Microsoft CIO Tony Scott has resigned from the company, after making the news public via his LinkedIn profile.

Following five years at the Redmond firm, Scott is alleged to have left to pursue 'personal projects', with vice president of IT product and services management Jim Dubois stepping in as acting CIO until a replacement is found.

After being appointed in 2008, the company said Scott was tasked with managing "Microsoft’s 4,000-person global information technology organisation that manages critical technology systems supporting the company’s worldwide sales, marketing and services efforts, as well as enterprise systems and applications for all corporate processes."

Branding Scott a "respected industry veteran" at the time of his appointment, Microsoft released an official statement to confirm his departure yesterday.

"Tony Scott has decided to depart Microsoft to focus on personal projects," Microsoft said.

"While at Microsoft, Tony has proven to be a strong IT leader passionate about taking Microsoft's technology to the next level and using our experiences and learnings to help customers and partners.

"We thank Tony for his contributions and wish him well."