Director, Application Support

Alkami Technology•Bentonville, AR

3d•$156,000 - $195,000•Remote

About The Position

The Director, Application Support provides strategic and operational leadership over Alkami’s Application Support function, managing a team of front‑line Application Support Managers and their respective engineer teams. This role is accountable for overall service performance, client experience, and operational maturity within Application Support, with a focus on delivering consistent, high‑quality support for Alkami’s digital banking solutions at scale. The role involves aligning Application Support operations and use of tooling (ServiceNow/Alkami Support Hub) with the Support Excellence strategy and business/client outcomes, and partnering with Product, Engineering, Client Care, and other stakeholders to reduce incident volume, improve stability, and drive long‑term customer retention. The Director operates at both tactical and strategic levels—ensuring day‑to‑day execution through managers while steering medium‑ to long‑range improvements in people, process, and platform usage for Application Support.

Requirements

10+ years in B2B application/technical support for complex, distributed SaaS applications
5+ years directly leading managers or multi‑team operations in a high‑volume support or technical operations environment
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, or related field; or equivalent practical experience
Proven success leading leaders in a technical support or operations environment, ideally across distributed/remote teams.
Deep understanding of B2B application support for n‑tier, API‑driven, or cloud architectures (e.g., C#, SQL Server, IIS, web services/APIs).
Demonstrated ability to run an operation from metrics: building dashboards, interpreting trends, and using data to make staffing and prioritization decisions.
Strong experience with incident management and crisis leadership, including executive‑level communication.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, comfortable operating with executives and strategic clients.
Experience with ServiceNow (or similar ITSM/Ticketing platforms) and Jira/Confluence or equivalent tools, specifically in the context of running Application Support.
Ability to navigate ambiguity, balance short‑term fire‑fighting with long‑term improvements, and lead teams through change.
Candidates must be eligible to work in the US for full-time employment.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or advanced leadership/technical certifications preferred
Experience in FinTech, BankTech, or financial services, with familiarity with online banking workflows and partner integrations.
Knowledge of ITIL or similar service management frameworks; relevant certifications a plus.
Background in workforce planning, forecasting, and performance management for support organizations.
Experience leading large‑scale process/tooling transformations (e.g., migration to ServiceNow or similar platforms) from an Application Support execution standpoint.

Responsibilities

Execute and operationalize the vision, strategy, and operating model for Application Support as defined by the Sr Director, Support Excellence, translating them into concrete goals, priorities, and expectations for managers and their teams.
Translate strategy into clear annual/quarterly priorities, metrics, and execution plans for Application Support managers and their teams.
Own department‑level KPIs for Application Support (e.g., FRT, backlog age, SEV MTTR, CSAT/CES) and run regular business reviews to track performance and drive decisions.
Lead, develop, and mentor front‑line Application Support Managers, building a strong bench of people leaders.
Set clear expectations for managers around queue management, communication standards, coaching, and performance accountability.
Drive consistent people leadership practices (1:1s, team meetings, performance management, recognition, succession planning) across all Application Support teams.
Partner with HR/People teams on hiring, workforce planning, and career pathways for Application Support (IC and leadership tracks).
Establish and enforce standard operating rhythms for Application Support managers (daily queue reviews, SLA monitoring, SEV reviews, backlog hygiene).
Use data to proactively identify risks, trends, and bottlenecks and hold managers accountable for remediation plans.
Govern ticket quality and communication standards within Application Support, ensuring consistent client‑ready updates and documentation across teams, in alignment with Support Excellence frameworks.
Oversee on‑call and incident coverage models for Application Support, ensuring sustainable rotations and clear ownership for after‑hours support.
Serve as the escalation point for complex or strategic client issues owned by Application Support, supporting managers in de‑escalation and communication.
Ensure Application Support managers and teams follow a disciplined SEV process, including timely engagement, clear roles, and executive‑ready status updates, in alignment with global incident governance.
Drive post‑incident reviews across Application Support, ensuring learnings translate into durable changes in process, tooling, or product.
Partner with Client Care, CSMs, and Support Escalation Managers to ensure coordinated engagement for red or at‑risk accounts that rely on Application Support.
Represent Application Support in cross‑functional forums (Product, Engineering, Release Management, InfoSec, Client Care) to align on priorities and trade‑offs.
Influence roadmaps, defect prioritization, and release readiness based on Application Support data and client impact, providing domain‑level input into the governance led by Support Excellence.
Help define and enforce governance for ticket flow across Delivery, Support, and other teams from an Application Support perspective, minimizing “ping‑pong” and ownership gaps.
Ensure Application Support practices align with corporate policies, security, and regulatory expectations, especially for financial services clients.
Provide clear, timely communication to internal and executive stakeholders around major incidents, emerging risks, and support trends within Application Support.
Contribute to client‑facing narratives about Application Support performance, improvements, and commitments, partnering with CXG leadership as needed.