Principal Application Specialist, IT Application Support R&D

Biogen SANDBOX•Cambridge, MA

About The Position

The Principal Application Specialist will play a critical role towards ensuring the availability, reliability, and usability of Biogen’s suite of applications for Clinical Data Management and Analytics, in R&D. Subject matter ranges across analysis tools, data aggregation, master data management, and Biogen Patient/Clinical Information portals/websites. Drive the implementation of the IT vision and strategy for R&D Coordinate incident management and drive resolution. Develop and maintain Support and Service models for production applications. Ensure routine maintenance tasks and system administrative activities are running smoothly to maintain reliable and effective operation of all applications. Manage production deployment of application patches and upgrades. Sustain Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) management through routine systems health assessment, maintenance of high quality documentation, and real time license management. As a member of a global IT team, participate in problem resolution related to application issues across business units and regions; this includes working with business colleagues, business-facing IT colleagues, infrastructure teams, external partners, and/or vendors. Create and maintain an informational IT “knowledge base” containing documentation of applications, policies, procedures, infrastructure, and other critical technology assets. Collaborate with Managed Service Provider (MSP) partners responsible for IT core support services and operations as required. Demonstrate excellence in customer care, assurance and service quality; ensure all appropriate Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in core service metrics are met or exceeded. Ensure change management processes are continuously followed to maintain a stable production environment. The ideal candidate will possess an accomplished professional track record combined with exceptional technical acumen, excellent written and verbal communication skills, and a demonstrated potential to continually grow into new responsibilities. They must be a self-motivated team player who is coachable, flexible, resilient, and comfortable working under high pressure with multiple deadlines and minimal supervision in a dynamic application environment.

Requirements

10+ years R&D application/platform management experience, 5+ years collaborating closely with and/or managing technical IT teams.
Demonstrated experience developing application support models
Direct experience working with offshore support personn

Responsibilities

Drive the implementation of the IT vision and strategy for R&D
Coordinate incident management and drive resolution.
Develop and maintain Support and Service models for production applications.
Ensure routine maintenance tasks and system administrative activities are running smoothly to maintain reliable and effective operation of all applications.
Manage production deployment of application patches and upgrades.
Sustain Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) management through routine systems health assessment, maintenance of high quality documentation, and real time license management.
As a member of a global IT team, participate in problem resolution related to application issues across business units and regions; this includes working with business colleagues, business-facing IT colleagues, infrastructure teams, external partners, and/or vendors.
Create and maintain an informational IT “knowledge base” containing documentation of applications, policies, procedures, infrastructure, and other critical technology assets.
Collaborate with Managed Service Provider (MSP) partners responsible for IT core support services and operations as required.
Demonstrate excellence in customer care, assurance and service quality; ensure all appropriate Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in core service metrics are met or exceeded.
Ensure change management processes are continuously followed to maintain a stable production environment.