WHAT DOES AN APPLICATION SUPPORT ENGINEER DO?
Reviewed under Editorial Standards by Lam Nguyen

The Application Support Engineer supports third-party software developers with existing SDKs and APIs, offering guidance, sample applications, and code snippets to demonstrate functionality and best practices. Maintains customer-facing documentation and collaborates with Product Management to relay customer needs, ensuring support meets defined service level agreements. Facilitates cloud infrastructure operations and deployments across AWS/GCP/Azure, implementing CI/CD tooling, and enhancing application performance, security, and connectivity.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Application Support Engineer

1. Application Support Engineer Duties

  • SDK/API Support: Support 3rd party software developers in using existing SDKs and APIs.
  • Code Samples Maintenance: Create and maintain sample applications and code snippets to demonstrate the functionality of existing SDKs and APIs and best practices.
  • Code Review: Review 3rd party application code and make recommendations based on best practices.
  • Application Design Assistance: Assist 3rd party developers design applications to meet specific customer-defined use cases based on existing SDKs, and APIs.
  • Documentation Development: Develop and maintain customer-facing documentation to demonstrate known issues and best practices.
  • Customer Communication: Effectively summarize and communicate customer requests to Product Management and SDK development teams.
  • SLA Adherence: Meet defined Service Level Agreements in responding to 3rd party developers.
  • Cloud Infrastructure Management: Creating and operating Cloud infrastructure deployed in AWS/GCP/Azure.
  • Cloud Deployments: Performing deployments in the AWS/GCP/Azure environments.
  • CICD Operations: Implementing and operating CICD tooling.
  • Application Support: Supporting the applications in the scope of the infrastructure, databases, security, and connectivity.
  • Development Support: Supporting development teams to streamline delivery and improve quality.

2. Application Support Engineer Details

  • Issue Resolution: Liaise with end-users to investigate, triage, and address software issues in production systems.
  • Problem Analysis: Analyze, diagnose, and mitigate issues either by applying a resolution or escalating to relevant team members when this is no longer within the realm of expertise.
  • SQL Diagnostics: Write and run ad hoc SQL queries for diagnostic purposes.
  • Advanced SQL Reporting: Write complex SQL queries to generate reports and fulfill user requests.
  • Windows Management: Manage Windows Services and Event Logs.
  • Knowledgebase Development: Develop and maintain an application support knowledgebase and FAQ that documents solutions and workarounds for known issues.
  • Client Management: Manage client expectations and balance workload for competing priorities.
  • Release Testing: Participate in product release testing.
  • Digital Strategy Execution: Work with leaders and specialists from around the business to develop and execute a Digital Strategy.
  • Solution Innovation: Have a history of creating solutions to achieve an ideal result.
  • Project Implementation: Take an active role in the implementation of various projects in support of the Digital Strategy as the transformation of business into a smart factory.
  • Application Integration Support: Support new application integration.
  • Cost Optimization: Work with the business to secure cost reduction opportunities and to get the best value for expenditure.
  • Systems Support: Provide systems support for some key applications.
  • Relationship Management: Develop and maintain critical relationships with the business, vendors, and customers.

3. Application Support Engineer Responsibilities

  • Operational Troubleshooting: Troubleshoot and respond to operational issues and provide timely updates and resolutions to warehouse operatives.
  • Issue Escalation: Investigate application errors and escalate critical issues to platform and product engineering teams until service restoration.
  • System Monitoring: Monitor systems and applications by reacting to system alerts.
  • Diagnostic Analysis: Diagnose issues using log files and other relevant tools.
  • Operational Support: Work closely with engineering and operations teams to support and improve operational processes.
  • Service Quality Assurance: Work with engineering to resolve issues affecting service quality.
  • Proactive Maintenance: Identify potential issues and suggest corrective actions.
  • Customer Service Excellence: Provide excellent customer service and ensure that resolution is provided to every issue.
  • Technical Support: Using a customer-oriented mindset and technical knowledge, serve as a trusted advisor and provide technical support and troubleshooting for clients.
  • Strategic Problem Solving: Leverage development skills to uncover the root causes of malfunctions to resolve highly visible, technical, global, and strategic cases and ensure the highest level of support to clients.
  • Process Improvement: Provide feedback regarding trends in client issues and suggest improvements to processes, policies, and products to help streamline the customer journey.
  • Knowledge Management: Create knowledge base materials dedicated towards operational efficiency.
  • Customer Satisfaction: Maximize client satisfaction through timely and accurate resolution of customer inquiries that meet or exceed customer SLAs (Service Level Agreements).
  • User Onboarding: Ensure new users have a smooth onboarding experience, this is where strong communication and interpersonal skills will shine!
  • Documentation: Document all actions and responses via CRM tools (HubSpot) as well as ticketing system (Jira).
  • Collaborative Development: Work closely with engineers, product managers, and operations teams to improve and develop application.

