He is set to join Birmingham in the summer where his priority will be to rebuild confidence in the council's beleaguered children's services team.
The service was labelled as inadequate by Ofsted late last year and has since been the subject of a government investigation into 10 suspicious child deaths in the city since April 2006.
Tucker joins with a track record of attempting to turn around under fire children's services teams. While he managed to reverse Sandwell's inadequate rating, which was given by Ofsted before he joined three years ago, there have still been three child deaths as a result of neglect or abuse during his time at the council.
A Birmingham City Council spokeswoman refused to comment on the appointment, which has not been officially announced.
She also declined to comment on speculation that Tucker's role will only cover children's social services and will not include education.
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