PUBLIC SECTOR

Comes with a corner office, government scrutiny, and the 'full-spectrum disaster' known as Project Rainbow

National Savings & Investments (NS&I) is looking for a new chief executive to take charge of the state-backed savings institution as it attempts to steer a troubled £3 billion digital transformation program back on course.

The government-owned bank has launched a search for a permanent successor to former chief executive Dax Harkins, who left earlier this year amid a scandal involving hundreds of millions of pounds in unclaimed funds owed to the estates of deceased customers. Whoever takes the job will get a salary of up to £220,000, a troubled digital transformation program, and what could be described as a challenging in-tray.

While the recruitment notice highlights NS&I's 164-year history and its 24 million customers, it also acknowledges that the organization is wrestling with problems that extend well beyond attracting deposits.

"Whilst NS&I is successfully meeting its targets for savings and funding for the Government, and service levels to most customers, it is undergoing a major transformation programme and has experienced significant operational failings recently," the job ad states.

The successful candidate will take responsibility for Project Rainbow, NS&I's long-running modernization effort that Parliament's Public Accounts Committee tore into earlier this year. In February, MPs branded the program a "full-spectrum disaster" after costs ballooned from an original estimate of around £1.7 billion to approximately £3 billion.

The committee concluded that NS&I lacked the capability to deliver the overhaul, had spent £43 million on consultants, and still did not have a credible integrated plan despite five years of work. MPs also questioned how a program originally expected to cost around £1.7 billion had risen to £3 billion while key elements remained unfinished.

The new boss will be expected to turn that around. The advert promises "end-to-end accountability for transformation and performance of the organisation," handing the next chief exec responsibility for delivering a program that has already attracted intense scrutiny from Parliament.

NS&I is also placing unusual emphasis on crisis management. Candidates are expected to demonstrate experience delivering "a major change/transformation programme within consumer facing industries, at scale," alongside a track record of managing operational issues, reputation management, and recovery.

The advert goes further, stating it is "crucial that a highly capable, credible CEO is appointed to lead the organisation through these challenges and re-establish NS&I's reputation and standing as a trusted, efficient and effective national institution."

Whoever lands the job will be tasked with proving that one of the government's most heavily criticized IT overhauls can still be rescued before Parliament decides the next chapter of Project Rainbow deserves an equally colorful nickname. ®