THE chief financial officer of NBN Co, Jean-Pascal Beaufret, has announced his departure in a surprise management shake-up at the company installing the national broadband network.

Mr Beaufret, 60, the subject of recent political scrutiny over his previous employment at telecommunications firm Alcatel Lucent, will remain at the company until January when he retires in January.

Mr Beaufret, alongside NBN Co's chief executive, Mike Quigley, was previously a senior executive at Alcatel, which was fined $US137 million after paying bribes to government officials.

This work history has come under intense scrutiny in Canberra in recent months, with Coalition politicians demanding answers over how much the government knew about the scandal at Alcatel.

There is no suggestion Mr Beaufret or Mr Quigley were involved in corrupt practices while working at Alcatel.

Mr Quigley has previously said the intense questioning over Alcatel was an attempt to "play the man", as US authorities and a law firm investigating the scandal had never interviewed him or Mr Beaufret.

The government was unaware of the Alcatel scandal when it hired Mr Quigley in 2009, which the Coalition says illustrates sloppy management.

The management changes at NBN Co will also involve the head of government relations, Mike Kaiser, moving to head of quality, where he will report directly to Mr Quigley.

Mr Kaiser's appointment as head of government relations was controversial because he was a Labor Party adviser and was appointed without a formal selection process.

with Lucy Battersby