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Government seeks chief information officer

Dan Ilet silicon.com

Published: 30 Jan 2006 17:00 GMT

A six-figure salary is up for grabs as the government looks to recruit a new chief information officer.

Recruiters are busy looking for candidates to fill the position, which became available when previous CIO, Ian Watmore, was promoted to lead the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit.

A spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office told ZDNet UK sister site silicon.com that "The shortlist interviews will be in late February and early March. The personal qualities include strategic vision, interpersonal and negotiating skills."

"In terms of experience, the person will have been a CIO or IT director of an enterprise or public sector organisation."

The government CIO role was created more than a year ago to improve public sector projects and change the face of public services through the use of IT.

Andrew Stott, the deputy CIO for the e-Government Unit, is currently the interim CIO.

The Cabinet Office denied rumours that David Myers, director of the government's Shared Services Programme, was ready to take over as head of the CIO Council.

Recruiters at Odgers Ray and Berndtson have already advertised the position. According to the advert, the new recruit will report to Watmore and deliver the Transformational Government Strategy he set out with the CIO Council last year.

The advert stated: "This is an opportunity to participate in and support the most impactful and large-scale change initiatives anywhere in IT today."