Head of Digital and ICT

Driving Innovation and Digital Transformation
South Tyneside is an ambitious local authority committed to reimagining how technology can transform public services. We're located in a beautiful area with an excellent quality of life, offering truly transformative work with cutting-edge digital initiatives. This role offers the chance to make a real difference, shaping the future of public services through innovative digital solutions.

The Role:
As our Head of Digital and ICT, you'll be the driving force behind our digital transformation journey, leading a critical function that sits at the heart of our organisation. This role transcends traditional IT management, offering an unprecedented opportunity to reshape how we deliver services, engage with residents, and leverage technology for meaningful change. You'll lead a talented team of professionals, managing a comprehensive budget, with the strategic mandate to elevate our digital capabilities from operational maintenance to innovative service design.

Your primary mission will involve reimagining our entire digital ecosystem. You'll spearhead the complete rewrite of our Digital and ICT strategy, carefully repositioning our resources from routine system maintenance towards breakthrough innovation. This means creating a deliberate shift from simply 'keeping the lights on' to actively generating transformative digital solutions that enhance every aspect of our organisational performance. You'll be responsible for integrating emerging technologies like Microsoft 365 and AI into our service delivery model, turning cutting-edge tools into practical, user-centric solutions. Your work will directly impact how our residents interact with services, how our staff collaborate, and how we can create more efficient, responsive public sector experiences. You'll tackle complex challenges such as improving customer experience through seamless digital integration, breaking down technological silos, and building a culture of digital confidence across our entire organisation.

What We're Looking For:
We need a dynamic leader who brings much more than just technical expertise. We're searching for someone with a transformational vision for digital services who can articulate complex technical concepts simply and put into delivery. You'll need to demonstrate remarkable resilience and influencing skills, understanding technology's potential beyond day-to-day operations.

Your passion for improving organisational digital maturity will set you apart. While technical knowledge and understanding is important, your ability to create a vision, inspire, lead, and drive change is crucial. We're looking for a leader who can see the art of the possible and translate that into concrete actions, all while maintaining the highest standards of service delivery and user experience.

Are you ready to lead our digital transformation? Apply now and shape the future of public services!

Closing Date: Midnight on Friday 31st January 2025

To apply:
To apply, please submit an up-to-date copy of your CV (four sides of A4 maximum), along with a supporting statement (four sides of A4 maximum) detailing your experience and achievements and addressing the key criteria for the role set out on this site and using examples to demonstrate how you meet the requirements. Documents should be uploaded via our website, please include and upload the below information in two documents only. If you experience any issues whilst applying, please contact .

Applications should include:

• Full contact details;
• Names, positions, organisations and contact details for two referees (we will ask your permission before contacting referees);
• Notification of any dates when you are not available for an interview.

At Tile Hill, we are committed to inclusion and accessibility. We champion and support all individuals to ensure everyone feels valued, listened to and motivated to get the very best out of each recruitment process and that processes are designed to meet the needs of individuals. If you have any specific requests and would like a confidential discussion with the Tile Hill team, then please email .