WA’s housing department hunts for a new CIO

Western Australia’s Department of Housing has commenced the search for a new CIO and is offering a five year contract and up to $154,208 a year to tempt interested candidates.

The Department says it is seeking “talented executives to help drive an ambitious vision” towards the overhaul of the way it offers housing solutions to low income users.

The CIO should ideally be a “confident leader who excels at developing and maintaining relationships, synthesising and presenting diverse information and thinking both strategically and outside the box,” says the job ad.

The department employed 1722 staff as of the end of June, and is gearing up to go live with its new tenancy management system in the first half of 2014-15. The web based ‘Habitat’ system is expected to standardise the way it manages public housing across the state.

It has also been moving forward in terms of workforce mobility solutions, replacing a “cumbersome and unreliable” PDA-based system for housing inspectors to record and report on their annual checks of department-owned premises.

A new tablet application will automate date stamping and geo-tagging of photographs to streamline the job for housing staff.

The Department’s last CIO was Graham Barron, who has filled the role since November 2010 according to Linked In.