Chief Digital and Information Officer

Job summary

We are seeking an outstanding digital and technology leader to join the NCA Executive team as Chief Digital and Information Officer. This is a pivotal role responsible for shaping and delivering the Agency’s digital and data transformation, ensuring our people have the tools, platforms and insight needed to stay ahead of evolving criminal threats.

You will be responsible for delivering complex digital, data and technology capabilities, driving innovation across analytics, engineering, cyber operations support, cloud transformation, enterprise IT, and core data capabilities.

This is a unique and career-defining opportunity for a visionary leader who wants to make a profound impact on national security.

Job description

Key responsibilities:

• Define and lead digital, data and technology strategies that protect the public from serious and organised crime, working in partnership with NCA Director Transformation, law enforcement, national security and Home Officer partners to expand and improve the NCAs use of technology and data.

• Enable the use of innovative approaches, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies whilst ensuring inclusivity, security and ethical practices.

• Oversee the delivery, management and maintenance of sustainable and highly available digital solutions that meet strategic goals and user needs.

• Ensure data and technology architecture decisions support scalability, reusability and interoperability with law enforcement, national security and Home Office partners.

• Ensure the NCA remains safe, secure and resilient to cyber threats and attacks by working closely with operational Commands and Security teams.

• Negotiate and secure multi-year investment for digital, data and technology and advise on investment priorities to maximise benefits and outcomes.

• Set the digital, data and technology sourcing strategy and lead a diverse set of technology suppliers to deliver value and accelerate the delivery of the technology strategy.

• Provide leadership, guidance, and support to the digital, data and technology teams and wider agency, setting clear expectations, mentoring team members, and fostering a positive and collaborative work environment.

• Be a trusted advisor the board on all matters of digital, data and technology and contribute to the overall leadership of the NCA through membership of the Executive Committee, championing diversity and inclusion and other cross organisational responsibilities.

• Lead a diverse team of around 330 permanent digital, technology and data professionals to deliver against challenging requirements.

• Direct responsibility for an annual budget of c£100M. Shared responsibility for technology elements of transformation programmes.

Person specification

The role holder will be an inspirational and supportive leader with significant experience of delivering digital, data and technology capabilities at an enterprise level.

Essential Criteria:

In your application you will need to demonstrate evidence against the below essential criteria:

We ask that you write a statement of suitability of no more than two pages, A4 font Bahnschrift 11, using examples to explain how your skills and experience meet the essential criteria.

• Demonstrable experience of developing and executing enterprise level digital, data and technology strategies that shape organisational direction, embed digital and data thinking into corporate decision making, and align technology investment with organisational priorities and emerging societal, technological and data trends.

• Demonstrated experience in leading large-scale, performance-driven transformation initiatives, including the full lifecycle delivery of digital products, platforms and services. Proven ability to work collaboratively across the organisation to diagnose challenges, establish clear priorities, design and implement coherent roadmaps, and achieve measurable improvements in operational efficiency and effectiveness.

• Accountability for the resilience, security and sustainability of digital, data and technology services, including oversight of complex IT and data estates, effective technology and data architecture, and the proactive management of operational and supply chain risks, supported by appropriate levels of investment.

• Strong financial and commercial leadership, including ownership and optimisation of significant digital, data and technology budgets; defining appropriate sourcing strategies; and working with Commercial colleagues to ensure contracts and suppliers deliver value for money, resilience and strategic outcomes.

• Experience of building sustainable digital, data and technology capability, ensuring access to critical specialist skills and developing talent at all levels, while demonstrating inclusive leadership that embeds Equality, Diversity and Inclusion into ways of working and fosters a culture of trust, psychological safety and high performance.

• A strong track record of engaging, communicating and building effective partnerships with senior stakeholders across government, arm’s length bodies and the private sector, using credibility and influence to align diverse interests and deliver shared outcomes.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £100,000, National Crime Agency contributes £28,970 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Civil Service Pension

A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension; your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken; and where your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire.

If you are an active police pension member immediately prior to joining the NCA, you can continue your membership throughout your employment with us.

Annual Leave

25 days annual leave on entry (plus one privilege day for the King’s Birthday), plus 8 Bank Holidays, increasing to 30 days after reaching 5 years continuous service (plus one privilege day for the King’s Birthday), plus 8 Bank Holidays.

If qualifying criteria is met new joiners to the NCA from UK Police Forces or UKIC will have service with those employers taken into account for continuous service purposes for Annual Leave entitlement only, this will be up to a maximum of 30 days leave (plus 1 privilege day for the King’s Birthday).

Parental Leave

Family friendly policies including paid maternity, adoption, paternity and shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks.

Access to the government Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme. Existing employees may be able to continue to claim childcare vouchers.

Flexible Working

Flexible working arrangements allowing you to split your work between the office and home, subject to the nature of the role.

Alternative working patterns such as part-time and compressed hours options subject to business needs.

Support for officers who are Reservists and Special Constables.

Learning and Development

Access to a range of learning and development activities, and opportunities to support career progression.

Paid time off to facilitate continuous professional development, and access to Civil Service Learning up to 5 days per year.

Wellbeing and Inclusion

Occupational sick pay and access to occupational health services.

A network of qualified Mental Health First Aiders and Workplace Support Officers, who can provide advice, signposting and support to all our officers.

On site facilities including fitness centres and canteens (where available). Access to a variety of active staff network groups.