4. Application Support Engineer Job Summary

  • Environment Monitoring & Issue Resolution: Be responsible for environment monitoring (working with systems like Datadog and PagerDuty) and issue resolution.
  • Orchestrate Platform Maintenance: Maintenance and support activities on the Orchestrate Platform such as instrument and curve set-up and configuration, investigation and resolution of trade flow processing issues, and pricing setup and configuration.
  • Reporting: Realtime and EOD Report set-up and generation.
  • User Support: Work directly with End Users (e.g. Portfolio Managers, Traders) on any issues that arise.
  • Timely Issue Resolution: Ensure issue resolutions happen in a timely fashion and escalate to relevant development teams if needed.
  • Defect & Upgrade Support: Support defect fix and upgrade rollouts and ensure platform stability.
  • Root Cause Analysis: Responsible for root cause analysis on any production issues that arise.
  • Issue Governance: Be responsible for the governance process during issue remediation and post-root cause investigation process.
  • Automation: Automate support tasks with CI/CD and orchestration tools.
  • Knowledge Management: Update knowledge articles (e.g. wiki) on new issues (classify known issues, symptoms, and workarounds/fixes).

5. Application Support Engineer Accountabilities

  • Web-Scale Expertise: Working with web-scale applications and possessing knowledge of modern technology concepts, best practices, and patterns.
  • System Improvement: Working as part of a technology team to improve and maintain the system functionality.
  • Collaborative Design: Working with developers, QA, and the business to understand the environment, design improvements and implement them.
  • .NET Development: Using the technologies that support the development of .NET applications: .NET 4.5, MVC 5, WCF, Web API, SQL Server.
  • Technical Leadership: Contribute to architecture, design, and technical direction, and hold own in a technical discussion.
  • Technical Support: Providing technical assistance electronically, via phone, and in person.
  • Stakeholder Liaison: Liaise with business units, external clients, Vendors, and other technology teams to resolve application issues as well as provide input into product enhancements.
  • Continuous Improvement: Drive continuous improvement by documenting processes, analyzing trends, and proactively addressing risk items before they become issues.
  • Knowledge Update: Stay current with system information, changes, and updates.
  • Quality Assurance: Ensure all relevant processes, checklists, and standards are followed to maximize quality.

6. Application Support Engineer Functions

  • User Support Coordination: Act as the 1st point of contact for functional and technical support to end-users in all systems in scope.
  • Documentation Management: Manage the documentation and maintain the know-how in terms of using applications to support the business.
  • Meeting Participation: Attend meetings/events and reviews between end-users and IS Team.
  • Incident Management: Manage sub-projects related to incidents and requests.
  • Issue & Request Handling: Effectively resolve and manage user issues and requests on the ticketing support system, follow up on delayed items, and provide proper reporting.
  • Problem Solving: Investigate, diagnose, and resolve all application-related issues.
  • Issue Ownership: Take ownership of all issues and push for a swift resolution within the SLA.
  • Bug Fixing: Bug fixes (Java/SQL/SAS macro).
  • Customer Communication: Work closely with customers to inform of progress, request information, and manage expectations.
  • Root Cause Analysis: Perform root cause analysis and replicate bug issues with the end goal of resolving them.
  • Issue Escalation: Escalate any issues to the team lead.
  • Complex Issue Resolution: Coordinate with teams and resolve all complex application and system issues.
  • Application & Database Support: Provision, configure, deploy, and support applications, and databases, as well as support and maintain.
  • Application Administration: Perform root cause assessment and resolve issues. Administer and resolve application issues, provide updates related to Document Management System/application server.
  • Business Process Support: Develop, sustain, and evaluate delegated business processes and related applications.
  • SLA Management: Escalate properly unsolved issues and work closely with 2nd level support to meet clients' SLA.

