Health and Safety Executive
Chief Technology Officer
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Chief Technology Officer
Location
This role can be based in the following HSE locations: Birmingham, Bootle, Cardiff, Edinburgh or York.
Regular travel is involved in our locations, particularly to Bootle and Birmingham. There may also be travel across the UK (including overnight stays).
Job summary The Chief Technology Officer provides authoritative, strategic leadership for technology across the Health and Safety Executive, exercising strong judgement to ensure digital and technology services are secure, resilient, compliant and fit for a modern, science-led regulator. The role enables HSE to protect people and places from work-related harm by ensuring technology underpins effective regulation and enforcement, scientific capability, and robust, evidence-based decision-making.
The post holder is accountable for shaping and delivering HSE’s technology strategy, overseeing digital and IT platforms, and providing clear assurance on cyber and information security. Acting as the senior technical authority, the CTO leads enterprise architecture, technology risk management and governance, making proportionate, well-evidenced decisions in complex and highly scrutinised environments. The role also shapes the CTO function and provides confident oversight of technology investment, ensuring public value, legality, resilience and long-term sustainability.
Key Responsibilities
Technology Strategy and Alignment to HSE’s Mission
- Own and evolve HSE’s enterprise technology strategy, ensuring technology investment directly enables effective regulation, inspection, enforcement, scientific and laboratory services, and evidence-based decision making.
- Ensure alignment with HSE strategy, Government Digital and Data standards providing clear strategic direction on priorities and trade-offs.
Enterprise Architecture, Platforms and Technical Standards
- Act as the senior technical authority, establishing and enforcing enterprise architecture principles and technology standards, while providing assurance on legacy risk, technical debt and service resilience.
- Ensure effective and reliable business-as-usual technology services and shape a clear digital technology roadmap that supports future organisational needs.
- Ensure coherence and interoperability across regulatory, enforcement, scientific and data platforms and external systems.
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Cyber Security, Resilience and Technology Risk
- Be accountable for HSE’s technology resilience, availability, and overall technology risk posture, working closely with cyber and security and information management and governance leadership.
- Ensure secure handling of sensitive enforcement, legal, evidential, and scientific data, and that disaster recovery, business continuity, and incident response arrangements are robust, tested, and continuously improved.
Governance, Assurance and Compliance
- Establish and operate effective technology governance and assurance frameworks, including architectural review boards and technical design authorities.
- Provide clear assurance to the Executive Committee and Audit and Risk Committee, ensuring compliance with the Government Service Standard, Technology Code of Practice, data protection legislation, and broader public-sector assurance requirements.
Major Programmes and Investment Oversight
- Provide senior technical oversight and challenge for major technology investments, including system replacements, cloud and hosting services, and data and analytics platforms.
- Review business cases for feasibility, sustainability, risk, and long-term maintainability, ensuring technology investments deliver value for money and are supportable over time.
Supplier, Commercial and Partner Management
- Shape and oversee HSE’s technology supplier strategy, ensuring effective management of strategic IT suppliers and specialist technical vendors.
- Reduce vendor lock-in and technical dependency, and ensure contracts support security, scalability, resilience, and effective knowledge transfer.
Workforce, Capability and Culture
- Define the future technology capability model for HSE, ensuring the right balance of in-house expertise and external provision.
- Support the development of senior technology and digital professionals, embedding a culture of professional discipline, risk awareness, resilience, and continuous improvement.
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Senior Stakeholder Engagement and Influence
- Provide authoritative advice to the HSE stakeholders on technology risk, assurance, and strategic choices.
- Engage confidently with central government, sponsor departments, and other regulators, explaining complex technical issues in clear, non-technical terms grounded in safety, evidence, and public trust.
- Represent HSE externally as required on technology matters.
Person specification
Essential Criteria to address in your statement of suitability
Leadership and Strategy
- Proven senior leadership experience in shaping and owning a digital and technology portfolio within the UK Civil Service or wider public sector, with the ability to work collaboratively to rapidly understand organisational priorities and influence digital and technology services.
- Applies strong judgement and evidence-based decision-making to galvanise teams, suppliers and stakeholders, leading delivery with calm authority, collaboration and a commitment to public value and accountability.
Technical Expertise
- Proven enterprise-scale technology expertise, with experience shaping future roadmaps and technology provision through robust strategy, architecture and technical assurance, supported by relevant professional qualifications or equivalent experience.
People and Communication
- Proven ability to lead and develop multidisciplinary teams, building future-ready capability and an inclusive, high-performing culture.
Delivery and Decision Making
- Demonstrated ability to deliver modern and transformed technology services at scale, taking an evidence-based approach, navigating public-sector governance, dependencies and risk to set realistic and impactful delivery plans.
Commercial and Financial
- Advanced understanding of public sector procurement, demonstrating commercial and financial acumen, through managing major technology investments and suppliers, and galvanising sector expertise to unlock value.
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