Chief Digital Information Officer, Defence Medical Services
Indexed description
Job Summary
Defence Medical Services is driving significant organisational, people, process and technology change to continue its evolution towards becoming Defence’s Occupational Healthcare delivery organisation for the Information Age. Significant improvements in digital enablement, business intelligence, clinical informatics, knowledge and information management maturity are being pursued in order to allow the organisation to become a truly patient focussed, digital and data driven organisation.
Defence Medical Services is evolving in order to enhance both our digital capabilities and those of our corporate communication team. The Chief Digital Information Officer (CDIO) role is critical to our digital transformation, but also more widely across Defence Medical Services and the HQ Defence Medical Services Portfolio, within which all our major programmes have key digital dependencies.
Major General Tony Finn will be offering an online Q&A session on Thursday 13 August 2026 at 10:00 - 11:00 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process. If you have any issues accessing the session, please contact: [email protected].
Job Description
The Defence Medical vision is for a tech-enabled, agile and resilient Defence Medical system (DMed), integrated across domains, with allies and the UK health ecosystem.
To deliver this vision, DMed is undergoing a significant transformative journey across organisation, people, processes, and technology. The Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO) is a strategic leader driving the transition to a fully digital, data-enabled DMed system, ensuring technology underpins clinical excellence, operational readiness, and enhanced patient outcomes in diverse environments.
The CDIO is tasked with delivering innovative digital and data solutions in a complex and evolving environment that align with DMed strategic objectives; optimising healthcare delivery, improving patient experience, and boosting workforce productivity. This includes ensuring all clinical and medical systems adhere to the organisation’s digital strategy, meet interoperability and architecture standards, and avoid technical debt and information silos.
As a key member of the DMed Executive Committee, the CDIO shapes the organisation’s digital, strategic, and operational performance. Reporting directly to the Director of Medical People & Capability the CDIO holds functional authority over all digital elements within DMed pillars, projects, and programmes, driving alignment and excellence across the enterprise.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership
- Strategic and Operational Management: Oversee digital, data, and information management across the DMed eco-system. Lead the development and implementation of the DMed Digital Operating Model, ensuring alignment with MOD strategic objectives and DMS Transformation Programmes
- Digital Strategy: Develop and Implement the Digital Strategy to ensure alignment with DMed goals, intent, and objectives
- Subject Matter Expertise: Advising the DMed boards on digital healthcare, informatics and technology, including data quality, governance, and cyber security.
- Capability Building: Training and developing the digital team, including implementing a military digital clinical career pathway.
- Risk management: Supporting the DMed Senior Information Risk Owner (Dir MP&C) with specialist advice and expertise.
- Service Management: Ensuring effective and efficient service delivery in collaboration with stakeholders and delivery partners
- Operational Healthcare: Delivering systems to support healthcare delivery on overseas Operations
- Data Management and Exploitation: Ensuring data governance, quality, and exploitation for insights and trusted decision making
- Information Governance and Cyber and Clinical Safety: Leading the delivery of safe and effective information governance and cyber assurance services, working alongside the SIRO to ensure GDPR compliance and providing Clinical Safety compliance.
- Interoperability: Aligning strategies and digital solutions with Defence, NHS, and NATO frameworks and standards to support collaboration and ensure compliance
- Artificial Intelligence: Developing and implementing the first DMS AI strategy to enhance operational capabilities, improve patient care, and drive innovation both in the UK and overseas
- Cyber risk advice: Providing guidance for systems owned by DMS or where DMS is the primary user.
- Cyber assurance: Ensuring assurance for DMS-owned systems.
- Ensuring legal and MOD compliance with GDPR and associated HQ Defence Medical Services publications through services delivered by the Knowledge and Information Management, Cyber and Information Security, Data Protection teams, and the Innovation Hub (iHUB) team.
- Assuming ownership, in consultation with the Head of Finance, of the overall HQ Defence Medical Services digital budget and resourcing for delivering the corporate digital capability.
- Developing HQ Defence Medical Services-specific policies, procedures, and standards as required.
- Board and Committee membership, including the HQ Defence Medical Services Board, HQ Defence Medical Services Executive Committee (ExCo) and HE Defence Medical Services Senior Leadership Team, Quality Assurance Committee (QUAC), MOD functional group leads, HQ Defence Medical Services committees including Defence Digital and Technology (DDaT)
To deliver this vision, DMed is undergoing a significant transformative journey across organisation, people, processes, and technology. The Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO) is a strategic leader driving the transition to a fully digital, data-enabled DMed system, ensuring technology underpins clinical excellence, operational readiness, and enhanced patient outcomes in diverse environments.
The CDIO is tasked with delivering innovative digital and data solutions in a complex and evolving environment that align with DMed strategic objectives; optimising healthcare delivery, improving patient experience, and boosting workforce productivity. This includes ensuring all clinical and medical systems adhere to the organisation’s digital strategy, meet interoperability and architecture standards, and avoid technical debt and information silos.
As a key member of the DMed Executive Committee, the CDIO shapes the organisation’s digital, strategic, and operational performance. Reporting directly to the Director of Medical People & Capability the CDIO holds functional authority over all digital elements within DMed pillars, projects, and programmes, driving alignment and excellence across the enterprise.
Corporate Functions
- Ensuring legal and MOD compliance with GDPR and associated HQ Defence Medical Services publications through services delivered by the Knowledge and Information Management, Cyber and Information Security, Data Protection teams, and the Innovation Hub (iHUB) team.
- Assuming ownership, in consultation with the Head of Finance, of the overall HQ Defence Medical Services digital budget and resourcing for delivering the corporate digital capability.
- Developing HQ Defence Medical Services-specific policies, procedures, and standards as required.
- Board and Committee membership, including the HQ Defence Medical Services Board, HQ Defence Medical Services Executive Committee (ExCo) and HE Defence Medical Services Senior Leadership Team, Quality Assurance Committee (QUAC), MOD functional group leads, HQ Defence Medical Services committees including Defence Digital and Technology (DDaT)
The Successful Candidate Must Be Able To provide Specific Examples That Demonstrate Their Experience And Skills Against The Following Essential Criteria:
- Proven experience of successful digital delivery in challenging change environments.
- Proven experience leading the development and execution of Digital Health strategy including the integration of Medical Information Systems and capabilities, data and analytics and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence to enable transformational models of care.
- Executive leadership of a major healthcare digital transformation.
- Clinical Transformation & Change Leadership, translating digital capability into patient care improvements.
- Senior responsibility for Information Governance, Clinical Safety, Data Quality and Cyber Security.
- Proven ability to lead at board level, engage diverse stakeholders, and communicate complex issues clearly to support decision-making.
- Experienced in delivering large, complex programmes on time and within budget, managing risks and cross-functional teams effectively.
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
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
To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process no later than 23:55 Sunday 23rd August 2026 and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:
- A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
- A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) providing tangible examples that demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria for the role.
For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact [email protected]
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 meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (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.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (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
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.
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 the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
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 : SCS Recruitment Team
- Email : [email protected]
- Email : [email protected]
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