The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine is preparing for radical changes in its structure, management, and team. The department plans to complete a large-scale reformatting in three months: new deputy ministers, an updated work format, a focus on a business approach, and an update to the Brave1 defense cluster.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine is preparing for radical changes in its structure, management, and team. The department plans to complete a large-scale reformatting in three months: new deputy ministers, an updated work format, a focus on a business approach, and an update to the Brave1 defense cluster.
Forbes Ukraine published a large-scale concept for the Ministry of Digital Economy and Finance’s reboot. The changes include a 25% staff reduction, or approximately 200 positions. According to the publication’s government source, such optimization should make the structure more flexible and efficient, reduce duplication of functions, and speed up decision-making.
The ministry expects to update the management vertical. It is planned to appoint four new deputies to Mykhailo Fedorov, each of whom will have experience in the technology business, the ability to manage complex processes, and achieve results through KPIs or OKRs.
Also expected to emerge are «super advisors» — key figures responsible for strategic areas, including innovation, international relations, and operational efficiency. One of the first in this role was Valeria Ionan. On May 27, she resigned as deputy minister after six years in the job.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs will also reduce the number of departments. The specific number has not yet been disclosed, but it is expected that this move will help speed up decision-making and avoid duplication of functions.
As part of the transformation, the implementation of the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) approach continues, which the Ministry of Digital Affairs has been testing since 2024. According to Mykhailo Fedorov, thanks to this approach, a number of areas have shown an increase of more than 10 times.
The Brave1 defense cluster is also changing its format. It will include a new component: 300 military personnel who will participate in DefenseTech projects. This should strengthen the integration of innovations with the real needs of the army.
A change in Brave1 management is also expected: the current head, Natalia Kushnerska, will leave her position. This information was confirmed by several Forbes sources close to the cluster. It is currently unknown when the official resignation will take place. After the rotation, she will remain working at the Ministry of Digital Affairs, but her new role has not yet been announced.
In 2022, the government announced its intention to reduce the state apparatus by half. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the number of civil servants has decreased by 30,000 people in three years of full-scale invasion. The Ministry of Digital Affairs itself and its subordinate projects currently employ over 800 specialists.
The ministry’s budget for 2025 is UAH 4 billion, of which 75% is allocated to grants to startups through Brave1. At the beginning of 2024, Fedorov was in charge of more than 45 projects, although he himself mentioned that there were «a thousand rows» of them in the ministry’s Google spreadsheet.
We previously wrote about the mass layoffs of IT workers in Ukraine. Over the past year, companies have laid off 18% of IT specialists in Ukraine, and 22% abroad.
