USDA posts deputy CIO job

The Department of Agriculture has put the call out for a new deputy chief information officer of operations and infrastructure.

The deputy CIO would be tasked with managing key department information technology infrastructure projects, including consolidating data centers and making “appropriate use of public and private ‘cloud’ technology,” according to a posting on USAJobs.

The new hire would need to represent the USDA CIO with senior executives throughout USDA and other agencies, and oversee critical mission IT programs and functions. He or she would also manage the associate chief information officers in the National Information Technology Center and Client Technology Services and the directors of Enterprise Network Services.

Currently, Richard Coffee, associate chief information officer for data center operations and the director of the National Information Technology Center, is serving in the acting role. Coffee was hired last summer as an associate CIO but has been with the department since 2009.

The leadership in the department’s IT staff has seen some changes in recent months. FedScoop was the first to report in March that CIO Cheryl Cook was retiring from the agency to take a post at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. This summer, the department named Jonathan Alboum its new chief information officer.

The deputy CIO job pays between $176,000 and $183,000 a year. Applicants must apply by Sept. 8.