The government is seeking a senior IT leader to “develop and run a new mission critical, secure IT-related service of national importance on behalf of multiple UK government departments”.

Details of what exactly the service will offer are thin on the ground, but the candidate information pack outlines that it will be used by more than 8,000 users spanning upwards of 20 different government departments. The head of service role, which will be housed within the Department for International Development (DFID), comes with a salary of up to £95,000, and will be based in East Kilbride, albeit with frequent trips to London. 

The department said: “In the first instance, the head of service will be required to build, develop, and maintain the service and establish its good reputation amongst partners, building strong relationships with relevant government bodies and helping to build an enduring business model.

Related content

• MoD seeks £180k CIO to manage 3,000 staff and £2bn budget
• Home Office puts up £75k salaries for new cloud and end-user-computing leaders
• DWP seeks £130k tech chief to lead digital service delivery and major hybrid cloud rollout

DFID added that the successful candidate will be tasked with establishing and overseeing three main areas of the nascent service: core technology and development; service operations; and cybersecurity and assurance. The head of service will also be responsible be expected to “manage the transition from [the service’s] current programme status to a fully fledged, highly regarded service”.

The successful candidate will need to obtain “developed vetting level clearance”, a process which will see them undergo the government’s most comprehensive security screening.

“This is a detailed check and is appropriate when an individual has long-term, frequent, and uncontrolled access to ‘Top Secret’ information,” said DFID.

The closing date for applications is 10am on Monday 11 September. After which will be a number of further stages, beginning with external interview, followed by shortlist creation, then assessments, psychometric testing and feedback, ‘fireside chats’, and, finally, panel interviews during the last few days of October.

DFID indicated to PublicTechnology that it could not provide any more details of the service in question beyond what is in the published job description.