Chief Technology Officer

Hackney Council is looking for an experienced and forward-thinking Chief Technology Officer to provide strategic and professional leadership across our technology function.

Technology sits at the heart of how we deliver services to our residents, businesses and communities. We’re looking for someone who can bring together strategy and delivery, ensuring our technology estate is secure, resilient and sustainable, while helping us make the most of emerging technology and new ways of working.

As our most senior technical officer, you’ll shape and deliver Hackney’s technology vision, strategy and roadmap, providing trusted technical advice to senior leaders and elected Members and ensuring our technology investment supports the Council’s wider priorities.

About the role

Reporting to the Director of ICT, Digital & Resident Services, you’ll have strategic oversight of Hackney’s technology ecosystem, spanning enterprise architecture, cloud and on-premise infrastructure, cyber security, engineering, service management, asset governance and operational resilience.

You’ll lead on the development and delivery of our technology strategy and provide senior technical leadership across the Council, ensuring that architectural and engineering decisions are robust, sustainable and aligned with our wider digital transformation ambitions.

You’ll also lead our approach to emerging technology, including AI and automation, ensuring we embrace opportunities responsibly with the right governance and management of risk.

A key part of the role will be ensuring our technology foundations are strong. You’ll oversee enterprise architecture and integration, technology assets, cyber security, business continuity and disaster recovery, while setting standards across software engineering, DevOps and technology delivery.

You’ll also have significant commercial and financial responsibility, with accountability for a revenue budget of up to £10 million and capital budget of up to £5 million. You’ll work closely with colleagues across Digital Transformation, Finance and Procurement to ensure our technology investment delivers value for money and supports Hackney’s long-term priorities.

Alongside this, you’ll build and lead high-performing multidisciplinary teams and develop capability across specialist areas including engineering, infrastructure, cyber security and service management.

You’ll be an established senior technology leader with experience leading a substantial technology function within a large and complex organisation.

You’ll bring strong technical knowledge alongside the ability to operate strategically, advise senior leaders and translate complex technology issues and risks into clear organisational decisions.

You’ll have significant experience across enterprise architecture, complex cloud and hybrid environments, systems integration and legacy modernisation, cyber security, operational resilience and technology service management.

We’re also looking for someone who understands how the technology landscape is changing. You’ll bring experience or strong knowledge of areas including AI and machine learning governance, DevOps and platform engineering, FinOps and cloud commercial management, and the responsible adoption of emerging technology.

You’ll be commercially astute, with experience managing significant budgets, suppliers and investment programmes, and comfortable making difficult decisions based on evidence, risk and organisational priorities.

Just as importantly, you’ll be an inclusive and collaborative leader who can build strong relationships across organisational boundaries. You’ll understand how to operate successfully in a politically led and publicly accountable organisation and will be able to bring people with you through complex technology enabled change.

Hackney is one of the most dynamic and progressive local authorities in the UK. We are a resilient, vibrant, and creative borough in the heart of London, with strong, diverse communities and a powerful set of shared values.

Over the past twenty years, the Council has built up first-class services, outstanding public infrastructure, and a reputation for excellence, innovation, and ambition. We are leading the way on essential work such as our fight for equity in Hackney with a particular focus on becoming an actively anti-racist borough. But the work doesn’t stop there, we are proactive in our approach to bringing fairness to all aspects of life including gender, neurodiversity and across the poverty divide.