7. Application Support Engineer Job Description

  • Advanced Technical Issue Ownership: Taking ownership of advanced technical issues (T3-T4 Engineering level), and working with engaging Development groups as needed.
  • Collaborative Problem-Solving: Working with the customer's (hospitals) IT/System/Application teams to co-investigate issues at sites.
  • Design Input: Working with Product Management on design issues and enhancement requests.
  • Quality Assurance Support: Working with QA to reproduce issues.
  • Defect Documentation: Assuring defects are being documented and processed.
  • Knowledge Base Contribution: Writing troubleshooting and resolution steps for Knowledge Base articles.
  • Knowledge Sharing: Delivering knowledge and training sessions to Support/Services/Distributors teams.
  • Strategic Project Participation: Participate in Engineering strategic projects (i.e., Beta Projects).
  • Subject Matter Expertise: Becoming an SME (subject matter expert) for specific modules.
  • On-Site Customer Support: Traveling to customers' sites to resolve critical escalations.

8. Application Support Engineer Overview

  • Incident Support: Acts as the first point of support for system incidents including trading applications.
  • Decision-Making: Capable of making independent decisions while mitigating risk.
  • Problem Resolution: Identifies, diagnoses, and resolves functional and technical problems and business-critical incidents through research and analysis of trends, root causes, and business impact.
  • System Checks: Perform daily AM and PM checks per documented processes and procedures.
  • Reporting: Generate ad hoc quantitative and qualitative analysis reports for users.
  • Incident Tracking: Tracking change requests and high-severity incidents in accordance with defined service levels.
  • Corporate Support: Provide second-level technical support for corporate users and analysis of application issues.
  • Data Collection: Gathering data and handing them over for further technical analysis.
  • IT Collaboration: Interact with other IT departments to avoid or solve incidents and service requests.
  • Knowledge Sharing: Actively participate in knowledge sharing with colleagues for the creation and implementation of best practices of users' support.
  • Customer Experience: Provides F5 customers and partners with a consistently outstanding support experience.
  • Communication: Proactively and effectively communicates status, plan of action, and resolution of issues.
  • Technical Troubleshooting: Provides Level 1 to Level 3 technical support to remotely troubleshoot and resolve issues on F5 hardware and software products.
  • Case Management: Manages multiple cases and prioritizes based on customer and business needs.
  • Escalation Management: Effectively manages case escalations to tier 3 (Engineering Services) while maintaining customer communication.
  • Schedule Adherence: Maintains high schedule adherence (work hours and on-phone time).
  • Continuous Learning: Participates in ongoing training with F5 products and related technologies.

9. Application Support Engineer Details and Accountabilities

  • Cross-Team Escalation Management: Own and bring to conclusion escalations by working across multiple teams such as support, infrastructure, engineering, and operations in a Java-based, web environment.
  • Operational Procedures Development: Develops operational procedures and adopts standard operating procedures necessary for the day-to-day maintenance and incident response methodologies (identification, triage, troubleshooting, escalate, close).
  • Production Support Representation: Assists in representing Production Support to the organization, ensuring that high availability and the ability to identify customer-facing issues are included in the development or deployment of new products and services.
  • Solution Development: Works with Architecture, Development, and Systems Engineering teams to develop innovative solutions to attain high availability, scalability, and reliability.
  • Incident Documentation: Logs incidents within the Incident Tracking System [Service Desk], clearly documenting symptoms, identifying root causes, and providing/recommending solutions.
  • Log Analysis: Logs searching using Log Stash, impact management, root cause analysis, and reports findings to Management and customers.
  • Process Execution: Ensures timely execution of scheduled and repeatable processes such as periodic system validations, daily triage, system monitoring, and event log management.
  • Incident Ownership: Acts as incident owner, escalates to other support groups, and follows the status of the incident until it has been confirmed to be resolved.
  • Investigative Collaboration: Works closely with technical support, engineers, customers, and other groups to narrow investigative efforts and resolve incidents.
  • Documentation Maintenance: Maintains critical documentation assets, such as customer contact lists, escalation procedures, scheduled job inventories, and operational cookbooks.

