Senior Manager Database Technology Operations

Provide operational leadership and direction to Mainframe Database Technology Operations team. This is a global team with significant scope/impact (employees, contract personnel and vendor partners) dedicated to portfolio(s) of technical business applications and/or services, including: operational maintenance, production support, front-line management of incidents, development support, and proactive/preventative analysis (to include solution ideation, recommendation and implementation). Serve as point-person and operational expert for issues, needs and projects regarding or related to multiple areas of responsibility.

Responsibilities

• Participate in the change management process to approve technology and service changes; ensure balance between business need and impact/risk. Establish technology/service goals and reporting needs. Participate in transition of technology and services into production support. Develop and/or oversee development of DB2 and IMS activities, automation scripts, monitoring procedures and break/fix documentation. Collaborate on system health evaluations to address performance issues and establish action plans (internal and vendors).
• Provide oversight and leadership to technology operations team(s) (including employees and contract personnel/vendor partners and their resources). Delegate work to ensure effective execution of team/function deliverables. Ensure knowledge transfer and cross-training of team(s) to effectively support the business. Develop and maintain a high-performing team(s) through effective hiring, vendor partner management, coaching and performance management. Champion policies and standards.
• Provide insight into operational requirements and funding conversations. Participate in the budget and project planning process by providing accurate estimates of work, resources required, scope and cost as it relates to area of responsibility. Review vendor/supplier invoices, as applicable, to ensure services provided/business activity translates accurately to spend.
• Primary contact for assigned function(s)/portfolio(s). Monitor and perform routine performance/service-level audits to ensure optimal utilization. Execute scheduled and unscheduled operational maintenance tasks. Develop processes, work streams and maintenance schedules. Ensure escalation processes in place and utilized. Collaborate with technical teams, business partners, and vendors to advocate for assigned services/technologies, ensuring stable operations/production environment.
• Provide end-to-end oversight of critical incidents. Coordinate efforts of support teams (internal and/or vendor) to drive service restoration targets. Liaise with technology teams to develop corrective action or workarounds to resolve incidents. Ensure action plans are in place to address recurring issues, including escalation and effective hand-off to other technology teams as required. Ensure compliance with incident management processes and procedures. Provide on-call support.
• Primary day-to-day liaison with suppliers and vendors for assigned portfolio(s) of applications/services. Monitor, review and report on progress against technology goals/needs (metrics and measures). Provide feedback based on execution and delivery of services. Work with vendors, technology and the business to establish and review service level agreements/objectives (SLA/Os). Work in conjunction with vendors to ensure service commitments are maintained.
• Maintain up-to-date skills in relevant technologies. Participate and provide expertise in the selection, implementation and use of tools and best practices. Establish and maintain effective and productive working relationships with business partners, vendor partners and service providers, as well as other teams across technology (e.g. peers in operations, application development). Maintain a broad understanding of business, business needs, and how assigned technologies drive and support the business.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, MIS, or related field; or equivalent work experience.
• 7-10 years of relevant work experience required.
• 4+ years of experience providing day-to-day oversight/supervision to a team of technical employees and/or vendor partner resources.
• 5-7+ years of broad technical experience with proven expertise in a majority of the following areas: Mainframe technology, DB2, IMS, networks, hardware, operating systems (z/OS, Windows, UNIX, Linux, Hybrid Cloud), virtualization software, middleware and related base build infrastructure and software.
• Experience and subject matter expertise in the Mainframe computing environment, as well as platform related experience.
• 4+ years of experience and proven success identifying and implementing opportunities for improvement to configurations, procedures and process to enable greater availability, capability and efficiency.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certifications preferred: ITIL Foundation
• 2+ years of direct people-management experience to include performance management.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate technical information to non-technical audiences and vice versa.
• Excellent problem detection and determination skills in multiple functional infrastructure/application areas.
• Strong customer service orientation.
• Proven experience creating, championing and maintaining processes, procedures and policies.
• Experience working in the financial services industry or other similar, highly regulated environment.

About Our Company

The Ameriprise Financial Technology team mission is to create innovative technology solutions and engaging digital experiences for our clients, advisors, and employees. We embrace an inclusive and collaborative culture that allows us to partner across the business and lend our expertise in the areas of corporate computing, network infrastructure and security. We celebrate the unique qualities and reward the contributions of our talented, passionate employees. If you're motivated and want to work for a strong, ethical company that cares about you and your community, take the next step with Ameriprise Technology.

Ameriprise Financial is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, genetic information, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, gender identity, disability, veteran status, marital status, family status or any other basis prohibited by law.