Chief Technology Officer - Department for Culture, Media and Sport - SCS1

Location

London, Manchester

About the job

Job summary

We are seeking an inspiring and strategic Chief Technology Officer to lead the next stage of our DDaT Strategy. 

This is a rare opportunity to reshape how DCMS works from the inside out. Reporting to the Chief Digital Information Officer, you will drive a major DDaT transformation to modernise IT, assurance, cyber security and technology services, while enabling digital delivery teams to innovate and build digital, data and AI capability across the department. 

Job description

You will lead the transition to a new operating model that strengthens governance, improves service resilience and enables multidisciplinary teams to collaborate effectively. You will play a key leadership role in the strategic departmental moves to Microsoft from Google, Integrated Corporate Services and joining the cross government shared services programme of Matrix. 

We are looking for a senior leader who can turn technological possibility into operational reality, driving efficiency, maturing capability and leading DCMS through a three year change journey. Critical for success in this role will not only be the ability to lead a technological shift but also a people-centred and cultural shift. We are looking for exceptional leadership abilities to drive professionalism, modern ways of working and a customer-centred philosophy of delivery.

The Chief Technology Officer’s team is the technical centre of DCMS, leading the department's major DDaT transformation and ensuring our digital foundations are secure, resilient, and high-performing.

Under the leadership of the CTO, the team is structured to deliver essential services and strategic change, encompassing:

• Technical services & IT service management: delivering and supporting all core IT infrastructure, platforms, and end-user services, focusing on operational delivery, efficiency, and embedding best practices at scale.
• Cyber security: protecting the department's systems and data, owning our security strategy, and providing robust technical assurance.
• Information governance: managing Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) and Operational Data Protection to ensure compliance, proper data handling, and effective risk management across all technology usage.

Collectively, we define and execute the long-term technical roadmap, translate emerging technology into secure reality, manage strategic supplier ecosystems, and drive cross-government collaboration to deliver maximum public value.

Person specification

Essential Requirements

• Strategic digital and technology leadership: proven experience in setting direction and delivering technology strategies in complex organisations, to 1,000+ users, overseeing £5m+ annual budget. With experience of complex platform migration and integration (eg Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 or similar multi-cloud environments).
• Operational technology delivery: track record of stablising high-risk live services and embedding best practice and a customer-centric philosophy at scale. Demonstrable success managing the deployment and stabilisation of enterprise scale SaaS solutions in highly regulated or high-security environments alongside establishing and maintaining Continuous Integration/ Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) practices for digital and data products and services.
• Information governance, risk, and cyber security: strong understanding of technology governance, KIM/data protection, risk management and cyber security principles, with the ability to balance innovation with compliance and operational resilience.
• Financial decision making for technology: ability to set budgets, justify investment in technology and make strategic trade offs between immediate operational needs and long-term value.
• Stakeholder, supplier, and collaboration: demonstrable ability to influence and engage senior stakeholders, manage and drive accountability in complex supplier ecosystems and work collaboratively across government or large organisations.

Desirable Skills

• Modern Security Models: experience of establishing a DevSecOps and operational resilience testing practice to manage evolving threat landscape.
• Shared services: success driving value for money and financial control in shared services models.