System Development Officer
| Company: | Canterbury City Council |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £36,291.51 to £39,990.41 a year |
| Hours: | Full-time |
| Location: | Canterbury, CT1 2UR |
| Working pattern: | On-site |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Posting date: | 25 Sept 2026 |
| Closing date: | 11 Oct 2026 |
Summary
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
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 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.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
