Former City Councillor At-Large Stephen Murphy is taking his re-election loss last November in stride and pursuing the suddenly hotly contested post for Suffolk Register of Deeds. In a conversation with the Reporter this week, Murphy said he saw the register position as another door opening for him after he was ousted from his at-large seat after 18 years on the council.

The Dorchester native considers himself a long-time public servant more than he does a long-time politician.

“I enjoy public service; I think it’s a noble profession,” he said. “Councillors face intense scrutiny on every facet of their lives,” he added, referring to news coverage. “It’s tough, but it's been rewarding to me,” he said.

The register post, which involves overseeing a staff of clerks logging property transactions in Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, is fundamentally a public management position, Murphy said. Consisting of a six-year term at a salary of about $124,000, elections for the position rarely draw much buzz.

Before he first ran for office two decades ago, Murphy had years in the private and public sector under his belt. He was hired out of college as a personnel supervisor at a Dorchester transportation company on East Cottage Street, where he worked his way up to vice president over eight years.

He later worked as an analyst in the state Senate before joining the city council, where he was regarded as knowledgeable about the city budget. He notes he has been credited with implementing several “out of the box” approaches to problems of tax revenue and funding.

The register post draws from the same skill set, Murphy said. “The register of deeds is a public management position,” he said. “Clerks are responsible for recording property transactions, but if you lag behind in the recordings… that tends to delay revenue coming to the cities and towns.”

When he pulled his nomination papers at the Secretary of State’s office, Murphy said there were only two names before his on the list. Now he faces a crowded field of Democratic contenders for the ordinarily slow race for register. He is gathering signatures and is confident that he will have the required 1,000 names by the May deadline.

Of the nine who had signed for nomination papers by early April, “I don’t believe any have my citywide name recognition,” Murphy said. He added, “I feel very comfortable. After 20 years, people realize the contributions that I’ve made.”

Other candidates who have stated an intention to seek election for the post include Dorchester residents Charles Yancey, Paul Nutting and Douglas Bennett, Mattapan’s Stephanie Everett, South Boston’s John Keith and Katie Forde of Roslindale.