Reporting to the Corporate Information Officer, the Manager of Applications leads the City of St. Catharines’ enterprise application portfolio and oversees the team responsible for supporting, improving, and delivering the application systems that enable municipal services.
The role provides leadership, direction, and oversight for core City systems, application service delivery, system modernization, vendor-supported solutions, and digital transformation initiatives. The Manager brings both leadership and technical depth to guide a team capable of delivering solutions in-house and with vendors alike, working with departments to set priorities, manage risk, and ensure application solutions are secure, accessible, reliable, and aligned with corporate standards.
- Lead and oversee the Applications team responsible for the support, enhancement, implementation, integration, and maintenance of core City application systems.
- Manage the City’s enterprise application portfolio, including planning, prioritization, lifecycle management, upgrades, modernization, service continuity, and vendor-supported solutions.
- Lead the design, development, and maintenance of in-house applications and integrations and enabling cost-effective solutions across the organization.
- Set team priorities, manage capacity, assign work, and monitor progress to ensure application support and project work is delivered effectively.
- Work with departments to understand business needs, service pressures, and improvement opportunities, and guide the delivery of practical application solutions.
- Lead digital transformation initiatives that streamline processes, reduce manual work, improve online service delivery, strengthen data quality, and improve service to staff and residents.
- Ensure application initiatives align with corporate architecture, cyber security, accessibility, data governance, privacy, records management, and operational support standards.
- Oversee application-related procurement, RFPs, scopes of work, contracts, licensing, renewals, vendor performance, service levels, and issue escalation.
- Supervise staff, including recruitment, work assignment, coaching, mentoring, training, performance management, and staff development.
- Lead change management activities for application initiatives, including stakeholder communication, training readiness, adoption planning, and post-implementation review.
- Support operating and capital budget planning, forecasting, software licensing, support contracts, and technology investment planning.
- Ensure application services and related work practices comply with City policies, health and safety requirements, and AODA accessibility obligations.
- Act in the capacity of Manager of Infrastructure and Operations in their absence, as required.
- University degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Technology Management, Public Administration, or a related discipline.
- Five (5) years of recent related experience, including three (3) years of experience leading, supervising, or managing staff involved in business application support, implementation, enhancement, or service delivery.
- Experience managing or supporting enterprise applications in a complex, multi-department environment.
- Experience leading application projects, system implementations, vendor software rollouts, upgrades, service improvements, and business process improvement initiatives.
- Strong understanding of application service delivery, lifecycle management, change management, testing, documentation, incident management, and post-implementation support.
- Technical depth in application development, integration, reporting, data quality, security, accessibility, privacy, and governance sufficient to provide effective oversight and hands-on leadership.
- Experience with municipal ERP, finance, HR/payroll, work management, permitting, or customer service systems is strongly preferred; familiarity with Cityworks, AMANDA, Dayforce, PeopleSoft, Central Square (CST and CCR), Vailtech, or ActiveNet is an asset.
- Professional certifications in project management (PMP), IT service management (ITIL), or Microsoft technologies would be considered an asset.
- Knowledge of digital transformation practices, including process improvement, automation, online service delivery, system modernization, stakeholder adoption, and benefits realization.
- Experience managing vendor relationships, service contracts, software licensing, procurement activities, RFPs, scopes of work, budgets, and performance outcomes.
- Well-developed leadership, analytical, problem-solving, project management, communication, facilitation, customer service, and report-writing skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders at all levels of the organization and function effectively with minimal supervision.
- Valid Ontario driver’s license, Class G, with a clean driving record.
