Head of Application IT Service Operations

Summary The Head of Application IT Service Operations is responsible for the end-to-end stability, performance, and continuous improvement of the organization's business-critical applications in production. This role owns the operational lifecycle of applications post-go-live — incident, problem, and change management — ensuring service levels are met, risks are proactively managed, and the application landscape supports business objectives reliably and efficiently. This is a senior leadership role that bridges business stakeholders, application development/vendor teams, and in frastructure operations to deliver a seamless, high-quality service experience. Responsibilities Service Operations & Delivery • Own overall accountability for application availability, performance, and stability across the enterprise application portfolio (ERP, CRM, FP&A/CPM, and other line-of-business systems) • Establish and manage IT Service Management (ITSM)processes: incident, problem, change, release, and configuration management ,aligned to ITIL best practices • Define, track, and report on SLAs/OLAs/KPIs with application vendors, managed service providers, and internal teams • Drive root-cause analysis and permanent resolution for recurring or high-severity incidents Team & Vendor Leadership • Build, lead, and develop a high-performing application support organization (internal staff and outsourced/managed service partners) • Manage relationships with internal and external application vendors and system integrators, including contract performance, escalations, and roadmap alignment • Establish an effective on-call/escalation model for24x7 critical application support where required Governance, Risk & Compliance • Ensure application operations comply with relevant regulatory, data residency, security, and audit requirements • Own disaster recovery and business continuity planning for in-scope applications, including regular DR testing • Maintain application support documentation, run books, and knowledge management standards Continuous Improvement & Strategy • Drive automation and self-service initiatives to reduce manual effort and improve mean-time-to-resolution (MTTR) • Partner with Application Development/Delivery teams to ensure smooth transition of new releases and projects into steady-state operations (hypercare-to-BAU handover) • Monitor emerging trends in AIOps, observability, and service management tooling, recommending adoption where it improves service quality • Manage the application operations budget, including licensing, support contracts, and tooling costs Stakeholder Management • Act as the primary escalation point for business stakeholders on application service issues • Provide regular service performance reporting to senior leadership (steering committees, IT leadership team) • Chair or contribute to Change Advisory Board (CAB)meetings Requirement • Degree / Master in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field; • 12+ years of progressive IT experience, with 5+ years in a leadership role managing application support/service operations teams • Proven experience managing production support for large-scale enterprise applications (e.g., ERP such as SAP, CRM, financial planning/CPM platforms, or similar) • Strong knowledge of ITIL framework (ITIL v4certification preferred) • Demonstrated experience managing outsourced/managed service provider relationships and contracts • Experience with ITSM tooling (ServiceNow, BMC Remedy, Jira Service Management, or similar) • Track record of managing 24x7 support operations and major incident management • Experience operating in a regulated or enterprise environment with data residency/compliance requirements is a plus • Strong leadership and people management skills, with experience building and scaling teams • Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, able to translate technical issues for business and executive audiences • Vendor and contract management expertise • Certifications: ITIL v4, PMP, or Six Sigma is a plus • Experience with cloud-hosted and hybrid application environments is preferred • Familiarity with AIOps/observability tools (Dynatrace, Splunk, Datadog, etc.) is an added advantage • Experience in [industry-specific — e.g., financial services, manufacturing, retail] is advantageous • Able to commute for work daily. - Work Location: 60 Pioneer Road, Tuas - Work Days & Time : Monday to Friday, 8am - 5.30pm By submitting your application for this position, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal data by ST Logistics and its recruitment partners, including Employment and Employability Institute Pte Ltd, for the purpose of i) employment facilitation and ii) data and statistical analysis. You may find out more information on the PDPA policies at [https://www.stlogs.com/pages/personal-data-policy/] and [https://www.e2i.com.sg/pdpa/].