Six-figure salary for new criminal justice CTO

The government is offering a six-figure salary to attract a new chief technology officer (CTO) to spearhead the technical strategy for joining up the UK's £2bn Criminal Justice IT (CJIT) system.

The CJIT programme aims to make information sharing easier between the seven criminal justice agencies by providing national joined-up systems, secure email and internet-based services to everyone from youth justice workers to magistrates courts and police forces.

The new CTO, who will replace the outgoing Dave Mitchelhill, will be responsible for the management of technical strategies, architectures and system design.

One of the key challenges will be linking all the systems using a digital hub called the Criminal Justice Exchange that will allow the secure electronic transfer of police and court case information between all the different criminal justice agencies. It is due to be completed by March 2008.

The new CTO will report directly to CJIT director-general John Suffolk and the job spec calls for someone with "excellent leadership skills", while public speaking, lectures and keynote speeches will also be a big part of the role.

Suitably qualified candidates should also have more than 12 years' experience in IT roles, some of which must have been at a senior level, and more than 10 years' experience of managing successful delivery of technology projects.

The closing date for applicants is 2 April 2006. More details can be found here.