Linda Thomsen, the SEC bureaucrat who’s been pilloried for missing red flags in the Madoff scandal, stepped down as head of the SEC’s enforcement division yesterday, making way for a replacement with Wall Street cred.

Her departure comes amid chatter that her new boss, the recently appointed SEC chief Mary Schapiro, has been actively compiling a list of replacement candidates from the ranks of the US Attorney’s office.

Thomsen took over the reins of the unit in 2005, coming in with high marks as the top cop in the Enron investigation.

But her reputation took a rapid turn for the worse when it emerged that her division failed to act on alleged con artist Bernard Madoff after her unit investigated him in 2006.

Despite her tarnished reputation, people who know Thomsen seldom have bad things to say about her.

“She’s been a wonderful, wonderful person,” said David Ruder, a former SEC chairman, adding that people should wait to pass judgment on the Madoff matter until the details of the 2006 investigation are clear.