Chief Information Officer, Defence Intelligence - Ministry of Defence - SCS1

Location

London or RAF Wyton, Huntingdon.

Location and working arrangements can be flexible within reason; for example, working or being based at other large/main Defence sites

About the job

Job summary

This role reports to the Director Strategy and Enterprise in Defence Intelligence (DI) and is responsible for the provision of effective information technology strategy for Defence Intelligence, and for understanding progress/performance against that strategy. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for the maintenance and smooth operation of current IT systems and transition away from legacy systems, and for cyber security. The Chief Information Officer, Defence Intelligence is accountable to MOD CIO for effective leadership of the Digital Function in DI, and coordination and support to wider functional objectives across MOD.

Dr Naomi Roberts, Director Strategy and Enterprise, Defence Intelligence will be offering an online Q&A session on Wednesday 25 February 2026 10:00-11:00 to give an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. If you have any issues accessing the session, please contact: People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk

Job description

• To oversee the reliable daily delivery of the right information technology products and services to users and to the business that give us advantage over our adversaries;
• To understand the wider technology landscape in use and planned across MOD, wider UK Government and by our partners and allies, and find opportunities to collaborate and integrate;
• On behalf of the Director, to continuously evaluate and evolve DI’s technology and data blueprint which provides the headmarks for multiple multi-million pound delivery programmes, to ensure the blueprint enables us to pull through innovation that will give us advantage; and to understand how the programmes are delivering against the blueprint;
• To advise the Director on investment decisions in technology and data for DI;
• To assure and coordinate cyber and information security for DI;
• To represent DI and provide thought leadership on information technology in MOD, cross government and international forums;
• To lead the digital function within Defence Intelligence, coordinating and cohering with wider digital functional leads across MOD, and delivering priority functional objectives according to the direction of MOD Chief Information Officer;
• To provide oversight of the design and implementation of continuous improvements to our technology, wherever possible using our partners’ and allies’ solutions. It is a highly complex landscape, with delivery through multiple large programmes owned elsewhere.

Person specification

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:

• Have experience of collective leadership across and between organisations to achieved shared outcomes;
• Be a strategic thinker, with experience of successfully building, leading and implementing a digital strategy at scale;
• Be a trusted technology adviser, and have experience of advising senior colleagues, managing complex situations, and communicating complex technology concepts effectively;
• Have experience of leading and managing digital teams during a period of transformation;
• Be a visible, credible leader and have leadership presence in both internal and external contexts; and
• Have a good understanding of evolving trends in digital and what it could mean for the Defence enterprise.

Technical Essential Criteria;

• Membership of a professional body (e.g. BCS).

Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a strong field of candidates when there is a need to distinguish between candidates. This will be as a second sift, after the essential criteria has been considered:

• Experience of Agile development combined with a detailed knowledge of package software solutions, bespoke build and software integration;
• Experience of implementing cyber security and Data Protection best practice