About
A software company that builds products — our own, and our clients' — on the way of working set out in how we build software.
Why we exist
After 25+ years building and running software inside large organisations, Matt Tanner founded City Software Engineering to do something the industry has only recently made possible: build and run genuinely capable software with a small, experienced team, at a fraction of what it used to cost. For most of his career, good software was expensive to write — so it took big teams and big budgets to produce, and to keep running. AI has changed that, and the advantage has shifted to those who understand how software should be shaped: what to build, what to leave out, and what has to be right.
That is the company City Software Engineering is: one that builds products — its own, and its clients' — putting deep engineering experience to work directly on software worth building. Everything rests on the same foundation: the way we think about building software, set out in How we build software. The services we provide share that discipline and help fund the product work. Beyond the work itself, there's a goal to give something back — to the profession, by sharing hard-won experience, and to Canterbury, the city we call home.
FounderMatt Tanner The experience behind the work
City Software Engineering draws on Matt Tanner's deep experience designing, building, running and rescuing software that organisations depend on. Leading engineering across a software group, he worked inside more than twenty large enterprise systems — ticketing, health and care, education, legal, finance, payroll and more — an unusual amount of exposure to how software is really built, and where it tends to go wrong.
He's done the hard parts, not just the easy ones: built and operated a national service running at 100,000+ documents a day and 4,000+ concurrent users; recovered a major programme that had run into serious trouble and brought it back into reliable service; and worked at the centre of platforms where security is the whole point. Running systems well — keeping them available, secure and supported — is as much a part of that record as building them in the first place.
His grounding is formal as well as practical: a degree in Computer Science from the University of Kent in Canterbury, and specialist training in distributed systems design under Udi Dahan.
"Matthew brought a whole new level of insight into architecture ... a hands-on developer with vast experience in ops and infrastructure which made his architectural analysis deep and effective in context of microservices and cloud."
— Lukasz Kwiecinski
Local working
City Software Engineering is based in Canterbury, Kent — a beautiful, historic city we believe has an exciting future as a technology hub. There’s already an active ecosystem here: experienced developers, designers and innovators meeting at local meetups to share what they know, alongside universities producing talented graduates. As software grows in our daily lives and as an industry sector, the time is right to raise the city’s profile as a place to live and work in technology.
Rather than working at home for a remote organisation, or taking long commutes to an office, we believe in “local working” — working within a walk or cycle ride of a place to meet and collaborate. It is good for the local economy, supporting high-street businesses; good for colleagues, giving time to work face-to-face and to socialise; and good for families, giving time and flexibility for today’s busy lives.
It’s better for the software, too. People who share a place and work closely tend to build with more care than scattered teams ever manage.
We partner with clients wherever they are — local working is simply how we choose to build.
Testimonials
"A clear, pragmatic approach to solving business problems ... Matt consistently delivers solutions which are both resilient and extensible."
"Matthew's dedication and focus to providing the right solution for the right problem ... is what struck me most."
"A technologist at heart, always looking to add business value ... and a rare ability to communicate technical concepts in plain English."
"An approachable and charismatic leader and technologist ... his depth of knowledge and experience clearly contribute to the creative and innovative solutions that Matt delivers."
Contact
Whatever's on your mind, a short call is the fastest way to find out if we can help.
