Steven Whittaker signed for Norwich on 30th June 2012. The 28 year old Scottish international defender, who had 15 international caps at the time of his signing, was a free agent having rejected the transfer of his contract to the new Rangers, following the Glasgow club’s takeover. The 6ft 1ins Edinburgh-born defender, who has mostly played at right-back, has signed a four-year deal with the Canaries, subject to international clearance.

Whittaker enjoyed a successful five years at Ibrox following a £2m move from Hibernian, winning Scottish Premier League titles, Scottish Cups and three Scottish League Cups. He played over 170 appearances for Hibs since joining from Hutchison Vale Boys Club along with Kenny Miller and Derek Riordan. He made 209 appearances for Rangers, scoring 28 goals. He also won 18 Scottish Under-21 caps. He made his debut for the full national side on 12th August 2009, in a 4–0 defeat to Norway.

Canaries manager Chris Hughton said: “In Steven we have a player who is very versatile - he can play anywhere across the back four and anywhere across midfield, so there’s plenty of versatility there."

Whittaker injured his ankle in Norwich's pre-season friendly with Celtic and did not make his Norwich debut until the Capital One Cup clash with Tottenham on 31st October 2012. He retained his place for the game against Stoke on 3rd November 2012 and was named man of the match. Whittaker scored his first goal for Norwich in the 4-3 win at Swansea on 8th December 2012.

He finished the season with 14 appearances and 1 goal to his record, as Norwich finished 11th in the Premier League.

He made 25 appearances, scoring twice in the 2013/14 season in which Norwich were relegated from the Premier League.

He made 43 appearances, scoring twice the following season and played in the 2-0 Championship Play-off final victory over Middlesbrough on 25th May 2015

Whittaker made 9 appearances for City in 2015/16, scoring once, as the Canaries were relegated from the Premier League. He signed a new one-year contract, with the option of a further year, on 23rd May 2016. Alex Neil said "Steven's had a bit of a frustrating year, however I think he showed his worth in the Championship last time and it's going to be a squad game next season. It's important that we've got guys who have been there and done it before, and Steven is certainly one of those so it makes sense. The focus will now go on to Steven for him to show he's worth his year's contract. He's a top professional. Even when he's had a frustrating second half of the campaign, he conducted himself really well and you can't have enough of those good pros." 

On 2nd May 2017, Norwich City announced that they would not be renewing the contracts of seven senior players in the summer including Whittaker. He had made 15 appearances in 2016/17 scoring once.He was quicjly linked with a move back to Scotland to rejoin Hibs. This was completed on 15th July 2017 with Whittaker signing a three year contract. Whittaker told Hibs' website: "When I decided to return to Scotland, Hibs was the club I hoped to come to."

After 69 appearances for Hibs, it was reported at the end of May 2020 that his contract would not be renewed. He’s not hanging up his boots just yet though, adding: “The body is still feeling okay so if I don’t have too much time off hopefully I can still go and play somewhere and at the kind of age I am at now it is more year by year. So if I can play for another year, see where I’m at and if I feel like the time is right, then retirement might not be too far away. I will probably go down the coaching, possibly management, route at some stage. I have been doing all my badges, my (Uefa) A Licence, I have been doing an applied management course at university. I just finished that in March and I have only got to do my assessment.”

On 29th June 2020 Whittaker signed for Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic on a one year deal.

Whittaker announced his retirement on 4th June 2021 taking up a coaching role with Peter Grant's Dunfermline backroom staff.

On 14th May 2022 he was appointed as Fleetwood's Assistant Manager working with his former Scotland teammate Scott Brown.

Brown and Whittaker were sacked by Fleetwood on 3rd September 2023 after they picked up just one point from their opening six games of the 2023/24 season.

On 23rd January 2023 Brown and Whittaker returned to management at Scottish side Ayr United.