Applications Support Manager (Social Care Applications)

Bury Council is looking for an experienced Applications Support Manager to lead the delivery and continuous improvement of our Adults and Children’s social care systems, including key platforms such as Liquid Logic Children's Case Management, Liquid Logic Adults' Case Management and Controcc. This is a senior operational and technical leadership role, responsible for systems that directly support statutory frontline services.

You will lead a team of Application Support Officers, work closely with service managers and practitioners, and ensure our social care applications are reliable, secure, and aligned to both operational and legislative requirements. You’ll act as the subject matter expert and final escalation point for your application portfolio, balancing hands-on technical knowledge with strong people and supplier management skills.

What you’ll be doing:

• Leading and managing a team of Applications Support Officers delivering support for Adults and Children’s systems (including Liquidlogic and Controcc).
• Owning the reliability, usability and performance of critical social care applications, ensuring they remain fit for purpose.
• Acting as the senior escalation point for complex incidents, major service issues and system failures.
• Working closely with service leads, practitioners and DDaT Business Change Partners to understand demand, resolve issues and agree service improvements.
• Managing relationships with system suppliers, tracking product roadmaps and planning upgrades and enhancements proactively.
• Ensuring changes are properly logged, authorised and communicated in line with change and service management processes.
• Maintaining high-quality technical and operational documentation, asset information and licence compliance.
• Developing your team’s capability through coaching, performance management and continuous improvement.

What we’re looking for:

You’ll be an experienced applications or systems specialist who understands the pressures of frontline public services and can lead both people and platforms effectively. You’ll have:

• Significant experience supporting Adults and/or Children’s social care systems, with Liquidlogic and/or Controcc experience highly desirable.
• A strong background in applications or business systems support within a large or complex organisation.
• Proven people-management experience, with the ability to lead, motivate and develop technical teams.
• A good understanding of service management and ITIL best practice (formal qualification or equivalent experience).
• The ability to work confidently with non-technical stakeholders, senior managers and external suppliers.
• Experience prioritising competing demands and maintaining service quality in a live operational environment.

Why join Bury Council?

• Work on mission-critical systems that directly support vulnerable children and adults.
• Lead and shape a specialist applications team with real ownership and influence.
• Hybrid working with flexibility built around service delivery.
• Ongoing training, development and progression within a growing DDaT function.
• A values-driven organisation committed to public service, quality and inclusion.

Additional information:

• Occasional out-of-hours working may be required to support upgrades or service changes.
• Office attendance is currently a minimum of two days per week but may change in line with service requirements.
• Duties must be carried out in accordance with data protection, security, health and safety, and dignity at work policies.