UK Hydrographic Office is seeking its first CTO

The MoD agency wants to make use of big data

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is on the hunt for its first chief technology officer (CTO) "to create a step-change in our data-driven technology services".

In a job posting on the UKHO's website, the executive agency of the Ministry of Defence responsible for providing navigational and hydrography information to the government for national, civil, and defence requirements, said it is looking for "a bright, enthusiastic and engaging technology visionary".

"An inspirational technologist with a diverse breadth of experience, insight and knowledge to create a step-change in our data-driven technology services. You will be accustomed to guiding and delivering significant IT enabled change & transformation, enterprise architecture and applications delivery teams in data-rich environments," the job description reads.

Such a person will be required to have the skills and leadership to deliver a "radically different data and systems architecture" for the UKHO that puts the use of big data at its heart. The successful candidate will be rewarded with a salary of up to £100,000 and a pension.

Given hydrography involves the measurement and description of the physical features of costal areas, oceans, seas, lakes and rivers, the CTO will need to set up a system that can handle the large datasets such information creates.

The UKHO said the right CTO candidate will need to use big data wrangling technologies such as Apache Hadoop and Accumulo along with advanced data analysis techniques, including machine learning and natural language processing.

To help the future CTO do this the UKHO said the successful candidate will have a "young but very capable" agile software development team to guide and nurture.

The UKHO said it wants its first CTO to help it develop new products and servicesthat utilise the data it has to greater effect.

This is also indicative of the digital transformation many parts of the government and wider public sector are pursuing to make them more efficient and capable in the face of budget cuts.