The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has launched recruitment campaigns for two director general positions.
The department is seeking DGs for digital transformation and for digital products, and is offering a salary of £200,000-260,000 for both positions.
Both roles are currently filled on an interim basis – with Emily Middleton the interim DG for digital transformation and Christine Bellamy the interim DG for digital products.
Bellamy has held the digital products position since January 2025, when she moved from her role as interim boss of the Government Digital Service.
In a foreword to the job pack for digital transformation DG applicants, Emran Mian, DSIT’s permanent secretary, said the department is seeking a leader “who can keep critical products running brilliantly while also driving the next phase of product development at scale”.
“You will need to bring strong product leadership, sound judgement and the ability to lead large, complex teams through ambitious change,” he said. "We are looking for someone who has led this kind of journey before and who can translate that experience into public impact. You will be working in a department that wants to move quickly, work differently and attract great expertise from outside as well as inside government."
Middleton was appointed by exception as a DG at DSIT upon Labour’s return to power in July 2024. She was initially appointed as DG for digital centre design, with responsibility for restructuring the state’s digital government architecture, and has since taken on the interim digital transformation role.
The hire received criticism due to the fact she had worked for senior government minister Peter Kyle’s office when Labour was in opposition on secondment from her then-employer Public Digital at no cost to the Labour politician as a “donation in kind” of £67,000 from the consultancy firm. Kyle was DSIT secretary from July 2024 to September 2025, when he moved to the Department for Business and Trade.
In November 2025, the Civil Service Commission agreed to extend Middleton’s appointment by eight months by exception.
In a foreword to the job pack for the digital products post, Mian said: “This is not a role for someone who wants to preserve traditional Whitehall ways of working. It is a role for someone who wants to help change them: working with agility, reducing unnecessary bureaucracy, drawing on expertise from inside and outside government, and building coalitions that can deliver real change.
“For the right leader, this is a rare opportunity to help shape a new era of digital government and improve the way millions of people experience public services.”
For both the digital transformation and digital product DG roles, the deadline to apply is 11.55pm on Tuesday 5 May 2026.
The adverts follow the department's campaign for a DG for emerging technology and AI, which accepted applicants until 22 March. The department also recently appointed tech entrepreneur Henry de Zoete – once a key ally of leading figures in the previous Conservative administration – to the civil service role of AI and investment adviser.