Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy on the hunt for digital and technology chiefs

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is advertising for two senior digital roles - a Deputy Director of Digital & Data and a Deputy Director of Technology Services (CTO) - in a big to further drive forward a major programme of work, which has seen it move to a cloud model.

Both roles are being advertised with a salary of approximately £85,000 and will work alongside each other, reporting into Chief Digital Information Officer, Karl Hoods.

Commenting on the Deputy Director of Digital & Data role, Hoods said:

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced technology leader to shape the Digital & Data Strategy, in a Department that in turn, sets the landscape for UK businesses.

With the passion and skills to deliver the next generation of high performing digital services for our customers and staff, you will drive forward a culture delivery,innovation and continuously improving services whilst increasing quality, performance and reducing cost.

This is a key role within BEIS DDaT which will be pivotal in maximising opportunities arising from our recent move to a cloud model. We are seeking a strategic thinker who can deliver outcomes in line with the wider BEIS DDaT strategy as well as look for opportunities to innovate and challenge the norm.

Hoods added that the successful candidate will be a creative thinker, one who is able to assess complex technical challenges and then inform and influence senior stakeholders in a non-technical way.

The new Deputy Director of Digital and Data will be tasked with developing a new digital and data strategy and aim to provide “strong leadership focusing on delivering outcomes, valuing people, customer service and efficiency using a one team approach”, the department said.

They will also need to consider how to create value from the data available within BEIS, as well as partner organisations.

In terms of essential skills, the chosen candidate will need experience of successfully leading and developing digital and technology functions, as well as have a track record of delivering high performing digital and data led services to business and consumers in complex environments.

Ideally, they will also have experience of DevOps, continuous integration/deployment and a range of testing approaches.

A new CTO

Working alongside the new Deputy Director of Digital and Data, BEIS’s new CTO will be tasked with a number of responsibilities that include architecture & governance, service operations, service transition, infrastructure & service maintenance, as well as leadership and people management.

For example, the candidate pack outlines that the CTO’s responsibilities will be to:

• Create and maintain reference architectures for the delivery of services
• Oversee the technical governance required to introduce and maintain services into operation
• Provide a user oriented, cost effective, reliable and efficient service desk function incorporating problem and incident management, resolution, reporting and escalation for core BEIS and organisations for which a shared service is provided
• Work with the Deputy Director of Digital and Data to ensure new and modified services meet the expectations of the business and are handed over effectively from the project phase to live operations
• Ensure all live infrastructure, applications and environments are supported effectively and that operational changes can be implemented successfully
• Build and maintain a culture of continuous delivery and improvement, ensuring that the infrastructure and key systems are regularly analysed, maintained and improved to agreed standards and quality levels
• Manage and develop staff to improve business performance and build staff potential

The successful candidate will need to have experience of leading and developing technical teams of 40+ technology professionals, as well as experience of delivering cloud services such as Microsoft 365, Azure and AWS.

Ideally they’d also have knowledge of legislation pertaining to public sector technology.

Applicants for both positions have until the 22nd October to apply, with interviews being held in early December.