The Department for Work & Pensions has launched a recruitment drive for a new digital and data chief, on a salary of up to £200,000 and in charge of an annual budget of £1.4bn to continue the department’s digital transformation (DX).
The move has been triggered by the resignation of current boss Simon McKinnon, who it is understood is due to leave the department later this year.
McKinnon was appointed in December 2018, accountable for the strategy, maintenance, integrity, value for money and continuous improvement of the department’s digital services and systems.
Prior to that, he spent nearly eight year’s as children, health and pensions services technology director at DWP, and six years as director of information and technology at the Child Maintenance & Enforcement Commission. He has also held senior roles at PwC, FSC Mobile, OAG Worldwide and StepStone.
During his time at DWP Digital, McKinnon has been a key driver of the department’s digital transformation, overseeing the switch from outsourcing to in-house.
The new director general chief digital and information officer will report directly to DWP Permanent Secretary Peter Schofield, the senior civil servant who took on the role in 2018.
The role will require the capability to lead at scale, and the ability to work collaboratively across the executive team, providing digital solutions and capability to continue to improve service delivery in DWP.
According to the job spec, “the complexity and scale in which we work is unprecedented. In our digital function, we transact £170bn a year, we manage 50 million lines of code and we have one of Europe’s largest IT estates operating across 850 buildings and 90,000 desktops”.
The five pillars of DWP’s three-year Digital Future strategy include providing reliable, secure, cost-effective services by enabling what DWP Digital calls “24/7 delivery of high-performing, sustainable, accessible digital services” for colleagues and customers.
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