Senior Incident, Problem & Change Specialist

EQ Bank | Canada's Challenger Bank • Toronto, ON

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Incident and Problem Manager will focus on minimizing the impacts of production incidents while ensuring the organization learns quickly to become more resilient. The Incident, Problem & Change Specialist is accountable for tracking, and managing technology incidents experienced within the bank, while driving the restoration of services at pace. A key part of this role is effective communication across all stakeholders and teams within the bank, in both verbal and written form while working under pressure at a fast pace. The role is responsible for managing the processes, guidelines, standards and tools related to Major and other high priority Incidents. This encompasses performing Root Cause Analysis. The role is responsible for managing the lifecycle of Problems, with the aim of preventing incidents from happening or reoccurring. The Incident, Problem & Change Specialist will record and manage problems through to resolution by performing root cause analysis, coordinating third party analysis, and communicating with stakeholders. They will ensure workaround and solution suitability will establish service level objectives, indicators and agreements (SLOs, SLIs and SLAs) for critical systems and channels, including championing automated monitoring and data aggregating to streamline reporting of metrics. This role is also responsible for managing the lifecycle of Changes with the goal of ensuring appropriate due diligence and documentation exists to reduce risk and proactively have a rollback strategy to minimize impact if issues arise. As a gatekeeper for the Change process, this role ensures adherence to the Change Enablement standard, processes and Change Advisory Board (CAB) expectations. Success in this role will be demonstrated by ensuring that all major incidents are dealt with effectively and with minimum disruption to live service and SLAs.

Requirements

• University degree in business administration or a technology-related field required, or equivalent work experience
• Incident, Problem & Change management with Major Incident Response experience preferable
• 3 years of experience with technical incident resolution or product defect resolution
• Strong written and verbal communication, with an ability to articulate issues simply, concisely, accurately and clearly for both technical working level teams and executives
• An ability to work efficiently, effectively and collaboratively
• Knowledge of ITIL 4 practices
• Analytical mind capable of managing numerous information sources and providing meaningful data analysis reports to senior management
• Organized, structured, logical thinking and detail oriented analytic skills
• Multi-tasking – can manage several concurrent initiatives with pace and prioritise demands whilst maintaining composure
• Experience with tracking incidents, problems and changes including providing dashboard views of good performance & gaps over time
• Strong knowledge of ServiceNow, Confluence and Jira is required
• Strong attention to detail, keen problem-solving skills, with experience performing impact and root cause analyses, recommending solutions, and supporting resolution efforts
• Ability to approach problems logically and with good judgment to ensure the appropriate outcome
• Capacity to adapt to and manage change in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Personal maturity, personable, credible, professional presence
• Coordinative authority, Calm under pressure
• Ability to work professionally with other teams and individuals to get things done quickly

Responsibilities

• Determine the severity of a potential major incident that has been raised by the business (per priority matrix)
• Drive successful and timely restoration services of major incidents within response and resolution time SLAs
• Establish and maintain timely communications with all stakeholders to ensure they are informed of service status with clear and comprehensive updates
• Manage stakeholder expectations and update people on progress or slippages
• Host both technical and managerial conference calls, and facilitate effective incident management throughout the incident lifecycle
• Spin-up command centres (virtual/physical) as needed based on priority of incidents, including call-tree escalations to Level 2 / 3 experts as needed
• Own the creation and distribution of succinct communications on command centre progress and activities, for both front-line technical staff and executive leaders
• Co-ordinate / facilitate escalations through internal and supplier teams as needed to heighten visibility and engagement
• Maintain accurate and thoroughly detailed records of incidents
• Accountable for gathering required information from business and technology to enable effective Root Cause Analysis
• Produce and maintain Executive level reporting of incidents, including number of customers impacted and restoration timing at the time of incident an also as ongoing reporting on a cadence
• Minimize and mitigate business-impacting incidents through controlled problem identification and responsive / proactive service improvement plans
• Identify the underlying root cause and the triggers of a Problem and initiate the most appropriate and economical Problem solution or temporary workaround
• Ensure that after a successful Problem solution - the Problem Record contains a full historical description, and that related Known Error Records are updated
• Undertake a review of the resolution of a Problem to prevent reoccurrence and learn any lessons for the future
• Draw appropriate attention towards aging and inactive problems
• Verify if the Problems marked as closed have been fully resolved
• Provide extended and off-hour support as needed to manage command centres and communications
• Manage processes to ensure on-call team schedules, systematic call-trees, and distribution lists are accurate and up to date
• Develop, monitor and maintain change management standards and procedures based on effectiveness
• Ensure that all changes are properly documented, reviewed, and approved
• Manage the change schedule and ensure that changes are implemented in a timely and efficient manner
• Work with stakeholders to identify potential risks and develop mitigation strategies
• Ensure that all changes are properly tested and validated before implementation
• Facilitate change advisory board (CAB) meetings
• Ensure that all changes are properly communicated to stakeholders and end-users
• Review and update SOPs, policies and business processes to improve performance

Benefits

• Competitive discretionary bonus
• Market leading RRSP match program
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits
• Employee Share Purchase Plan
• Maternity/Parental top-up while you care for your little one
• Generous vacation policy and personal days
• Virtual events to connect with your fellow colleagues
• Professional development and comprehensive Career Development program
• A fulfilling opportunity to join one of the top FinTechs and help create a new kind of banking experience

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree