• JUnit and Mockito; application servers include Tomcat, JBoss/WildFly, WebLogic, or WebSphere.
• Databases include Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQL Server; messaging includes Kafka, RabbitMQ, ActiveMQ, or IBM MQ.
• Linux/Unix, Shell or Python scripting, Docker, and Kubernetes/OpenShift troubleshooting.
• Observability tools include ELK/Splunk, Grafana, Dynatrace, or AppDynamics; tooling includes Git, Maven/Gradle, CI/CD, job schedulers, and ITSM platforms.

Required skills and experience

• 4–8 years in Java application, production, or maintenance support, including at least 2 years supporting production Java applications.
• Ability to debug production issues into source code and deliver tested fixes; hands-on thread dump, heap dump, and GC troubleshooting.
• Strong SQL, practical Linux/Unix and scripting, and working knowledge of ITIL incident, problem, and change management and ITSM tools.
• Experience supporting releases, production deployments, and rollbacks; clear written and verbal communication for business users.
• Willingness to work rotational shifts, on-call, and weekend releases.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline.

Good to have

• ITIL v4 Foundation certification.