Application Services Specialist or Senior Application Services Specialist

Technology Services - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Application Services Specialist (or Senior Application Services Specialist) plays a key role in delivering reliable, secure, and high-quality application-based IT services that support the mission of Technology Services and its customers. This position is responsible for the administration, monitoring, and ongoing support of production applications in both on-premises and cloud environments, with an emphasis on service availability, performance, and customer satisfaction. The ideal candidate brings demonstrated technical expertise in application operations, infrastructure and security fundamentals, and systems integration, along with the ability to analyze requirements, troubleshoot complex issues, and contribute to continuous service improvement. Our premier candidate will be customer-focused, collaborative, and adaptable, with excellent communication and documentation skills, a commitment to best practices and ongoing professional development, and the flexibility to support 24x7 operations in a dynamic IT environment. Fully remote work may be possible for this position per the University’s Workplace Flexibility policy. Sponsorship for work authorization is not available for this position.

Why Work at Technology Services?
Highlights of Employee Benefits

Job Summary

Play a significant role in creating, deploying, and maintaining application-based production level IT services that are robust, high-quality, and reliable, meeting the needs of Technology Services' customers. Assume primary or secondary responsibilities for one or more services within Technology Services. The Application Services Specialist primarily supports medium scale applications with limited audiences, while the Senior Application Services Specialist primarily supports large scale, complex applications or newly implemented applications that are widely visible and/or have substantial audiences.

Application Services Specialist Duties & Responsibilities

Manage day-to-day IT service operations.

• Provide application administration and technical support including installation, patching, upgrading, monitoring, knowledge documentation, and troubleshooting.
  
• Recognize the need for and implement appropriate infrastructure components to support security policies and procedures including but not limited to SSL certificates, privileged accounts, and firewalls. Administer web applications either locally or in cloud hosted environments.
• Communicate with vendors or other third parties using predefined methods for ticket submission, support, and enhancement requests. Participate constructively in meetings with relevant, concise and reasoned analysis of topical matter.
• Understand the applicable processes and procedures of the organization and make recommendations in the continuous improvement of those processes and procedures, providing for management analysis and recommendations on improvements.
• Work non-traditional hours and respond to on-call requests to provide 24 x 7 service availability.
• Monitor and respond to key service metrics to ensure service performance and service level requirements.

Manage and Administer application-based services.

• Provide input to business plans, system design product evaluations, and capacity planning in a structured manner. Create and manage user accounts and permissions for tools’ users and administrators.
• Create and maintain service-based documentation for various audiences.
• Support and foster user group discussions amongst campus IT professionals for support of services. Adhere to interoperability standards and best practices as adopted by the organization.
• Apply information systems solutions, decision-making, and capacity planning to align with current and future technology. Participate in IT service requirements gathering and analysis.
• Train backup and other staff as necessary. Participate in IT service projects.
• Participate in continuing education and training and complete certifications, as appropriate.

Ensure excellent Customer Service throughout Technology Services.

• Partner with the Technology Services Help Desk by setting and managing the expectations of customers.
  
• Act as an advocate for Technology Services customers in service planning and deployment across the organization. Coordinate with IT professionals at all levels to assist in service administration and implementation.
• Provide end-user instruction and knowledgebase articles. Resolve customer satisfaction issues.

Senior Application Services Specialist Duties & Responsibilities

Support applications of large scale: greater than 10,000 end users, high risk, or complex infrastructure such as web server clusters, load balancing, and message broker services.

• Create business plans, conduct product reviews, and assist with architecting and implementing newly purchased or existing applications Plan for disaster recovery and business continuity as deemed appropriate to the visibility, importance, and risk factors of the IT service. Adhere to interoperability standards and best
  practices as adopted by the organization.
• Research, coordinate, and apply information systems solutions, decision-making, and capacity planning to align with current and future technology. Responsible for IT service requirements gathering and analysis.
• Mentor and train backup and other staff as necessary.
• Manage IT service projects of defined scope with shifting priorities and schedules. Participate in continuing education and training and complete certifications, as appropriate.

Manage day-to-day IT service operations.

• Provide application administration and technical support including installation, patching, upgrading, monitoring, knowledge documentation, and troubleshooting.
  
• Administer web applications either locally or in cloud hosted environments.
• Implement and manage integrations between on-premise, cloud, and vendor applications.
• Recognize the need for and implement appropriate infrastructure components to support security policies and procedures including but not limited to SSL certificates, privileged accounts, and firewalls.
• Communicate with vendors or other third parties using predefined methods for ticket submission, support, and enhancement requests; escalate issues with those parties in an agreed upon manner.
• Generate analysis documents of technical issues.
• Understand the applicable processes and procedures of the organization and make recommendations in the continuous improvement of those processes and procedures, providing for management analysis and recommendations on improvements.
• Work non-traditional hours and respond to on-call requests to provide 24 x 7 service availability.
• Develop, monitor and respond to key service metrics to ensure service performance and service level requirements.

Ensure excellent Customer Service throughout Technology Services.

