Abstract:The government chief data officer (CDO) is the leader and promoter of government digital construction, and is also the core force in promoting government digital transformation. Constructing a government chief data officer competency model can not only fill existing research gaps, but also provide scientific basis for relevant talent selection, performance appraisal, and ability training, also provides reference for promoting the professional development of the Chinese government chief data officer. To this end, drawing on the classic competency theory of the onion model, this paper synthesizes current research findings and the work context of government chief data officers. Utilizing the expert group decision-making method, a survey is conducted with 25 government chief data officers from Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan, and other regions to select relevant indicators. By screening relevant indicators and combining the analytic hierarchy process, a competency model for government chief data officers is constructed, which encompasses 31 characteristic indicators across 7 dimensions, including digital professional knowledge, digital professional skills, digital leadership, digital communication and coordination, work attitude, digital cognitive ability, and personal traits, and considers the various roles and responsibilities that government CDOs assume during digital transformation, as well as the diverse traits and abilities they possess in their personal development. Among these, digital leadership is identified as a key evaluative dimension, digital communication and coordination as an important evaluative dimension, while work attitude and personal traits provide foundational support. Accordingly, the digital leader career development plan should address multi-dimensional improvements in digital leadership, in particular, the digital strategy development and implementation capabilities, and should have the emergency response ability, expression and interpretation ability and coordination and service ability.