Role comes with remit to oversee day-to-day running of core services, as well as leading move away form large outsourcing contracts

Credit: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire/PA Images

The Ministry of Justice is offering an annual salary of up to £130,000 in its bid to recruit a director of common technology services.

The post comes with a responsibility for overseeing the running of “IT services for 74,000 MoJ employees, including all public prisons, courts, tribunals, national probation services, Legal Aid Agency, the Office of the Public Guardian, and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority”.

The core services covered by the role encompass all forms of end-user computing – including laptops, desktops, tablets, and mobiles – as well as LAN, WAN, and WiFi networks, security tools, printing, and commodity productivity software, such as Office 365 and G-Suite. 

The common technology chief will have ultimate responsibility for ensuring these are kept “running smoothly, with high availability and a quick mean time to resolve any issues”. Core services must remain “secure and resilient to cyberattacks and information leaks”, the MoJ said.

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In addition to overseeing the day-to-day running of these services, the successful candidate will also be responsible for the “successful completion of major programmes of work currently in flight to deliver modern technology kit and services to our staff across a nationwide estate”.

The director of common technology services will also manage the MoJ’s biggest outsourced IT contracts and, once those engagements expire, lead the implementation of “a new in-house and multi-source commercial approach”. 

The postholder will manage hundreds of MoJ staff and as many as 200 contractors, and will report into the department’s chief digital and information officer Tom Read.

“The Ministry of Justice is in the process of establishing a functional model for digital and technology,” wrote Read, in a foreword to the candidate information pack. “These roles will be fundamental to the success of the functional approach. It is vital that we form a collaborative and innovative leadership team to both drive change and enable the excellent work of the Ministry of Justice’s agencies as they transform some of the most fundamental services offered by government.”

He added: “There is a lot of work still to do to see through the journey we have set out on. There are challenges ahead, but these will be outweighed by the rewards in achieving our vision. If you have the skills, leadership and qualities we are looking for, we’d love you to join us.”

The director of common technology services role, which will be based at MoJ headquarters in central London, comes with a salary of between £110,000 and £130,000.

Applications are open until midnight on 22 August. A shortlist will be drawn up by the end of this month, with staff engagement exercises scheduled for 7 September and interviews due to take place in the week commencing 17 September.