• Partner with the Technology Services Help Desk by setting and managing the expectations of customers.
• Act as an advocate for Technology Services customers in service planning and deployment across the organization. Coordinate with IT professionals at all levels to assist in service administration and implementation.
• Provide end-user instruction and knowledgebase articles. Resolve customer satisfaction issues

Application Services Specialist Minimum Qualifications

1. High school diploma or equivalent.
2. Any one or any combination totaling two (2) years (24 months) from the following categories:
   1. College coursework which includes Information Technology (IT), IT Management, Programming, IT systems, or a closely related discipline, as measured by the following conversion table or its proportional equivalent:
      1. 30 semester hours equals one (1) year (12 months)
         
      2. Associate’s Degree (60 semester hours) equals eighteen months (18 months)
         
      3. 90 semester hours equals two (2) years (24 months)
         
      4. Bachelor’s Degree (120 semester hours) equals three (3) years (36 months)

Senior Application Services Specialist Minimum Qualifications

1. High school diploma or equivalent.
2. Five (5) years of work experience in IT-related functions such as hardware/software support, programming, network design, network engineering, IT systems integration, or closely related field. College coursework which includes Information Technology (IT), IT Management, Programming, IT systems, or a closely related discipline may be substituted as follows:
   1. 30 semester hours equals one (1) year
   2. Associate’s Degree (60 semester hours) equals eighteen (18) months
   3. 90 semester hours equals two (2) years
   4. Bachelor’s Degree (120 semester hours) equals three (3) years)
3. Demonstrated experience administering applications or services using IT Service Management processes and principles.

Application Services Specialist Preferred Qualifications

Four years of experience in information technology field. Bachelor's degree in a relevant field, including Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or other relevant field. Demonstrated experience as an administrator or other support role for one or more of the following services: email, email relay, mailing list, multimedia storage, learning management system, VoIP, web hosting platform, hosted file storage, monitoring and/or collaboration tools. ITIL 3 Foundation or ITIL 4 Foundation Certification preferred.

Senior Application Services Specialist Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field, including Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or other relevant field. Experience managing or integrating with cloud hosted tools/applications. Experience with software application architecture, installation and administration. Experience as an administrator for one or more of the following services: email, email relay, mailing list, multimedia storage, learning management system, VoIP, web hosting platform, hosted file storage, monitoring, machine data management and/or collaboration tools. ITIL 3 Foundation or ITIL 4 Foundation Certification preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of service life cycle management processes including but not limited to incident management, change management, root cause analysis, monitoring, and testing. Proven creative problem-solving skills. Demonstrated ability in effective communication and collaborating in a high performance team environment. Demonstrated commitment to customer service. Demonstrated ability developing scripts to automate processes. Ability to create and maintain appropriate service management documentation. Ability to use good judgment and work with limited supervision. Demonstrated understanding of web application containers, such as Tomcat or jboss, and web services technologies, such as HTTP or SOAP, applicable to service offering. Ability to effectively leverage online resources, user forums, and knowledge bases in support of service, as well as, contribute to these communities.

Appointment Information

This is a 100% full-time Civil Service 5031 - Information Technology Technical Associate position, appointed on a 12-month basis. The expected start date is as soon as possible after the closing date. The budgeted salary range for the Application Services Specialist is $62,000 to $75,000, and the range for the Senior Application Services Specialist is $72,000 to $85,000. Salary is commensurate with experience.

Sponsorship for work authorization is not available for this position.

For more information on Civil Service classifications, please visit the SUCSS web site at https://www.sucss.illinois.gov/pages/classspec/default.aspx.

Application Procedures & Deadline Information

Applications must be received by 6:00 pm (Central Time) on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. Apply for this position using the Apply Now button at the top or bottom of this posting. In order to be considered as a transfer candidate, you must apply for this position. Applications not submitted through https://jobs.illinois.edu will not be considered. If required by the position, transcripts or other documentation of credentials are to be provided no later than the first day of employment. For further information about this specific position, please contact Dallas Johnson at dallas1@illinois.edu. For questions regarding the application process, please contact 217-333-2137.

At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — the state’s flagship public university and one of the world’s leading research institutions — every staff member helps shape what’s next. Founded in 1867, Illinois is home to a vibrant community of 59,000 students from all 50 states and 129 countries, supported by 15 colleges and instructional units, more than 20 research institutes, and one of the most comprehensive student service ecosystems in the nation. Whether you’re empowering first-generation students, fueling breakthrough innovation, or strengthening communities across Illinois and beyond, your work here has a far-reaching and deeply meaningful impact. The university offers a highly competitive benefits package designed to support your well-being, growth, and financial security. Join a top 10 public university that has launched over 330 startups and continues to redefine excellence — where the Illinois Value Proposition ensures that your contributions are recognized, your potential is nurtured, and your career can thrive.

Champaign-Urbana

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools may be used in some portions of the candidate review process for this position; however, all employment decisions will be made by a person.

This position is intended to be eligible for benefits. This includes Health, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, a Retirement Plan, Paid time Off, and Tuition waivers for employees and dependents.

The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify.

Applicants with disabilities are encouraged to apply and may request a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (2008) to complete the application and/or interview process. Accommodations may also be requested on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, or religion. Requests may be submitted through the reasonable accommodation portal, or by contacting the Office for Access & Equity at 217-333-0885, option #1, or accessibility@illinois.edu.

Requisition ID: 1034900
Job Category: Technical
Apply at: https://jobs.illinois.edu