Information Systems Team Manager (Apps - Housing) in London

Join the Team Supporting Sheffield's Essential Neighbourhood Services ICT & Digital Innovation – Digital Applications. Be part of the technology that helps deliver vital services across Sheffield. Sheffield is a great city, and the Sheffield City Council Plan 2024-28 focuses on what makes Sheffield a unique, ambitious and inspiring city with a clear vision for the future.

A significant part of that delivery plan involves the embedding and support of technology and our approach to digital across the organisation and city. At Sheffield City Council, we're delivering an ambitious digital transformation agenda that is modernising how services are designed, delivered and supported. The Digital Applications Team plays a critical role in that journey, ensuring the systems that underpin services across the Neighbourhoods Directorate remain reliable, effective and ready for the future.

Our Digital Strategy is being delivered through a programme of projects that will modernise our ICT infrastructure and look to the future using AI, Automation and emerging technologies. We are bringing together professionals and teams that support ICT & Digital Innovation from across the organisation to further develop skills in line with the SIAM model of delivery.

We're looking for a talented, motivated and forward-thinking Information Systems Team Manager to join our Digital Applications Team. This is an exciting opportunity to combine technical knowledge, operational leadership and people management to support systems that are essential to the delivery of front-line critical services across the city.

Whether it's improving business processes, delivering valuable management information, supporting key operational applications, or helping implement modern digital solutions, you'll be at the heart of work that makes a genuine difference to residents, communities and council staff.

Why Join Us?

Make an Impact Every Day. This isn't technology for technology's sake. Our Digital Applications Team supports the critical business systems used by the Neighbourhoods Directorate, helping colleagues deliver services to residents across Sheffield. Your work will help ensure technology enables business change, service improvement, informed decision-making and better outcomes for customers.

Work on Business-Critical Applications. The service supports the Neighbourhoods Directorate by maintaining its line-of-business applications and providing a support service to ensure the applications are enablers to business change and service improvement.

The team currently supports:

• NEC Housing
• Info@Work (NEC DM Housing)
• APP (Flare) Housing / Civica CX
• Confirm
• Totalmobile
• IDOX

These applications support housing management, repairs, property services, customer engagement, mobile working, regulatory functions and critical operational processes relied upon daily by services across the Directorate.

Be Part of Digital Transformation. As part of ICT & Digital Innovation, you will contribute to ongoing programmes that improve how services are delivered through smarter use of technology, automation, data and digital solutions. You'll have opportunities to develop your skills, contribute to service improvements and help shape the future of digital service delivery across the Council.

What You'll Be Part Of. The Digital Applications Team provides technical expertise, application support and service improvement across the Neighbourhoods Directorate. We work closely with operational services, suppliers and colleagues across ICT & Digital Innovation to ensure applications remain secure, effective and aligned with business needs.

The team provides:

• Application Support and Administration
• Systems Analysis and Problem Resolution
• Data Analysis and Reporting
• Digital Service Improvement
• Supplier and Stakeholder Engagement
• Management Information and Dashboard Development
• Application Development and Configuration Support

About the Role. We are seeking to appoint an outstanding Information Systems Team Manager for the Digital Applications Team. We are looking for someone with strong operational leadership, technical expertise and problem-solving skills to lead and support Information Systems Specialists and wider team members delivering services that underpin critical front-line Housing services.

Working closely with service users, suppliers and stakeholders, you will lead the support, development and improvement of key business systems, manage changing priorities and ensure the team provides a reliable and responsive service.

In this role you will:

• Provide technical and operational leadership for the support, development and continuous improvement of business-critical applications, including NEC Housing, NEC Document Management and Totalmobile.
• Lead and manage the Housing Systems team, setting priorities, managing workloads and performance, and developing team capability to ensure effective service delivery.
• Lead the response to Priority 1 and other major incidents, coordinating technical resources, suppliers and stakeholders to restore services and ensuring appropriate follow-up actions are progressed.
• Manage competing and rapidly changing priorities across operational support, incidents, system changes, projects and continuous improvement, ensuring resources are allocated effectively.
• Oversee the delivery of application changes, upgrades and releases, ensuring appropriate testing, change control, governance and business readiness.
• Provide management oversight and direction for complex technical issues across applications, databases and integrations, working with technical specialists, ICT colleagues and suppliers to achieve resolution.
• Lead supplier and stakeholder relationships, managing escalations and ensuring effective collaboration between Housing services, ICT teams and third-party suppliers.
• Manage system and service risks, dependencies, resilience and business continuity, ensuring significant issues are identified and escalated appropriately.
• Drive continuous improvement across the Housing applications service, ensuring systems and support arrangements continue to meet changing business needs and organisational priorities.

What You'll Bring. We're looking for someone who combines strong operational leadership with solid technical expertise, excellent analytical skills and the ability to get the best from a technical team.

You will have:

• Experience of leading and developing a technical applications team, including managing workloads, priorities and performance.
• Strong technical experience supporting complex business-critical applications, ideally within a Housing environment.
• Strong SQL and relational database skills, with the technical understanding to oversee and challenge complex data analysis, investigation and database activity undertaken by technical specialists.
• Experience of application configuration, testing, upgrades and releases, with the ability to oversee technical delivery and ensure appropriate testing, change control and governance.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to provide direction on complex technical issues and make effective decisions during critical incidents.
• Experience of managing competing and rapidly changing priorities across operational support, incidents, projects and planned change.
• Strong supplier and stakeholder management skills, including managing technical escalations and working collaboratively to resolve complex service issues.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues clearly to both technical and non-technical colleagues.
• A collaborative leadership style, with the ability to develop technical capability, share knowledge and build a resilient and effective team.

Housing and NEC Experience. This role has a strong focus on the applications supporting Sheffield's Housing services. Knowledge and practical experience of Housing services and processes would be advantageous, as would experience of NEC Housing, NEC Document Management, Totalmobile or similar large-scale business applications. The successful candidate will need the technical understanding and leadership capability to oversee specialist technical staff working across applications, SQL, databases, integrations, configuration, testing and system change.

What We Offer. You'll be joining a dynamic, forward-thinking service at an exciting time of change and will be supported by both the Digital Applications Service Manager and a skilled operational management team. Key benefits include:

• Annual leave of 26 days plus public holidays, rising to 31 days after 5 years' service
• Opportunity to purchase an additional 5 days' leave per year
• Up to 6 days paid carers leave for those with caring responsibilities
• Hybrid and flexible working arrangements
• Employee Assistance Programme providing support on personal finances, counselling, legal matters and wellbeing
• Generous Local Government Pension Scheme
• Discounts through Vodafone, Westfield Health and public transport schemes
• Salary sacrifice employee car lease scheme and city car club
• Cycle to Work scheme and free eyesight tests
• Affordable housing and the Peak District on your doorstep

Further Information. For further information please contact: Kyle Hammond, Service Manager – Digital Applications, kyle.hammond@sheffield.gov.uk.

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.

It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application. Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form. Sometimes, if lots of people apply, we might not be able to interview everyone who qualifies for the Guarantee. In these cases, we’ll interview the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.

Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.

If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade. Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026. Read about the new job evaluation process to be introduced at Sheffield City Council.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.

Basis: Full Time

Package: Permanent