Senior Business Applications Manager

Senior Applications Manager (Corporate & Commercial Applications)

Reports to: Senior Director, Application Management

Department: IT

Hours: Monday - Friday (core office hours)

Location: Mediaworks (London) - Hybrid with occasional travel to Stevenage

Role Summary

The Senior Applications Manager is responsible for owning and overseeing a portfolio of enterprise applications, including CRM, ERP, HRIS, and associated integrations, supporting key corporate and commercial business functions. The role ensures that these applications consistently deliver reliable, high quality, secure, and cost effective outcomes for the organization, drives governance, and provides strategic direction to service delivery teams.

Key Responsibilities Support Oversight (via Service Delivery)

Partner with Service Delivery Managers (SDMs) and support teams to ensure strong application support performance, define expectations for support quality, SLAs, and user experience, review incident trends, hold vendors and support teams accountable, and deliver systemic resolution.

Business Partnering and Demand Prioritization

Work closely with Business Stakeholders (BSOs) to understand day to day operational needs, translate needs into a prioritized backlog based on business impact and urgency, make clear trade offs, and ensure delivery is high quality and cost conscious.

Financial Ownership & Optimization

Own the budget for applications, including licenses, vendors, and ongoing costs; identify and drive opportunities for cost optimisation and efficiency; manage renewals, contracts, commercial negotiations, and ensure the application landscape scales sustainably.

Vendor & Contract Management

Manage third party vendors and partners delivering support and enhancements; negotiate and manage contracts, scope, and commercial terms; ensure vendors deliver value for money and drive accountability and performance improvements.

Data Driven Decision Making

Use data (ticket trends, usage metrics, cost data, performance metrics) to guide decisions, continuously reassess priorities, challenge assumptions, and adjust direction when needed.

Integration & System Landscape Oversight

Maintain visibility across integrations between systems (e.g., CRM ERP HRIS), consider changes in the context of the broader application ecosystem, and work with technical teams to manage dependencies and prevent downstream issues.

Qualifications

• Experience 7-12+ years working with enterprise applications (CRM, ERP, HRIS, or similar)
• Experience owning or managing application portfolios, not just individual systems
• Strong experience managing third party vendors and commercial relationships
• Experience working in environments with separate support/service delivery functions
• Experience in regulated industries (e.g., pharma, biotech, healthcare)
• Familiarity with compliance requirements (e.g., GxP, SOX)
• Experience with systems such as Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Workday, or similar
• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Information Systems, or a related discipline
• Equivalent professional experience may be accepted in place of a degree

Skills / Specialist Knowledge

• Strong ability to prioritize and make trade offs across competing business needs
• Comfortable operating with budget ownership and cost accountability
• Data driven mindset with the ability to turn insights into action
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Ability to operate across both business and technical contexts

Autolus Core Competencies

• Focus on Results: Meets business goals set by management and leaders
• Builds Trust and Relationships: Delivers on commitments to internal and external partners
• Resilience: Recovers quickly from difficulties and persists
• Communicates and Collaborates: Builds partnerships and works collaboratively to meet objectives

Equal Opportunity and Diversity

Autolus is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic. We provide reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We are fully compliant with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).