Employee Savings

Interest-free loans allowing you to spread the cost of an annual travel season ticket.

Access to a wide range of discounts, offers and gift cards with a number of high street and online retailers through the Blue light Scheme and EdenRed.

Cycle2work salary sacrifice scheme to hire a bicycle up to the value of £4,000 to assist in improving health and fitness and save you money.

Access to a home and technology purchase scheme, allowing you to purchase items and spread the cost over 12 months through salary sacrifice.

Key worker status, enabling access to accommodation at a discounted rate, subject to eligibility.

Access to a range of sports, leisure and health benefits at reduced prices through membership with Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

How to apply

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process, outlined below. This should be completed no later than 11:55 Wednesday 25th February 2026.

Applications should be sent to: https://www.gatenbysanderson.com/job/GSe128851

• Enter your CV details setting out your career history, including key responsibilities and achievements. It is essential that your CV reflects the role you are applying for. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any employment gaps within the last two years.

• A statement of suitability of no more than two pages A4 font Bahnschrift 11, using examples to explain how your skills and experience meet the essential criteria cited at page 13.

In order to monitor the effectiveness of the National Crime Agency’s Diversity & Inclusion strategy, the NCA require certain personal details about you on submission of your application. Please note that this will be treated in confidence and will not impact your application.

As part of your application, you will be asked to complete a diversity monitoring form. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select ‘prefer not to say’. All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel. The information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming the most inclusive employer.

Your application will be acknowledged within 48 hours of receipt.

Should you encounter any issues with your application please get in touch with our recruitment partner at the following email address: mary.dempsey@gatenbysanderson.com

Further Information

Follow this video link to hear more about the role from Wendy Clark, NCA Director General Capabilities/Chief Operating Officer:

Q&A with Wendy Clark, NCA DGC/COO

Complaints

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles or you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, please raise it with peter.buffoni@gatenbysanderson.com

Location

The role will be based in either London*, Bristol, Birmingham, Warrington. Please ensure you are only selecting locations you are willing to work in as you may be offered a post in any of your location preferences.

Longlist

The longlisting will be conducted against your submitted CV and Statement of Suitability.

You will also be invited for a conversation with our recruitment partner, Gatenby Sanderson, ahead of shortlisting.

Shortlist

A shortlisting meeting will be held in the week commencing 23rd March 2026.

Assessment

A Staff Engagement Exercise which will be delivered virtually on MS Teams in the week commencing 30th March or 6th April 2026.

This stage will not result in a pass or fail decision. They are designed to support the panel’s decision-making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Informal chats with the vacancy holder and current incumbent will be offered to shortlisted candidates.

Final Panel Interview

The interview will be held in London week commencing 13th and/or 20th April 2026. The panel will assess your previous experience and professional competence against the essential criteria. You will also be asked to deliver a presentation.

Full details of the requirements will be given to shortlisted candidates ahead of their interview.

Shortlisted candidates may also be offered the opportunity to find out more about the role in conversation with the vacancy holder or a member of the senior executive team.

Selection Panel

The selection panel will include but is not limited to:

Elizabeth Hambley, Civil Service Commissioner (Chair)

Wendy Clark, NCA Director General Capabilities/COO

Steve Rodhouse, NCA Director General Special Projects

Offer

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible.

If your application is successful and we are unable to offer you a post immediately, you will be invited to join our reserve list so that we can continue to communicate with you regarding your employment with the Agency, and the incredible work that we do. If over the next 12 months we are able to offer you a position, we will contact you as soon as possible.

Appointments will be made in adherence to the Civil Service Recruitment Principles and in strict merit order with the highest scoring candidates being appointed first.

The NCA is a law enforcement agency and as such we are part of the Criminal Justice System. Therefore, if you are going into an operational role we need to be aware if any of our officers

have, either before they join us or afterwards, any of the following:

• Any criminal conviction (including by Court Martial), or caution or fixed penalty notice for disorder or theft;
• Any adverse judicial findings;
• Any charges or summonses where the proceedings are not complete;
• Any misconduct or gross misconduct findings or where proceedings are not complete.

You will be asked to complete a declaration form covering the above if offered a role with the NCA.

Each case will be considered on its merits and a positive declaration does not automatically mean that your application will not be progressed. However, should you fail to disclose a relevant matter then your application or employment will be adversely affected. If in doubt, please declare it at this stage.’

Indicative Timeline

The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Advert Closing Date - 25th February 2026

Preliminary interviews with Gatenby Sanderson - w/c 9th March and 15th March 2026

Expected shortlist announcement - w/c 23rd March 2026

Virtual Assessments - w/c 30th March or 6th April 2026

Interviews - w/c 13th and 20th April 2026

Pre-employment checks

Pre-employment checks take on average 16 weeks from the point of offer to arranging a start date. This includes vetting, occupational health assessments, employment history checks and substance misuse tests. This is an approximate time frame and is to be taken as a guideline only as this can very between candidates. This is dependent on when all requested documentation is provided.

Candidates are asked to note the above timetable, which may be subject to some change, and are asked to exercise flexibility through the recruitment and selection process.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Mary Dempsey
• Email : mary.dempsey@gatenbysanderson.com

Recruitment team

• Email : SCS.appointments@nca.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles or you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, please raise it with peter.buffoni@gatenbysanderson.com

https://www.gatenbysanderson.com/