The Department for Work and Pensions has launched a recruitment campaign for its next chief digital information officer.
A salary of £200,000 is on offer for the director general-level position, which is currently being held by Helen Wylie on an interim basis. In November, Wylie took over from her boss Rich Corbridge, who left for personal reasons, having only joined the DWP as its CDIO in April 2023.
In a recommendation note on LinkedIn written in September, Corbridge said of Wylie: “Every day I am shocked by just how good she is. She is one of the most inclusive leaders I have had the joy to work with, she knows how to bring a team together, she is exceptional at managing her stakeholders, she knows her ‘onions’ and boy does she have passion for delivery.”
And in a post in October confirming plans for his departure, he said: “Handing over to someone as brilliant as Helen is going to be a real pleasure over the next few weeks and I am so excited to see what happens next under her leadership and tutelage.”
The CDIO leads 5,000 staff in the department’s Digital Group, and is responsible for an annual budget of £1bn. They report to DWP permanent secretary Peter Schofield.
In a foreword to the job pack for the role, Schofield said the department is looking for an experienced digital leader who is “passionate about making a difference to the lives of millions of people”.
Schofield said DWP has “the largest and most complex technology business in Western Europe” and “whoever takes this role needs to have the capability to lead at this scale, and the ability to work collaboratively across my executive team providing digital solutions and capability to continue to improve service delivery in DWP”.
The perm said the CDIO will play a pivotal role in enabling the government’s economic growth and opportunity missions and in shaping the organisation “as it delivers unprecedented change to the welfare system, and to our products and services”.
The role has a minimum assignment duration of three years and can be located in Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne or Sheffield.
The deadline for applications is 11:55pm on Sunday 26 January.