Support Manager

Package Description

• Competitive Salary 
• Corporate Benefits Package 
• Chance to make a positive difference in a company passionate about diversity and inclusion.

Further information available from the Serco Europe Recruitment Team

Job Introduction

Serco is the preferred partner for European Institutions and International Organizations, offering ICT services and Contact Centre management across Europe. Our expertise extends from Information System support to consultancy under the government framework, supporting key entities such as the European Commission and Executive Agencies. As a leader in Service Integration and Management, we ensure seamless delivery of services across various platforms, embodying our commitment to excellence in every aspect of our work.

We are hiring a Support Manager for European Commission  in Brussels and various locations around Europe.

Main Responsibilities

General Tasks

1. Organisation , implementation and maintenance of (IS) support.
2. Coordination of support teams
3. IS Service management
4. Coordination with the project teams
5. Coordination of wiki sites, collaborative sites or social networks
6. Follow-up of service quality
7. Management and follow-up of user requests
8. Guidance regarding the use of information systems
9. Management of incidents related to information systems; organisation of the reporting
10. Conception and organisation of user documentation for information systems
11. Conception and management of IS and ICT trainings
12. Participation in user, service and project meetings
13. Elaboration and implementation of relevant support processes

Specific Tasks

1. Self-Learning : Self-learning of very complex business processes, covering a wide range of matters (finance management and control, EU funds management, EU politics, audit procedures, statistical calculations, risk assessment, etc.). This self-learning task requires self-organisation, autonomous search in documentation (often spread across multiple locations), self-assessment of progress and learning needs, etc.
2. Support : Support to Member States users and Commission users for helping them using Arachne. This support is always provided through email exchanges (not over the phone, and never on site). These support activities comprise :

• Managing emails in the Arachne functional mailbox ;
• Understanding the users' requests (very often unclear, incomplete and/or not targeting the real problem), communicating with users to clarify their requests every time it is needed ;
• Searching and/or drafting the best answer to user requests, making sure it is correct, consistent with Arachne documentation and consistent with the previous answers given to similar requests. This implies :
  • Searching through the Arachne documentation (which is rather comprehensive but not complete, not up-to-date and not 100% consistent) ;
  • Searching through the Arachne functional mailbox (hundreds of subfolders, thousands of messages)
  • Keeping track of the requests status (for monitoring) ;
  • Searching and/or updating specific data directly in the database (using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and/or through custom-made PL-SQL queries), to check bugs raised by users, to create ad-hoc and custom reports, and to perform simple updates in the database (for user access rights management, for example).
  • Collaborating with the Arachne team members to analyse and solve the most difficult requests ; 
  • Collaborating with the Arachne team members 
  • review and assess the support procedures, and for proposing ways to improve them.

This support encompasses all the standard support levels : 

• Support level 1 - basic helpdesk resolution,
• Support level 2 - in-depth technical support,
• Support level 3 - expert Arachne support,
• Support level 4 - support for problems not solvable by the Commission ; this level requires liaising with the external IT firm providing and maintaining the Arachne IT system.

3. Documentation : As the support work (described above) may reveal missing, incomplete, inconsistent and/or not up-to-date information in the Arachne documentation, the person shall review and update of the Arachne documentation, every time flaws are found.

4. Training and Presentations : Preparation, practical organisation, delivery, assessment and improvement of training sessions and general presentations of Arachne.

For information : on average (in the years 2022 and 2023), the EMPL A4 Arachne team (5 people) provided around 40 trainings and 40 presentations each year. Around 85% of these events lasted half-a-day or less, 15% lasted 1 to 2 days, and 5% lasted more (4 days being the maximum – very exceptional).

The person, as newcomer, will gradually be asked to deliver trainings, after the 12 weeks period described below ("Onboarding Programme"). During the first year, the person may deliver 5 to 10 trainings or presentations maximum, all at beginner level. Over the years, the person will be asked to deliver more trainings and presentations (at beginner and advanced level).

5. Testing : The person shall participate to the design, execution, and reporting of User Acceptance Tests and Non-Regression Tests. The Arachne team perform these tests on behalf of users (thus the need for a complete mastery of the business processes prior to carrying out testing tasks). The testing also comprises searching and deep diving in the DB to find the root cause of bugs and to provide supporting evidence for documenting bugs, by designing, running and fine-tuning PL/SQL queries. The management of bugs is done with Jira.

6. Bug Reporting : The person shall report bugs in Jira, liaise with Developers for fixing these bugs, and monitor them until their resolution in production.

Successful Candidate

LEVEL OF EDUCATION

Bachelor’s level or 3 years of higher education.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
1. Good IT skills
2. Excellent communication / writing skills.
3. Ability to give presentations.
4. Ability to apply high quality standards
5. Ability to participate in multi-lingual meetings, good communication skills.
6. Capability of working in an international/multi- cultural environment, rapid self-starting
capability and experience in working in team; leadership capability.
 

Specific Knowledge and Skills
1. Outstanding, proven capacity to autonomously learn very complex business processes, even with incomplete and/or outdated documentation.
2. Excellent analytical and logical thinking. This skill is required to spot any inconsistencies in
any documents (user request, business documentation, requirements definition, support
procedure documentation, etc.).
3. Outstanding, proven communication skills, impeccable diplomacy for dealing with any
types of users' styles.
4. Outstanding, proven mastery of all soft skills required for excellent user support (care,
openness, empathy, patience, etc.).
5. Experience of PL/SQL (designing new queries, debugging and/or fine-tuning existing
queries). Experience with Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio would be an asset.
6. Mastery of Excel filters, pivots, charts, and complex formulas. Knowledge and experience
with VBA macros would be an asset.
7. Knowledge and experience with Jira would be an asset.
8. Knowledge of statistical mathematics fundamentals.
9. Sharp assessment of the quality of her/his own work, and genuine motivation for
continuous improvement.

About the Company

Serco is a leading provider of public services. Our customers are governments or others operating in the public sector. We gain scale, expertise and diversification by operating internationally across five sectors and four geographies: Defence, Space, Justice & Immigration, Transport, Health and Citizen Services, delivered in UK & Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. More information can be found at Serco | Europe

Why should you join Serco ?

• Chance to contribute to innovation in the public services sector
• A company passionate about diversity and inclusion
• Permanent employment with comprehensive Serco Benefits package.

We are diverse and inclusive organisation

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential and we are committed to supporting the needs of all our colleagues. It’s a mix of people from different backgrounds, experiences and opinion that keeps our culture strong and vibrant.

We believe in equity so we strongly encourage applications from a diverse range of candidates. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job are encouraged to apply and demonstrate their abilities in an interview. We also welcome a conversation about any adjustments that would make the interview process more accessible for you. Wherever possible we are open to discussions around flexible working and we operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas.

In the UK we are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader in the government’s scheme and hold the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard; in Belgium we are partner of Diversicom and member of Charter der Vielfalt in Germany.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to The Serco Europe Recruitment Team

Important

Any offer of employment is contingent upon you providing documents to verify your identity and employment eligibility, as required by law.

Please contact the recruitment team if needed

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