IT Applications Manager Union Properties

Job Title: Applications Manager

Department: Information Technology
Reporting To: Head of IT / Group IT Director
Location: Dubai UAE

Job Purpose

The Applications Manager is responsible for the ownership stability performance and continuous improvement of all enterprise business applications across Union Properties and its subsidiaries. This role ensures that applications effectively support business operations comply with governance and security standards and evolve in line with business and digital transformation objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Application Ownership & Support

• Own and manage the full lifecycle of enterprise applications (CRM HR Property Management AI Applications and other business systems).

• Ensure high availability performance and reliability of all supported applications.

• Oversee L1/L2/L3 application support incident management and problem resolution.

• Ensure proper documentation SOPs and knowledge transfer are in place.

Business Engagement & Requirements

• Act as the primary liaison between business stakeholders and IT for application-related matters.

• Translate business requirements into functional specifications and solution designs.

• Support business units in optimizing system usage and improving adoption.

• Participate in solution evaluation fit-gap analysis and system selection initiatives.

Vendor & Partner Management

• Manage relationships with application vendors system integrators and support partners.

• Monitor vendor performance against SLAs KPIs and contractual obligations.

• Coordinate upgrades patches enhancements and support agreements.

• Support RFPs SOWs and contract negotiations where required.

Change Release & Enhancement Management

• Govern application changes through formal change and release management processes.

• Plan and execute system upgrades patches and enhancements with minimal business disruption.

• Coordinate UAT deployment and post-go-live support.

• Ensure proper rollback and contingency plans are in place.

Security Compliance & Governance

• Ensure applications comply with internal IT policies cybersecurity standards and regulatory requirements.

• Support audits access reviews segregation of duties (SoD) and compliance reporting.

• Enforce data integrity access controls and audit trails.

Application Strategy & Transformation

• Define and maintain the enterprise application roadmap aligned with business strategy.

• Identify opportunities for automation integration and process optimization.

• Lead or support application transformation initiatives.

• Drive standardization and reduction of application complexity across the group.

Financial & Resource Management

• Manage application-related budgets licenses and renewals.

• Optimize application costs and licensing utilization.

• Support annual budgeting forecasting and cost-benefit analysis.

• Manage internal application team workload and priorities.

Key Skills & Competencies

Technical & Functional Skills

• Strong experience managing enterprise applications.

• Solid understanding of application architecture integrations APIs and data flows.

• Experience with cloud-based and on-prem enterprise systems.

• Knowledge of ITIL processes (Incident Problem Change Release) and Project management.

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.

• Ability to balance operational stability with transformation initiatives.

• Strong analytical problem-solving and decision-making skills.

• Experience managing internal teams and external vendors.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelors degree in IT Computer Science Engineering or related field.

• ITIL certification preferred; COBIT is an advantage.

• 812 years of experience in application management or enterprise systems roles.

• Experience in real estate developers construction or large multi-entity organizations is highly desirable.

• UAE/GCC experience preferred.