ICA - Managed Services - Senior Associate - Python Full Stack Application Support Engineer - Operate

At PwC, our people in managed services focus on a variety of outsourced solutions and support clients across numerous functions. These individuals help organisations streamline their operations, reduce costs, and improve efficiency by managing key processes and functions on their behalf. They are skilled in project management, technology, and process optimization to deliver high-quality services to clients. Those in managed service management and strategy at PwC will focus on transitioning and running services, along with managing delivery teams, programmes, commercials, performance and delivery risk. Your work will involve the process of continuous improvement and optimising of the managed services process, tools and services.

Focused on relationships, you are building meaningful client connections, and learning how to manage and inspire others. Navigating increasingly complex situations, you are growing your personal brand, deepening technical expertise and awareness of your strengths. You are expected to anticipate the needs of your teams and clients, and to deliver quality. Embracing increased ambiguity, you are comfortable when the path forward isn’t clear, you ask questions, and you use these moments as opportunities to grow.

Skills

Examples of the skills, knowledge, and experiences you need to lead and deliver value at this level include but are not limited to:

• Respond effectively to the diverse perspectives, needs, and feelings of others.
• Use a broad range of tools, methodologies and techniques to generate new ideas and solve problems.
• Use critical thinking to break down complex concepts.
• Understand the broader objectives of your project or role and how your work fits into the overall strategy.
• Develop a deeper understanding of the business context and how it is changing.
• Use reflection to develop self awareness, enhance strengths and address development areas.
• Interpret data to inform insights and recommendations.
• Uphold and reinforce professional and technical standards (e.g. refer to specific PwC tax and audit guidance), the Firm's code of conduct, and independence requirements.
  
  

Python Full Stack Application Support Engineer (Senior Associate – 6+ Years)

Role Summary

The Python Full Stack Application Support Engineer (Senior Associate) provides advanced Level 3 (L3) production support for custom Python-based web applications and APIs on Azure PaaS. This role owns complex incident triage and resolution, drives root cause analysis and problem management, and leads operational improvements across the full stack (React UI, Python services, and data stores such as SQL and Azure Cosmos DB). The Senior Associate mentors junior team members, partners closely with DevOps and engineering teams, and contributes code-level fixes, automation, and stability enhancements. This is an application support role (software and code-level ownership), not infrastructure administration.

Key Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end resolution of complex production incidents for Python web applications and APIs, including deep debugging across UI–API–data layers, with strong focus on restoration of service and prevention of recurrence.
• Lead root cause analysis (RCA) and problem management for recurring/critical issues; define corrective and preventive actions, track them to closure, and communicate outcomes to stakeholders.
• Perform advanced troubleshooting and performance optimization (latency, throughput, memory/CPU, concurrency, timeouts), leveraging logs, APM traces, and metrics to identify code and configuration improvements.
• Support and govern API reliability and security, including authentication/authorization troubleshooting, token/claims validation, and investigation of data integrity issues in API flows.
• Drive database and data-layer improvements (SQL and Azure Cosmos DB) through query tuning, indexing/partitioning guidance, throughput/RU optimization, and validation of end-to-end data consistency.
• Partner with DevOps on releases and CI/CD: review deployment logs, validate configuration and dependencies, support release readiness, and coordinate rollback/mitigation plans when required.
• Create and maintain operational excellence artifacts (runbooks, knowledge base, alert/playbook tuning) and identify automation opportunities to reduce toil and improve MTTR.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to Associate/L2 engineers; lead shift handovers, conduct post-incident reviews, and promote best practices in troubleshooting and support documentation.
• Participate in ITIL processes (Incident, Problem, Change) ensuring high-quality ticket hygiene, impact assessment, change risk review, and stakeholder communications.
  
  

Technical Skills

• Backend: Strong hands-on expertise in Python with production support experience in Django, Flask, or FastAPI; ability to identify and implement safe code fixes/hotfixes; strong understanding of dependency management and runtime behavior.
• Frontend: Solid troubleshooting skills in React applications, JavaScript, and browser debugging; ability to isolate UI vs API defects and support build/runtime issues.
• APIs: Deep experience with REST APIs and JSON; strong troubleshooting of authn/authz patterns (e.g., OAuth/JWT concepts), request tracing/correlation IDs, and integration failures.
• Data: Strong SQL skills (query tuning, execution plans, indexing) and practical expertise supporting Azure Cosmos DB (partition keys, RU/throughput, indexing policies, query optimization, consistency concepts).
• Azure PaaS hosting: Strong understanding of Azure App Service/Functions (or equivalent PaaS), configuration, environment variables, secrets/certificates handling (as applicable), scaling and diagnostics; ability to separate platform vs application issues.
• Observability: Advanced use of APM/logging tools (e.g., New Relic, Datadog, Splunk, ELK, Sentry) for distributed tracing, error analytics, alert tuning, and SLO/SLA tracking.
• DevOps: Working knowledge of CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions), Git workflows, and release practices; ability to debug build/deploy failures and collaborate on pipeline hardening.
• Process: Strong ITIL alignment and familiarity with ServiceNow/Jira for incident and problem workflows, change risk assessment, and post-incident reviews.
  
  

Interpersonal Skills

• Clear, structured communication during incidents (status, impact, ETA, and next steps) tailored to both technical and business stakeholders.
• Strong collaboration with engineering, QA, DevOps, and product teams to drive RCAs, prioritize fixes, and improve operability.
• Ability to stay calm under pressure and make sound decisions during high-severity outages and time-sensitive escalations.
• Mentoring and knowledge-sharing mindset, including coaching juniors, conducting effective handovers, and contributing to runbooks/knowledge base.
• Ownership and accountability for outcomes, with proactive follow-through on problem records and corrective actions.
• Customer-first approach with strong attention to detail, empathy for users, and focus on reliable service delivery.
  
  

Experience & Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in Python application development and/or L2/L3 production support for web applications and APIs in enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated ownership of critical incidents, RCA, and problem management with measurable improvements to stability and MTTR.
• Hands-on experience in Azure PaaS-hosted applications and strong understanding of production operations (monitoring, on-call, change management).
• Ability to mentor others and lead technical discussions with engineering, DevOps, and business stakeholders.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent practical experience.