Senior Jira Administrator

About SMBC Group

SMBC Group is a major global financial services organization headquartered in Tokyo with a history spanning more than 400 years. Its business covers banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance, and it operates across nearly 40 countries with more than 130 offices and 80,000 employees worldwide. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group and is one of Japan’s three largest banking groups. SMFG shares are listed on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York stock exchanges.

Across the Americas, SMBC Group operates in the US, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Supported by the strength of SMBC Group’s capital base and its long-standing relationships in Asia, the organization delivers commercial and investment banking solutions to corporate, institutional, and municipal clients and connects them to local and global markets. Its Americas operating companies include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC MANUBANK, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.

Role Overview

This is a hybrid position based in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, and the successful candidate will be expected to attend the Tralee office. The role reports to the Executive Director of Enterprise Architecture.

SMBC is looking for an experienced and strategic Enterprise Agile Tooling Lead / Senior Jira Administrator to own and evolve its Atlassian Enterprise Cloud Platform and wider Agile tooling environment. The position supports the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) across the business by ensuring the platform is configured, governed, and continually improved to enable reliable delivery, transparency, compliance, and decision-making.

The right person will combine advanced Jira and Confluence administration skills with a solid grasp of Agile delivery and SDLC integration. The role involves driving enterprise standards, shaping adoption, and working with delivery, engineering, risk, and control stakeholders to ensure the tooling ecosystem remains scalable, compliant, and aligned to business value.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the subject matter expert and platform owner for enterprise Agile tooling, covering Jira, Confluence, test management tools, and approved plugins, while promoting effective ways of working across the organization.
• Administer, configure, and support Jira and Confluence across multiple large-scale projects, programmes, and teams.
• Create and manage custom workflows, issue types, fields, screens, permissions, schemes, and automation rules that align with SDLC and Agile delivery processes.
• Oversee access control, role management, and security settings to meet compliance, audit, and governance requirements.
• Use Jira Forge to enhance platform capabilities by assessing, building, and deploying custom applications, UI extensions, automations, and integrations when native features are not enough.
• Set up and maintain automated data flows, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms that provide live visibility into delivery, quality, flow, and risk.
• Own key delivery metrics and dashboards such as velocity, throughput, WIP, cycle time, test coverage, release readiness, and risk posture for development, leadership, operations, and audit teams.
• Ensure Jira, test management tools, and plugins integrate smoothly with DevSecOps pipelines, CI/CD systems, test automation frameworks, and governance activities such as change control, code scanning, and risk review.
• Prepare and run training, playbooks, standards, and documentation for end users, power users, and administrators.
• Keep up to date with Atlassian’s roadmap, Jira Forge developments, and market best practices to keep the platform modern and effective.

Required Experience and Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a similar discipline is required.
• Atlassian Certified Professional (ACP) certification is mandatory.
• At least 7 years of practical experience as a Jira Administrator or Enterprise Agile Tooling specialist in a complex enterprise setting.
• Experience administering both Atlassian Cloud and Data Center environments.
• Strong knowledge of Jira configuration, including permissions, schemes, and automation.
• Proven experience integrating test management tools with Jira.
• Practical experience building metrics, dashboards, and enterprise reporting solutions.
• Hands-on use of Jira Automation, ScriptRunner, and REST APIs.
• Working familiarity with Jira Forge development and platform extensibility.
• Good understanding of Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and SDLC methods.
• Experience connecting Jira with CI/CD and DevSecOps tooling.
• Background working in regulated environments with audit, compliance, and control frameworks.
• Strong problem-solving ability, communication skills, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Experience

• Additional credentials such as Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), or SAFe Agilist are an advantage.
• Experience with test automation frameworks and quality engineering practices is preferred.
• Exposure to DevSecOps tools such as GitHub, Azure DevOps, Bamboo, Jenkins, SonarQube, or similar platforms is desirable.
• Scripting skills in Groovy, Python, or Bash would be useful.
• Leadership experience, mentoring ability, and a collaborative style are beneficial.
• Ability to manage several initiatives at once and adjust to shifting priorities is important.

Work Arrangement

This role follows a hybrid working model, allowing a mix of home-based and office-based work. Employees are expected to live within a reasonable commuting distance of their assigned office. The exact hybrid schedule will be discussed during the interview process.

Accessibility and Accommodations

SMBC provides reasonable accommodations during the hiring process for applicants with disabilities, in line with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Candidates who need support during the application process can request assistance at accommodations@smbcgroup.com.

Additional Information

No salary or stipend amount has been specified for this position. No opening count, application deadline, start date, or duration has been provided.