UK National Crime Agency seeks CDIO, offering more than £100k for the role

The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) is looking for a chief digital and information officer (CDIO) to lead its digital, data and technology (DDaT) staff.

The agency is offering a salary of between £100,000 and £149,999 for the role, but the job advert added that there may be “some flexibility for exceptional candidates”.

The successful candidate will be responsible for an annual budget of £100m, with the job advert stating that the CDIO will have to be “passionate about the difference technology can make”.

The CDIO will also be responsible for setting the NCA’s DDaT sourcing strategy, securing multi-year investment for digital projects and advising on investment priorities.

According to the candidate pack, the CDIO job is a “pivotal role responsible for shaping and delivering the agency’s digital and data transformation, ensuring our people have the tools, platforms and insight needed to stay ahead of evolving criminal threats”.

“You will be responsible for delivering complex digital, data and technology capabilities, driving innovation across analytics, engineering, cyber operations support, cloud transformation, enterprise IT, and core data capabilities,” the pack said.

“This is a unique and career-defining opportunity for a visionary leader who wants to make a profound impact on national security.”

In the candidate pack’s foreword, NCA director general Wendy Clark said the agency has witnessed a shift in the volume of online and digital crime, and as a result, digital capabilities “have shifted in emphasis to be key, integral parts in the identification and investigation of criminality of all kinds”.

“The detection and investigation of criminality increasingly relies upon skilled staff using modern techniques to analyse large quantities of data accessed from secure, modern platforms,” she said.

“We have a 10-year strategy that sets out a new approach to digitally enable the agency to meet these challenges. The strategy is enabled by new platforms that enable staff to work safely and share data with partners at Official, Secret and Top Secret.

“We have spent the last three years focusing on infrastructure and platforms to set the foundations. The next five years will deliver significant transformation with a heavy focus on providing our officers with the tools for the job to work effectively, with partners across law enforcement and the UK intelligence community.”

The NCA’s DDaT team stands at 330 permanent staff members, whom the CDIO will be responsible for.

“The role holder will be an inspirational and supportive leader with significant experience of delivering digital, data and technology capabilities at an enterprise level,” the job advert said, adding that the role has a “minimum assignment duration of three years”.

The role can be based either in London, Bristol, Birmingham or Warrington, but the CDIO will be expected to regularly attend the NCA’s London offices regardless of where they are based.

The job advert will close on 25 February 2026, with interviews commencing in April 2026.