David Crompton, 52, is to step down in November after four years in the post and 31 years in policing.
His retirement comes after a report by Prof John Drew found the force's response to the abuse was "inadequate".
It was commissioned after the Jay Report found 1,400 girls were abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
In a brief statement, South Yorkshire Police said: "The chief constable's contract runs until November. He will retire after 31 years in policing."
Prof Drew's report, which was published on Wednesday, said the force "regularly missed" opportunities to tackle the problem of abuse and had "seriously under-resourced" its early work.
The report also said several attempts to alert senior officers to the issue fell on "deaf ears".
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) revealed it was looking into 200 allegations about the conduct of police relating to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.
It also said it had 55 ongoing investigations linked to at least 66 officers in South Yorkshire and had received more than 100 allegations linked to officers who have not yet been identified.
In a statement, the IPCC said: "From the moment the IPCC wrote to South Yorkshire Chief Constable David Crompton to advise him of our expectations for referrals following the publication of the Jay Report in August 2014, the number of allegations and number of officers involved has steadily increased.
"We first announced an investigation in November 2014 and that related to allegations raised in the Jay Report against 10 officers."
Aside from the issue of abuse in Rotherham, Mr Crompton also faced criticism when Sir Cliff Richard's home was searched in connection with an inquiry into alleged child abuse in 2014.
The force co-operated with the BBC to enable live TV coverage of the raid, which an independent report found had "interfered with his [Sir Cliff's} privacy and may well have caused unnecessary distress".
Mr Crompton took over the chief constable role in 2012 from Meredydd Hughes after he retired from the post.
The chief constable of South Yorkshire Police has announced his retirement on the day a report criticised his force's handling of child sexual exploitation.