Chief Information Officer

The Central Bank of Ireland serves the public interest by maintaining monetary and financial stability while ensuring that the financial system operates in the best interests of consumers and the wider economy.We currently have a vacancy for Chief Information Officer. The term of office is for a fixed five-year period. This role is aligned with the Bank Director grade. The Bank Director starting salary is €214,841. Please click here for further information on our salary scales.***Please do not apply via Central Bank links. See application details below.***The Chief Information Officer is a pivotal senior leader within the Central Bank, playing a crucial role in the organisation’s collective leadership. Reporting directly to the Chief Operations Officer, this position is essential to advancing our commitment to Operational Excellence. In this role, you will lead a Directorate of 250+ people across multiple disciplines, including Applications & Delivery, Data & Analytics, IT Strategy & Architecture, Infrastructure & Operations and Information Security & Risk.You will have a unique opportunity to shape the Bank's technology future during a period of transformation. As we continue to modernise our core platforms, scale our use of artificial intelligence, strengthen our cyber resilience, evolve our hybrid cloud capabilities and invest in significant digitalisation programmes, your leadership will be critical to ensuring technology enables the Bank to fulfil its mandate effectively and securely. Your success in this position hinges on your ability to become a trusted advisor within the stakeholder community, fostering strong relationships and delivering impactful solutions.Responsibilities:As a Senior Leader in the Central Bank, you will:

• Exemplify the Bank's Culture and Values.
• Actively participate in the development, execution, and monitoring of the Bank's strategy.
• Engage in Leadership Committees as well as various internal and external committees and bodies, including Eurosystem technology forums.
• Lead and coach direct reports to ensure a high-performing, well-motivated, and developed team that delivers the required outcomes.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement by identifying and acting on opportunities to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of your Directorate and the overall Bank, including staff development.

Key Deliverables

• Define and drive the Bank's technology strategy to ensure it meets the evolving needs of the organisation, providing thought leadership on emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, automation and quantum-resilient cryptography.
• Ensure the efficient, secure and resilient operation of the Bank's IT systems, maintaining high availability for critical services supporting supervision, market operations, payments and internal functions whilst defending against an intensifying cyber threat environment.
• Provide strategic direction and oversight for transformation programmes including enterprise resource planning modernisation, supervisory platform development to support the Bank's strategic direction, payments infrastructure readiness, and the progressive modernisation of legacy applications to reduce technical debt and total cost of ownership.
• Oversee the Bank's hybrid cloud strategy, establishing secure, cost-effective platforms that balance on-premises facilities, manage hosting and public cloud services, with robust financial management practices to optimise expenditure and clear principles around data sovereignty and workload placement.
• Drive innovation including scaling the responsible use of AI and advanced analytics across the organisation, establishing governance frameworks aligned to the EU AI Act, ensuring explainability and human oversight, and building on early successes to deliver production capabilities that enhance supervisory effectiveness and operational efficiency.
• Manage the Directorate's substantial operating and investment budgets, ensuring that all necessary accounting and operational controls are in place whilst optimising value for money through disciplined financial management and value-based decision-making frameworks.
• Represent the Central Bank of Ireland at national & European fora as appropriate, contributing to Eurosystem technology initiatives and engaging with peers across the financial services and public sectors.

Requirements:

• Significant experience of progressive technology leadership in complex IT organisations demonstrating the ability to empower and develop teams of purpose-led professionals.
• Proven track record of technology transformation, including successful oversight of major programmes such as ERP implementation, cloud migration, application modernisation or digital platform development, with demonstrable outcomes in terms of capability improvement, cost reduction or risk mitigation.
• Appropriate expertise in leading across the full breadth of technology domains and operations, including enterprise-wide responsibility for production systems, cloud architecture (hybrid and multi-cloud), artificial intelligence and machine learning, cybersecurity and Zero Trust principles, platform engineering and DevSecOps practices, enterprise architecture, and integrated change management across infrastructure, applications and security functions.
• Proven ability to lead and embed a culture of strong collaboration and teamwork across all directorates and matrixed functions, driving an environment that enables operational excellence, innovation and shared ownership of outcomes aligned with the Bank’s strategic priorities and mandate.
• Extensive experience managing complex vendor ecosystems, including negotiation of strategic partnerships, management of managed service providers, oversight of offshore and nearshore delivery models, and vendor risk management in regulated contexts.
• Financial acumen and budget management experience, with proven ability to manage substantial technology budgets, implement cost optimisation programmes, establish financial management disciplines for technology, and demonstrate clear return on investment for technology initiatives.
• Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, judgement and decision-making skills, with the ability to evaluate complex trade-offs, assess emerging technologies, and make sound decisions under uncertainty with incomplete information.
• Outstanding communication and influencing abilities, with demonstrated capacity to operate at board level, translate technical concepts for non-technical audiences, and represent the organisation credibly in external forums.
• Proven track record of leading and coaching senior technology leaders, developing high-performing teams, and building organisational capability through talent development
• Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering or related discipline

The Central Bank is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, fulfilling and progressive work environment. We therefore encourage applications from candidates with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. Please email our Disability Inclusion Partner, Aobh Kavanagh, at aobh.kavanagh@centralbank.ie if you require any accommodation. Any information that you provide will be used only for the purposes of providing relevant support and will have no bearing on how your application will be viewed.The Bank operates a hybrid working model, which enables colleagues to work from home up to 50% of working days per month, building on an existing broad range of flexible working policies and practices already in place to support our people to achieve the right balance.Further information on the Bank’s policies and benefits can be accessed on our careers website.The Central Bank pension scheme mirrors the rules of the civil service pension scheme. Therefore, if you are in receipt of civil/public service pension, abatement may apply to your current pension. Details of the appropriate pension scheme will be provided upon determination of the appointee's status.Application Details:For a confidential discussion, you may contact Simon Waddington, Head of Financial Services, Korn Ferry.Applicants are invited to submit a CV and cover letter in strict confidence via email to Closing date for applications: Monday 30, March 2026All applications for the above position will be managed by the Central Bank’s executive search partner, Korn Ferry. Korn Ferry are the Data Controller for all personal data processed as part of this recruitment and selection process. Information on how your personal data is processed by Korn Ferry and your data protection rights can be found at Privacy (kornferry.com).