Department advertises role as COO of its tech unit, which comes with a wide remit covering overall plans and strategy, as well as oversight of governance, finance, procurement, and communications

The Department for Work and Pensions is offering a six-figure salary for an operational leader to oversee the organisation’s digital and transformation agenda and the 4,000-plus civil servants that support it.

The post as chief operating officer of the DWP’s Digital and Transformation Group comes with a remit to “own the complete view of… [the unit], ensuring it’s well planned, governed, and there is a positive return on investment”, according to the job advert.

Key elements of this oversight will include overall responsibility for the digital group’s operating model, as well as a requirement to “deliver an accurate workforce plan for over 4,000” workers. The successful candidate will also be tasked with “leading the annual and multi-year Spending Review business-planning processes, [to] ensure we have a clear and resourced plan to deliver our ambitions, strategy and vision”.

The COO will also “lead on organisational governance, control and risk management for DWP Digital” – which will include serving as the main point of contact with the Government Internal Audit Agency.

The post comes with an expectation to oversee the department’s £1bn annual tech budget, which will encompass attempts to “mature our financial and budget management approaches” and a requirement to “work with our commercial director to ensure we achieve value for money from our suppliers”, the job advert says.

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Other duties will include helping the DWP to “attract, build, and develop the best digital talent, creating a strong talent and resourcing strategy, utilising our Digital Academy and making sure we have the right mix of civil servants, and cost-effective arrangements for contractors, outsourced arrangements, apprenticeships, and internships”.

Finally, the digital operations head will play a key role in communications and engagement, where the chosen applicant will be asked to “bring the business plan and digital strategy and vision to life”.

“As COO you will lead on key strategic objectives, acting as the expert who owns and leads the relationships between DWP Digital, Government Digital Service, and HM Treasury,” the advert adds. “You will lead a challenging agenda, building strong partnerships with other functional leaders (e.g. commercial, people, finance, [and] risk) to build joined up approaches to problem-solving and drive activity.”

The post comes with an annual pay packet of between £100,000 and £140,000. Applications for the role are open until 11.55pm on 8 September. Ahead of which, on 26 August DWP digital leaders – including CDIO Helen Wylie – will run an online Q&A session where prospective can find out more about the role.