CSIRO's CIO is retiring

CSIRO’s chief information officer Brendan Dalton is set to retire after nine years leading the research agency’s IT function.

Dalton will leave CSIRO by the end of the year, with the agency in-market for a replacement to develop and execute its "IT vision and strategic plan”.

More recently, Dalton had overseen both the CIO and CISO roles between March 2022 and last month, when CSIRO appointed Jamie Rossato as its new CISO.

“As CIO, Brendan is responsible for providing strategic, organisational wide leadership to deliver secure, adaptive and innovative information and technology solutions," a CSIRO spokesperson told iTnews.

“CSIRO is currently recruiting for a replacement CIO to continue to support CSIRO as we push the boundaries of science, while working at the cutting edge of technological development.”

According to the recruitment advertisement, the new CIO will be a “pragmatic and inspirational leader”, who will “deliver innovative and robust information governance and cyber services in managing and delivering CSIRO’s information systems and IT infrastructure”.

Key components include consideration of “innovative emerging technologies and digital transformation” that are “compliant with regulatory requirements to mitigate IT and security related risks”.

The new CIO will also have oversight of CSIRO’s Dell-built high-performance computer (HPC), Virga.

In addition, they will be responsible for continuing the replacement of CSIRO’s two core enterprise platforms - an SAP-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) and inhouse-built business pipeline and research management system - by 2027.