Software Applications and Asset Manager

Job summary

Acas is seeking an experienced Software Applications & Asset Manager to provide strategic ownership, governance and control of its software assets, applications and licensing estate. Whilst encompassing technical management, ownership and responsibility of applications the role will also be responsible for software assurance, financial management and operational governance. They will be responsible for ensuring Acas has a complete and accurate view of the software it owns, deploys, consumes and funds, and that licensing, compliance, risk and value-for-money considerations are actively managed throughout the full software lifecycle.

The role will provide technical ownership for applications that do not fit withing the existing ownership structures within the Technology team. Some activities to be undertaken include being the point of contact for technical and service issues, liaising with account and service managers to ensure the software is delivering to its potential, managing and maintaining support agreements (e.g. Microsoft Unified Support) and crucially ensuring the software is secure and poses no threat or risk to Acas’ system and data.

The role will also lead the development and ongoing management of the Acas software asset management capability, including the software catalogue and software asset library. Some key tasks in this area include developing application ownership models, maintaining licence entitlement records, reporting on usage data, creating a renewal pipeline, assisting in budget forecasts and generating compliance evidence. The role will also be responsible for assessing and approving requests for new software applications, ensuring decisions about software acquisition, allocation, renewal, retirement and optimisation are based on reliable information, clear accountability, affordability, risk assessment and robust governance.

The role will also line manage and develop a Grade 9 Software Applications & Asset Analyst, setting clear priorities and ensuring the function provides a professional, responsive and evidence-based service to colleagues across Acas. The G9 post will be recruited to after this post is successfully filled.

The Software Applications & Asset Manager will help Acas by providing a service to ensure all business applications have a technical service and support wrap as well as providing assurance around their financial management, governance and compliance.

Job description

The postholder's main accountabilities will be to:

• Provide overall technical management, support and coordination for applications where ownership is unclear or not formally assigned.
• Assess and approve requests for new software applications, ensuring proposed solutions are justified, affordable, compliant, secure, accessible, supportable, appropriately licensed and aligned to Acas standards, procurement requirements and existing application strategy.
• Lead end-to-end software licence management, including entitlement recording, licence allocation, usage monitoring, renewal planning, compliance checks, audit preparation, evidence gathering and supplier engagement.
• Own, maintain and continuously improve the Acas software catalogue, ensuring it provides a clear, reliable record of approved applications, business owners, technical owners, suppliers, licence position, renewal dates, support arrangements, risk status and lifecycle stage.
• Maintain an accurate software asset library and application inventory, ensuring records reflect what is owned, deployed, assigned, consumed, supported and retired across the organisation.
• Produce clear management information on software usage, licence compliance, budget position, renewal risks, supplier performance, cost optimisation opportunities and areas requiring senior decision or intervention.
• Manage the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement and associated Microsoft licensing arrangements, including annual true-up activity, subscription changes, entitlement validation, usage analysis, renewal planning and engagement with Microsoft, resellers and internal stakeholders.
• Establish and improve processes for software request, approval, onboarding, review and retirement, ensuring decisions are transparent, controlled and aligned to organisational need.
• Work with Finance, Commercial and Procurement colleagues to support business cases, contract renewals, supplier negotiations, procurement planning, purchase approvals and value-for-money assessments.
• Rationalise the software estate by identifying duplicate tools, overlapping functionality, legacy products, unsupported applications and opportunities to consolidate or retire software safely.
• Manage software audit, review and compliance activity, ensuring Acas has an effective licence position and that data provided externally is controlled, validated and approved.
• Work with Information Management and Cyber Security to ensure software use aligns with security, data protection, accessibility, supportability and organisational risk requirements.

Who we are

Acas exists to make working life better for everyone in Britain. We are the experts in workplace matters, we’re impartial, so we’re not on anyone’s side. That means we’re working for everyone to help prevent, manage and resolve workplace issues.

Acas helps employers and employees by providing information, advice, training, conciliation and other services that prevent, manage or resolve workplace problems.

Acas: Britain’s Workplace Experts

Acas has been recognised for its Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace from the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion awards; it has been Disability Confident Highly Commended, a Pay Gap award winner, and an Overall winner for public sector organisations. Acas is committed to providing services and developing policies which embrace diversity, promote equality of opportunity and eliminate unlawful discrimination.

Person specification

Essential Experience Criteria:

• Proven experience in technical management, support and ownership of software applications (Lead Criterion).
• Proven experience in designing, creating and maintaining Software Catalogues, application inventories, asset registers, licence repositories or similar control records (Lead Criterion).
• Strong understanding of Software Asset Management principles, including discovery, entitlement management, effective licence position, compliance, optimisation, renewal planning and software lifecycle control (Lead Criterion).
• Experience managing or supporting software budgets, cost forecasts, renewal pipelines, spend analysis, cost avoidance activity and financial reporting.
• Ability to analyse software usage, entitlement, deployment and cost information and translate it into clear advice, recommendations and management information.
• Excellent attention to detail, with a methodical approach to records management, evidence gathering, data quality, reconciliation and process improvement.
• Ability to explain technical, contractual, financial or licensing information clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including the ability to influence, challenge constructively and build effective working relationships across different teams.
• Experience managing competing priorities, working to deadlines and maintaining control of a varied workload with financial, operational and compliance impacts.
• Experience managing, coaching or developing others, or demonstrable ability to provide clear direction and support to an analyst or spec