Chief Digital & Data Officer

More Information

£90,743 - £102,584

25/10/2026

Dorset

Full Time

About the role

This is an opportunity to lead meaningful change across one of the country’s largest unitary councils - at a pivotal point in our journey to modernise, simplify and enable the organisation for the future.

As our Chief Digital and Data Officer, you will lead development of our strategy a broad digital, data and technology service and influence how we use data, insight, automation and AI to improve services, support better decisions, and deliver more sustainable outcomes for Dorset’s residents, communities and colleagues.

You will join us at an important and exciting point. We have listened to colleagues, built an honest picture of where we are and identified what needs to change. You will have a strong foundation to build from, visible senior support and colleagues across the council who want this work to succeed.

This is a chance to develop talented teams, build capability that lasts and help Dorset Council turn ambition into practical, visible change.

You will provide strong leadership for our Digital, Data and Technology service, its management team and employee groups, developing the workforce, culture and capability we need for the future. You will drive our future DDaT strategy, making sure the service is clear, confident and central to how Dorset Council modernises and enables the organisation.

You will provide clear professional advice to senior leaders and elected members, helping the council make confident decisions about the opportunities, choices and risks associated with digital, data, technology and AI.

In this role you will have the opportunity to:

• establish clear ownership, stewardship and standards for the council’s data, so it is trusted and used with confidence
• improve the quality, accessibility and safe reuse of information across services
• strengthen our analytics, business intelligence and forecasting capability, helping insight drive better decisions
• reduce manual reporting so colleagues can spend more time producing insight that improves decisions
• establish a product-led, user-centred approach to designing and running digital services
• make sure our digital services are accessible and inclusive by design
• develop responsible approaches to automation, low-code technology and AI, focused on practical service improvement
• maintain clear enterprise architecture principles, standards and roadmaps, supporting joined-up and sustainable technology choices
• improve the security, resilience and sustainability of our technology
• reduce legacy systems, duplicated technology and technical debt
• strengthen how we manage technology contracts and supplier relationships
• protect the council’s access to its data, including portability and exit arrangements
• build digital, data and technology capability across the council, not only within your own service
• develop professional career pathways and grow our internal expertise, building a stronger and more confident DDaT workforce across the council

You will lead the service responsible for this work, but success will depend on your ability to influence and build support across services that do not report directly to you.

We are not looking for a strategy that sits on a shelf. We need someone who can turn ambition into practical change and build capability that lasts.

You will have significant experience of strategically leading a digital, data or technology service in a large and complex organisation with the confidence to set direction, develop people and work across organisational boundaries.

You will understand that the hardest challenges are rarely about technology alone. They are about…