The Department of Human Services has officially begun the hunt for a new chief information officer to replace Gary Sterrenberg.
Sterrenberg held the Human Services CIO role for half a dozen years before tendering his resignation last year in order to complete his PhD on ‘Measuring public value created through the introduction of a disruptive, digital platform-servicing model in the disability sector in Australia’. Prior to joining the department Sterrenberg was CIO at ANZ.
From January, Charles McHardie — general manager at Human Services’ CIO Group — has been acting CIO at the department.
The department’s recruitment documents state the CIO position is “arguably the most significant role of its kind in Australia”.
Human Services is responsible for Centrelink and Medicare payments and is also responsible for operating the MyGov services (although the Digital Transformation Agency has responsibility for some aspects of MyGov including governance, strategy, policy and the on-boarding of new government services).
The Human Services CIO reports directly to the department’s secretary and has a team of more than 3000 people.
“This position provides unique scope for strategic leadership and innovation,” the department says.
“Whilst maintaining critical service quality and reliability across the largest service delivery network in the southern hemisphere, you will drive performance improvement and innovation, transforming the way in which technology underpins and facilitates Australian Government service delivery and enhances the customer experience.”
The Human Services job posting says the department welcomed applications from public or private sector executives who have held “leadership positions in organisations with large scale, highly complex ICT infrastructure and significant service networks, and transaction volume”.
Applications close on 6 May.