Government Services Minister Stuart Robert has announced that Defence associate secretary Rebecca Skinner will commence as Services Australia chief executive officer on March 16.

The Services Australia position was created as part of the federal government's overhaul of its department structure announced late last year, which included downgrading Services Australia from a stand-alone department to an executive agency within the Department of Social Services. Former department secretary Renee Leon was dumped as part of the change, which came into effect on February 1.

The shakeup has come at a challenging time for Services Australia, which has had a frontline role in the government's response to the bushfire crisis, including providing emergency payments and allowances for people affected by the disaster.

While at Defence, Ms Skinner worked across a range of areas including corporate services, strategic policy and intelligence, and oversaw the initial implementation of the massive enterprise resource planning system, a three-year IT project to improve the department's finance reporting, logistics and maintenance capabilities.

Mr Robert said the Defence bureaucrat's experience and expertise would be "critical" for the new Services Australia role.

"Ms Skinner will bring critical capability to the role of the CEO at an important time in the transformation journey of Services Australia, having previously driven significant reform across the Defence enterprise and led the department through a range of crisis response efforts in support of government," the minister said.

Mr Robert recognised acting chief executive Amanda Cattermole for her leadership during the interim period, "particularly during the recent challenges of the Black Summer bushfire disasters".