Applications Manager

Applications Manager

Location: Hybrid – Philadelphia, PA
Type: W-2 contract, 3 year assignment

About the role
Lead the application teams for an organization in regulated life-sciences manufacturing. The applications support engineering, operations, finance, supply chain and corporate functions. The portfolio is mostly commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software on Windows, with some Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Systems engineers on the team keep the applications technically healthy. Systems analysts turn business needs into requirements and drive adoption. You lead both groups and connect them to the business. This is a hands-on leadership role worked onsite.
We’re hiring at junior, mid and senior levels. Scope depends on experience.

What you’ll do
Lead the team

• Balance workload across department priorities, project commitments and production support, and keep stakeholders updated on delivery
• Give the team clear ownership, documented runbooks and enough room in the schedule to think

• Act as operational owner for the COTS portfolio: availability, performance, patching, upgrades, licensing and lifecycle planning
• Keep portfolio data current for enterprise lifecycle management
• Plan and run upgrades and migrations with testing, rollback, change control and user communication
• Partner with Architecture, Infrastructure, Information Security and Data Management on servers, identity and access, backup and recovery, monitoring and data integration

• Lead implementations and enhancements from requirements through deployment and stabilization, working with stakeholders, implementation partners and vendors
• Manage software vendors and integrators: hold them to scope and schedule, escalate effectively and know the contract

• Build working relationships with department leaders and understand their processes well enough to separate what they asked for from what they need
• Set sensible service levels, intake processes and prioritization
• Champion adoption, training and documentation

• Make sure application changes follow change management, documentation and quality requirements
• Support records management, cyber security controls and audit readiness with Information Security, Internal Audit, Legal and Quality

• Significant experience managing IT application teams
• Bachelor’s degree in IT, computer science, engineering, business or a related field, or equivalent experience
• Experience supporting or implementing COTS enterprise applications
• Strong working knowledge of Windows Server environments: Active Directory, IIS, SQL Server, patching and change control
• Working familiarity with Linux administration, ideally RHEL
• Application support fundamentals: incident and change management, dev/test/prod environments, release testing, integrations and authentication
• Strong leadership, stakeholder management and communication skills
• Ability to work onsite full-time

• 3–8 years managing technology resources, including employees and contractors, with direct accountability for their work and development

• Experience in cGMP-regulated active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing and distribution
• Or, experience at regulated pharmaceutical or life-sciences companies
• Experience in a regulated or engineering-driven industry such as aerospace, energy, defense or life sciences
• EDMS, EAM, PLM or engineering application portfolios
• ITIL-aligned service management practices and tooling
• Scripting and automation (PowerShell, Bash, Python) and infrastructure-as-code concepts
• Cloud and hybrid hosting, particularly Azure or government cloud
• Introducing AI-assisted tooling into application support or business workflows

• GxP applications such as MES, LIMS or QMS (Veeva, MasterControl)
• ERP platforms (SAP, Dynamics 365)
• ServiceNow
• Computer system validation and 21 CFR Part 11

• Junior (0–4 years): Handles assigned tasks under general supervision using established tools and methods.
• Mid (4–8 years): Handles complex assignments on their own and may lead workstreams or small teams.
• Senior (8+ years): Owns complex deliverables, leads teams, mentors staff and works directly with stakeholders.

Work environment

• Extended sitting or standing; ability to lift up to 25 lbs and use stairs.
• Travel up to 5%.

Benefits
Health insurance, 401(k) plan, and paid sick leave as required by state and local law. PTO and holidays according to the pay package.

Globalpundits is an Equal Opportunity Employer and participates in E-Verify.