Andy Nelson is to become the Government's chief information officer (CIO) when Joe Harley steps down at the end of March.
Nelson, an Oxford graduate who has 30 years experience in IT, will make the move over from the Ministry of Justice, where he was CIO.
Earlier this year, Nelson was tasked with taking the Government's G-Cloud initiative forward. He has previously held roles at Accenture, Asda and Royal Sun Alliance.
"It is fantastic to be able to assign the role of government CIO to someone who has held major CIO roles in private sector and has been involved in the ICT strategy since the very beginning," said Ian Watmore, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office.
"Andy has worked closely with Joe over the past months and will continue to do so ensuring that we continue to deliver ICT services fit for a modern civil service."
Bill McCluggage, deputy CIO, is also leaving the Government to join storage giant EMC. The Government is still hunting for a replacement.
Nelson takes over at a time when the Government is realigning its IT strategy. The Coalition has already made moves to ensure it isn't pandering to big IT companies, promising to hand work to SME vendors if they are suitable.
It is also looking to bring in open source technologies as well as make its cloud programme a reality.
A Socitm report last week found local public service providers remain unconvinced about the G-Cloud's prospects.
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