System Development Officer

Canterbury City Council is looking for a System Development Officer to join its Digital Services team. 

Are you experienced in supporting, administering or improving complex corporate systems? 

This is an opportunity to join a multidisciplinary digital team that supports essential council services. You will help administer and improve the systems used by colleagues across the council, translating business requirements into secure, accessible and maintainable solutions. 

The role will initially have a strong focus on NEC Housing, formerly known as Northgate Housing, alongside applications within the Idox suite. NEC Housing is a critical council system supporting areas including rents, billing, assets and tenancy information.  

Experience of NEC Housing/Northgate or similar housing-management software would be particularly valuable. 

 
What’s in it for you? 

• A salary of £36,291.51 to £39,990.41 per annum 

• Cost-of-living pay award negotiated annually as a salary increase 

• Flexible, hybrid working. We understand the importance of a good work-life balance 

• A generous annual leave entitlement, which increases with service, plus bank holidays and three additional days usually used while our main offices are closed over Christmas 

• The option to buy additional annual leave 

• A local government pension scheme 

• Training and development opportunities, including support with professional membership fees where these are essential to the role 

• Employee benefits, including retailer and lifestyle discounts 

• Free use of Canterbury’s Park and Ride, flexi-bus tickets and a cycle-to-work scheme 

• Access to free counselling, advice and webinars through our employee assistance programme, as well as contributions towards the cost of flu vaccinations 

About this job 

You will work within the Digital Services team to administer, support and improve complex corporate systems. 

A significant part of the role will involve supporting NEC Housing/Northgate, including system configuration, access and security, testing, reporting and data quality. You may also support systems within the Idox suite and other corporate applications as service priorities change. 

You will work with colleagues across the council to understand their requirements, resolve problems and deliver practical improvements that make services easier to manage and use. 
 

Here’s what you’ll get up to 

• Supporting system administration, including user accounts, reports, dashboards, security settings and access profiles 

• Translating business and user requirements into secure, accessible and maintainable solutions 

• Configuring, maintaining and troubleshooting corporate systems and digital applications 

• Developing and maintaining system processes, technical guidance and training materials 

• Planning and supporting system testing and User Acceptance Testing 

• Investigating defects and supporting the implementation of system upgrades and new releases 

• Monitoring and improving data quality, system integrity and user adoption 

• Working with colleagues, suppliers and technical specialists to coordinate system changes and improvement work 

Working pattern 

• Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays 

• Full-time, 37 hours a week 

• Permanent contract 

• The team operates a flexible hybrid-working model. Normally, you will be expected to work on site at least once a fortnight. This may vary and could be more frequent depending on the systems, projects and service needs you are supporting 

• We recognise the benefits of smarter working practices that enable us to maximise productivity 

About you 

Your knowledge 

You will have: 

• A practical working knowledge of digital systems and their implementation 

• A good understanding of software-design principles and web security 

• An awareness of the technologies used to support web applications, including databases, backups and operating systems 

• An understanding of version control, continuous integration and DevOps principles 

• An understanding of Agile working 

• A good understanding of digital accessibility and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 

• Some knowledge of programming, scripting or database technologies, although knowledge of a particular programming language is not essential 

Your experience 

You will have experience of: 

• Administering, supporting or improving large corporate systems 

• Communicating with users and stakeholders to understand requirements and explain technical solutions 

• Managing competing requests and delivering work to agreed deadlines 

• Working with technical colleagues to deliver maintainable and scalable solutions 

• Maintaining or improving customer relationship management or other complex business systems 

Experience of NEC Housing/Northgate or a comparable housing-management system would be particularly valuable. Experience of supporting applications within the Idox suitewould also be useful. 

Your skills 

You will be able to: 

• Configure, administer, support and improve complex corporate systems 

• Analyse business and user requirements and translate them into technical solutions 

• Maintain and troubleshoot digital applications using suitable database, programming and web technologies 

• Plan and support testing, investigate defects and implement system changes 

• Explain technical information clearly to technical and non-technical audiences 

• Organise competing priorities and work effectively with colleagues from different professional disciplines 

Your qualifications 

• An undergraduate degree or equivalent relevant experience 

Due to the nature of this role, the successful applicant will be required to undertake a basic DBS check as part of their pre-employment checks.

If this System Development Officer opportunity in Canterbury looks right for you, please apply today. Select the “Apply Online” button and create an account to begin your application. 

For an informal discussion about the position or what it is like to work in Canterbury City Council’s Digital Services team, please contact Stu Collett, Senior Digital Services Manager, at stu.collett@canterbury.gov.uk  

Equality, diversity and inclusion at Canterbury City Council 

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in everything we do. We provide a safe and welcoming environment where everyone is valued, included and respected. 

Our diversity strengthens our ability to serve the diverse communities we support through our work. 

To demonstrate this through our actions, all applications are anonymised for the shortlisting panel, allowing applicants to be assessed on merit alone. 

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