10. Application Support Engineer Tasks

  • Contact Center Support: Support day-to-day operations, including resolution of technical contact center and communications issues and requests via phone, e-mail, and/or chat/co-browse sessions.
  • Case Management: Manage support cases, drive to resolve cases, and support customers quickly and efficiently.
  • Knowledge Base Contribution: Author and submit knowledge-based articles based on customer issues and interactions.
  • Customer Communication: Ensure timely, quality responses to customer, partner, and OEM inquiries and proactive communications, to enhance customer satisfaction and minimize service downtime.
  • Issue Management: Follow through and manage active software problems and advancements between Customers, Partners, and OEMs.
  • Resolution Process Management: Manage effective issue identification and resolution process.
  • Process Improvement Participation: Participate in process improvement initiatives, when applicable.
  • Pre-release Testing: Pre-release load, stress, and failure testing in a pre-production environment.
  • Back Office Support: Back office developer and pm tools implementation, integration, and support.
  • Operational Automation: Assists in the automation of customer ops tasks and ensures requirements with outward-facing customers are completed in a timely fashion (order reconciliation).
  • Critical Incident Coordination: Implements after-hours call facilitation, coordination, and communications during critical outage situations.
  • Monitoring Setup: Set up and develop monitoring for both technical and functional calls, infrastructure level, and container level monitoring.
  • Release Coordination: Coordinate and execute production releases.
  • SSL Management: Understanding of SSL certs and Key Stores.

11. Application Support Engineer Roles

  • Production Updates: Apply development changes/Product updates on production where applicable.
  • Script Development: Develop scripts for execution of commonly used processes and automation of simple tasks.
  • Problem Solving in Mixed OS: Apply problem-solving skills in a mixed operating system environment to support assignments.
  • Cross-Group Collaboration: Partner closely with development groups, infrastructure support groups, and vendors to coordinate operations, and communicate/escalate problems as appropriate to meet assigned deadlines.
  • Application Diagnostics: Diagnose problems with applications and provide prompt recovery and problem resolution.
  • System Monitoring Refinement: Work closely with support groups to refine system monitoring and reporting, and to assist in analysis and problem recovery.
  • Task Management: Proper creation, execution, documentation, and closure of tasks, changes, and service requests.
  • Advanced Issue Resolution: Investigation, diagnosis, and resolution of application-related issues (Level 3/Level 4).
  • Issue Ownership: Take ownership of issues and push to resolution within SLA.
  • Bug Fixing: Make bug fixes (Java/SQL/SAS macro).
  • Customer Liaison: Liaise with customers to inform of progress, request information, manage expectations, and close out issues in a timely manner.
  • Critical Issue Participation: Participate in customer calls on P1 issues from a technical perspective.
  • Escalation Management: Appropriate escalation to Team Leads.
  • Service Transition Ownership: Take ownership of handovers from Professional Services to Support.

12. Application Support Engineer Additional Details

  • Global Client Support: Support Client Success Team as service clients all over the world.
  • Design Collaboration: Work with designers to deliver branded online communities for clients, and maintain them over time.
  • Production Troubleshooting: Troubleshoot issues in a production environment, escalating to the on-call Engineer.
  • Engineering Support: Support the Engineering team with code reviews and collaboration.
  • Client Reporting: Generate monthly and quarterly activity reports for clients.
  • Database Management: Run reports and scripts using MySQL database.
  • Application Enhancement: Enhancing applications by identifying opportunities for improvement.
  • Ticket Response: Respond to tickets in a timely and professional manner.
  • Performance Management: Performance reviews and change control management.
  • Automation Scripting: Monitoring and alerting as well as developing scripts to help automate manual processes.
  • Complex Problem Solving: Work collaboratively with application support team members to analyze and resolve complex problems in customer implementations.
  • Product Improvement Contribution: Contribute to lessons learned from support issues for future enhancements to Split Limit Studios’ products.
  • SQL Query Execution: Write and execute SQL database queries.
  • Data Modification: Make changes to customers’ data.
Editorial Process

Lamwork content is developed through structured review of publicly available job postings and documented hiring trends.

Editorial operations are managed by Thanh Huyen, Managing Editor, with research direction and final oversight by Lam Nguyen, Founder & Editorial Lead. Content is periodically reviewed to reflect observable labor market changes.

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