The NSW Department of Corrective Services will force its current chief information officer, Wayne Ruckley, to re-apply for his position if he wants to keep it.
The situation has come about due to government regulations that normally require senior executive positions in the public sector to be declared vacant and re-advertised if they are significantly upgraded in scope.
A spokesperson for the department told ZDNet Australia this afternoon that its CIO role (also described as executive director, IC&T) had been upgraded to deal with additional technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol telephony and video conferencing.
Ruckley's position has been advertised this week in the Senior Executive Service (SES) level 4 band, under a five year contract with total annual remuneration at AU$196,651-$214,350. The department will stop taking applications after 22 December.
ZDNet Australia was unable to immediately contact Ruckley to determine if he would re-apply for the role, with the department spokesperson declining to comment, saying it was a private matter for the CIO.
Ruckley's role is not the only top CIO position currently up for grabs in the NSW state government; the NSW Department of Community Services is also looking for an IT boss. Both positions also sit on the state's CIO executive council, a key decision-making body composed of 17 CIOs and chaired by the state government CIO Paul Edgecumbe.
The NSW Department of Corrective Services handles NSW, ACT and some Commonwealth offenders and is a key element of the NSW criminal justice system, according to its Web site.
