Application Support Manager

Who We Are:

Africa Specialty Risks (ASR) is enabling sustainable economic development by fulfilling unmet insurance needs. Our platform provides local underwriting expertise, an unparalleled distribution network and access to global capacity.

Founded in the heart of Africa and with offices across the continent and the Middle East, we provide regional market knowledge, data insights, and technical proficiency for capital partners who are looking to increase their presence in growth markets.

We also participate on each and every risk we underwrite with balance sheets in Bermuda, Mauritius and through Syndicate 2454 at Lloyd’s. ASR is committed to accelerating business growth by providing customised service and innovative insurance products to enable development.

Role Purpose: 

The Application Support Manager role is a hands-on role responsible for providing technical and functional support for the assigned company’s software, platforms, business solutions and for leading the Application Support Specialist team.

The role ensures that customers, internal users, and stakeholders receive timely and accurate assistance to maximise solution performance, resolve issues, and enhance user satisfaction consistently across all the company applications.

The specialist is also responsible for formalising, prioritising, and delivering product features that align with business objectives, working closely with our IT vendor partner implementation teams and business owners to troubleshoot, document, and improve solution capabilities, setting up the standard for the wider team.

Role Responsibilities:

Team Leadership & Management

• Manage, mentor, and develop application support specialists.
• Assign workloads, prioritize tasks, and ensure high‑quality service delivery.
• Conduct performance reviews and support career development.
• Enforce ITIL best practices (Incident, Problem, Change Management) across the Application Support Specialist team.

Customer & User Support

• Provide first-line support for solution-related incidents and service requests (e.g., user onboarding/offboarding, account closures, password management, how‑to queries).
• Diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve technical or functional issues.
• Communicate clearly with users via email, chat, or ticketing systems.
• Escalate complex issues to senior support, development, or vendor teams when required.

System Monitoring & Maintenance

• Coordinate application upgrades, patches, integration improvements, and releases.
• Monitor performance, integrations, and data flows.
• Identify recurring issues and collaborate with technical teams to implement permanent resolutions.

Incident & Ticket Management

• Log, track, and document all issues within the ticketing system.
• Maintain SLA compliance and provide regular updates to stakeholders.
• Ensure tickets are closed appropriately with accurate root‑cause information.

Documentation & Knowledge Management

• Create and update troubleshooting guides, FAQs, and knowledge base articles.
• Document technical procedures and support processes.
• Deliver training sessions for internal teams or end users.
  

Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as the main point of contact between ASR business stakeholders and IT (ASR IT & Vendor).
• Gather requirements, manage expectations, and communicate updates to ensure alignment.
• Facilitate discussions to resolve issues and prioritise competing demands.

Collaboration & Continuous Improvement

• Partner closely with IT Development, QA, Data Engineering, BI and Infrastructure teams to validate business requirements and solutions changes.
• Provide feedback to enhance application functionality and user experience.
• Participate in Application Testing, UAT, and Production Release activities (pre/post release).

Skills & Experience:

Essential:

• Proven experience supporting underwriting (UW) applications and the full underwriting lifecycle.
• Proven experience supporting claim applications and the end-to-end claim lifecycle.
• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years’ experience in technical support, application support, or solution support, with at least 2 years in a leadership or managerial role.
• Strong troubleshooting ability and analytical thinking.
• Familiarity with APIs, databases (SQL), cloud platforms, or enterprise applications.
• ITIL Foundation certification (desired).
• Experience using ticketing/support systems.
• Excellent communication skills and a customer‑focused approach.

Desirable:

• Experience working with SaaS environments or enterprise business solutions (ERP, CRM, HRIS, etc.).
• Certifications such as ITIL Foundation, Microsoft, AWS, or similar.

Key Competencies:

• Problem‑solving and critical thinking.
• Attention to detail.
• Technical curiosity and willingness to learn.
• Effective team collaboration.
• Time management and prioritisation.