Jon Boutcher is to be appointed the next PSNI Chief Constable following approval by the Northern Ireland Secretary.
Mr Boutcher, who had been serving as interim chief constable, has more than 35 years' experience as a police officer.
He previously served as the chief constable of Bedfordshire Police and led the Operation Kenova investigation.
Mr Boutcher succeeds Simon Byrne, who resigned in September after a series of controversies.
The Northern Ireland Policing Board confirmed the appointment on Tuesday evening.
Speaking about the appointment, Board chairwoman Deirdre Toner said: "I am pleased to confirm that Jon Boutcher QPM is the successful candidate from this appointment competition.
"Jon takes on the leadership role for one of the most important public sector services in Northern Ireland.
"He is clearly committed to the challenges ahead, to tackling crime and criminality and to providing a policing service that is community based and focused on delivery to the public.
"There are also significant pieces of work to be progressed to manage and mitigate the serious financial pressures currently facing policing, and deal with confidence and other issues arising from recent events."
The appointment was approved by Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris following interviews of the final two candidates on Monday.
Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton was also shortlisted for the job.
Mr Boutcher was previously appointed as the interim head of the service pending the outcome of the interviews for the permanent £220,000-a-year post.
The Policing Board interviewed the two shortlisted candidates at the board's headquarters in Belfast, before a multi-stage deliberation and selection process.
In normal circumstances, when a devolved government is in place in Northern Ireland, the board's selection would be sent to Stormont's justice minister for final approval.
With no justice minister in place due to the ongoing power-sharing impasse, Mr Heaton-Harris has responsibility for signing off on the appointment.
He has no influence on the choice but must be satisfied that the process was fair and done in accordance with rules and guidelines.
The interview panel was made up of Ms Toner, independent board member Mukesh Sharma and three political members of the oversight body: Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly, the DUP's Joanne Bunting and Nuala McAllister from the Alliance Party.
Mr Boutcher previously applied to become PSNI chief constable in 2019, but lost out to Mr Byrne.
He was until recently leading Operation Kenova, which has been investigating the activities of "Stakeknife", the British army's top agent in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
The new PSNI chief faces a challenging in-tray, including a budget crisis, dealing with the fall out following a significant data breach in which the personal details of all officers and staff were mistakenly published online, and a critical High Court ruling that said two junior officers had been unlawfully disciplined for their actions at a Troubles commemoration event.
The chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Liam Kelly, urged Mr Boutcher to tackle "chronic and deep-rooted" issues in the service as he congratulated the new chief constable.
Mr Kelly said: "I have met Mr Boutcher in his capacity as the interim Chief Constable and look forward to continuing to have a productive and positive engagement.
"We must collaborate across a number of areas but most of all, our officers want to know their Chief Constable has their back.
"The list of what must be fixed is long and can only be addressed by a meaningful and realistic funding package from Government. Taken together, the Service will need a commitment to invest up to £500 million."
