An application manager is an information technology (IT) professional responsible for overseeing, optimizing, and developing applications or programs that enable an organization to function. One of the most common application manager jobs is oversight of IT professionals, who perform troubleshooting and regular security and performance updates. It also is common for an application manager to work with leaders from a different departments to plan large-scale system implementations and process changes. Most application manager jobs require professionals who are familiar with organizational standards, as well as with any relevant laws or regulations, and to make sure that software is compliant.
Most application manager jobs require professionals with strong backgrounds in computer science. It is also common for these kinds of professionals to be experienced in a particular field. For example, an application manager who specializes in legal software often has many years of experience organizing and updating databases in legal offices. Leadership and strong interpersonal skills are required for most application manager jobs.
An application manager is commonly necessary when there is a need for significant data storage. For this reason, most application manager jobs require professionals to guide employees such as data custodians, who are responsible for defining and organizing data. An application manager might instruct team members how to organize data and to whom to make information available.
When executives decide that they need to update their business systems or implement new ones, application managers are often responsible for participating in the development of new solutions. In these cases, application manager jobs require IT professionals to act as project managers. In others words, an application manager creates schedules and timetables that reflect organizational changes. He or she might then meet with department heads who are affected by changes and discuss potential challenges and concerns.
In most organizations, improvement is considered a continual process, especially in IT, an industry in which new solutions and software are constantly being introduced. For this reason, application managers tend to oversee continual updates that improve usability and performance of data systems. Likewise, he or she might continually perform risk management to determine where systems are insecure or in danger of failing and to provide best solutions.
It is common for application managers to join professional organizations and to attend seminars and trade shows. These are great opportunities for learning about new practices, products, and philosophies. Employers might even require application managers to attend these events with certain issues and potential solutions in mind.