🎯 Theme: Driving Real Data Change

This page outlines the role and importance of a Chief Data Officer (CDO) in municipal government, detailing key principles, responsibilities, qualifications, and providing a comprehensive position description for implementing citywide data strategy and governance.

Introduction

Around the world, governments have created a Chief Data Officer position and situated it in the top tier of their executive leadership structures with transversal responsibility for data. The appointment of a Chief Data Officer embodies the importance of data as a concern for a modern government. It also separates it from digital and from technology, which are distinct functions in a modern digital government.

The role of CDO is critical to driving the better use of data in adding value to customers and residents. As a senior position at the center of an organisation, either at an Executive Director or Director level, this role is positioned to provide advice and leadership to the executive leadership team and the head of the organisation (often the City Manager (CM)). CDOs use their position to guide the use of data and data analytics to meet the strategic priorities of the city.

A city’s CDO’s office should be the administrative custodian of city data. They will be responsible for implementing the data strategy and is made up of data experts initially seconded from departments and agencies across the municipality.

This office and role will provide a central point for city-wide leadership on the use of data in evidence based decision making and the implementation of a Data Strategy. This includes data management, governance and integration. Thus the CDO provides technical and strategic leadership and advises City Managers and executive teams on data strategy-related matters.

To achieve this, CDOs typically need the following:

Access to all and any dataset in the city (according to prescribed security, privacy and ethical standards), on an ongoing basis as required, for purposes for achieving the agreed strategic objectives. This includes prescribing the requirements of the system (implemented by supporting departments) to ensure data access and data quality.
Lead on data use and maturity, and support data analytics. The role of the CDO is to lead on data and drive enhancements throughout the city through development of appropriate administrative frameworks and quality assurance, as well as through the establishment of a community of practice that builds excellence.

Through the functions described below, and in coordination with city leadership, the CDO will ensure the successful execution of the city’s data management responsibilities.

Key Principles for the CDO

The overarching intention of the Data Strategy and associated roles, is to maximise the use of administrative data to achieve the city’s strategic outcomes.
The CDO is responsible for leading the city in enhancing data for decision-making and service delivery use and data analytics across the organisation.
The CDO can direct teams across the city to facilitate access to data (and has a budget and team to support these activities where those capabilities do not exist).
The responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of datasets remains with the appointed accounting officer in departments.
The CDO may direct the operations of those teams with direct reporting functions.
The CDO offers ‘best in class’ guidance as well as lays out the administrative process and frameworks for data governance and management across the city, and provides support for the implementation thereof.
Working in a spirit of collaboration across the city.
Working in the open and engage with the public on matters of data.

Who can be a CDO?

When creating a new CDO role, finding a qualified candidate becomes an important task to ensure the Data Strategy has it’s intended impact. For many organisations, this may require an external recruiting search to find someone with a strong data background gained from working with other government organisations, or possibly the private sector. This comes with the benefit of attracting talent that is looking at the city’s challenges with a new perspective and can apply a range of experiences to addressing them.

Alternatively, a city can look internally to find civil servants currently working on related projects who may fit the needs of the organisation at that time. These civil servants can come from information technology, data analytics, and product management backgrounds, and have the added perk of being familiar with the city’s organisational structure, policies, and challenges, as well as already having established relationships with teams they would work with to implement a data strategy.

Tools like the UK’s Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework are useful during recruitment for data roles like the Chief Data Officer to determine which skillsets are needed within the organisation.

Position Description

An example position description is included below:

Position Title: Chief Data Officer (CDO)

Department: City Manager’s Office / Office of Innovation & Technology

Reports To: City Manager or Chief Innovation Officer

Location: [City Name] Government

Employment Type: Full-time, Senior Executive

Position Summary

The Chief Data Officer (CDO) is a senior leader responsible for driving the strategic use of data across city departments to improve decision-making, transparency, public service delivery, and community outcomes. The CDO will lead the development and implementation of a citywide data strategy, oversee data governance frameworks, champion ethical and inclusive data practices, and foster a culture of data use throughout the organization.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Leadership

Develop and implement a citywide data strategy aligned with the city’s strategic priorities.
Serve as the primary advisor to city leadership on data policy, data use, and digital infrastructure.
Oversee of the Data Working Group (DWG) and Data Council
Have “dotted line” responsibility for data officials—Essentially a secondary reporting relationship with all unit heads.
Lead the creation of a multi-year roadmap for data infrastructure, tools, and talent development.
Report on the impact of the current IS&T infrastructure on administrative data asset accessibility and, in coordination with the Data Governance Committee, the Chief Information Officer and the Chief Digital Officer, improve public data infrastructure and practices to reduce barriers that inhibit data asset accessibility.
Specify the data engineering requirements to enable the data analytics to meet the strategic objectives of the Data Strategy.

Data Governance and Management

Support and enable enhanced data governance and management at every stage of the data lifecycle by establishing effective procedures, standards, policies, and controls to ensure quality, accuracy, access, and protection of data, as well as managing information resources.
Serve as chair of the city Data Governance Committee.
Coordinating with representatives in the Data Governance Committee and officials in the city responsible for using, protecting, disseminating, and generating data to ensure that the data needs of the city are met.
Development and implementation of a systematic programme to improve the governance and management of administrative data assets, ensuring that administrative data conforms with data management best practices.

Data Use and Value Creation

Identify high-impact use cases where data can improve services, operations, or policymaking.
Guide departments in collecting, managing, and using data effectively, ethically, and equitably.
Directing data analytics resources across the city to align with the Data Strategy, in line with the principles articulated above.
Represent the city in matters relating to data, engaging city employees, the public, and contractors in using public data assets and encouraging collaborative approaches on improving data use.
Oversee performance analytics, open data portals, and data dashboards for transparency.

Capacity Building and Culture Change

Promote data literacy across the city workforce through training, tools, and change management.
Foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation with data.
Build partnerships with local universities, civic tech groups, and communities to support civic data use.

Team and Resource Management

Lead a multidisciplinary team of data analysts, engineers, and governance professionals.
Secure and manage budgets for data systems, platforms, and staffing.
Oversee procurement and implementation of data infrastructure and analytics tools.

Qualifications

Required:

Bachelor’s degree in public policy, computer science, data science, urban planning, or related field.
8+ years of experience in data management, analytics, or digital transformation, with leadership responsibilities.
Experience in public sector, civic tech, or mission-driven organizations.
Demonstrated success developing and implementing organization-wide data initiatives.

Preferred:

Master’s degree in a relevant field.
Knowledge of municipal governance, public sector innovation, or city operations.
Familiarity with data ethics, privacy regulations, and digital public infrastructure.

Key Competencies

Strategic thinking and systems leadership
Strong communication and stakeholder engagement
Technical fluency in data governance, analytics, and infrastructure
Commitment to equity, transparency, and public service

Conclusion

The CDO must have the resources – both human and financial – to achieve the primary goal. Thus it is seen as critical that the CDO is empowered with an adequate budget and timeline to acquire the right talent can result in a more agile and efficient organisation.