Assistant Director, Design Management - Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)

Tech; Singapore; Hybrid; SGD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Competitive benefits

Total rewards approach

Job summary

GovTech in Singapore is seeking an experienced Assistant Director, Design Management to shape user experience strategy across MFA’s digital products and staff systems. You will lead a growing design team and partner with Product and Engineering to translate user needs into secure, scalable public services.

You will establish design standards, mentor internal designers, oversee external partners, and drive governance and processes that balance government constraints with user-centric outcomes.

Qualifications

• At least 10 years of professional design experience with coaching responsibilities.
• Experience designing for high-stakes, data-heavy systems where users operate under high cognitive load.
• Leading hybrid product design teams, including external vendors, with clear delivery metrics and governance.
• Influencing senior stakeholders to translate user value into operational outcomes in government contexts.
• Building and standardizing design infrastructure, research methodologies, and critique frameworks across multiple product tracks.

Responsibilities

• Define the north-star design strategy for MFA’s digital products and services.
• Scale and mentor the design team; recruit 2–3 new permanent hires.
• Govern external contract designers and partners with clear delivery expectations and quality controls.
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering to balance user needs with feasibility and security requirements.
• Standardize processes for design research, critique, and cross-team collaboration.

Skills

Design Leadership

Mentorship

Staff coaching

Systems thinking

Hybrid workforce management

Stakeholder leadership

Design operations

Government context

Education

Diploma or Degree in Industrial Design, Interaction Design, or HCI

Job description

GovTech is the lead agency driving Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives and public sector digital transformation. As the Centre of Excellence for Infocomm Technology and Smart Systems (ICT & SS), GovTech develops the Singapore Government’s capabilities in Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, Application Development, Smart City Technology, Digital Infrastructure, and Cybersecurity.

AtGovTech, we offer you a purposeful career to make lives better where we empower our people to master their craft through robust learning and development opportunities all year round.

Play a part in Singapore’s vision to build a Smart Nation and embark on your meaningful journey to build tech for public good. Join us to advance our mission and shape your future with us today!

Learn more aboutGovTechat tech.gov.sg.

[What you will be working on]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) safeguards and advances Singapore's interests on the world stage. In an increasingly volatile global landscape, our digital products must empower diplomatic officers, operations teams, and crisis responders to make rapid, informed decisions when every second counts.

As the Assistant Director, Design Management, you will drive the user experience strategy and lead the design team dedicated to modernizing Singapore's diplomatic and citizen services infrastructure, as well as the internal systems and tools that staff rely on daily. Your mission is to elevate design from a tactical execution tool to a strategic capability—transforming how teams across the Ministry work, spanning areas such as consular and crisis response, knowledge management, protocol, corporate services, and HR, by building intelligent, integrated platforms that are intuitive, efficient, and built for the demands of modern diplomacy.

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic Experience Visioning: Establish the north-star design strategy for MFA’s digital products and services — spanning both citizen-facing platforms and internal staff systems. Ensure design goals directly map to operational efficiency, cross-team collaboration, and clarity of experience across a diverse range of use cases and working environments.
• Team Growth & UX Capability Building: Manage and scale a growing design team. You will be responsible for upskilling and coaching internal team members, accelerating their growth into high-performing practitioners. You will also lead the recruitment of 2 to 3 new permanent design hires.
• Vendor & Contractor Governance: Oversee external contract designers and design partners, establishing clear delivery expectations, workflows, and quality controls to ensure their output meets GovTech’s design standards and MFA's security requirements.
• Cross-Functional Influence & Advocacy: Partner closely with Product and Engineering leadership to bridge diplomatic workflows with technical feasibility. Evangelize user-centric design principles to senior MFA leadership, demonstrating how design impacts national resilience.
• Design Ops & Process Standardization: Set the standards for design processes, research methodologies, and critique frameworks, enabling a mixed team of staff, internal converts, and external vendors to collaborate seamlessly.

[What we are looking for]

• Design Leadership & Mentorship: At least 10 years of professional experience in Product Design, UX, or Service Design, with a proven track record of nurturing talent and coachingstaff into high-performing design practitioners.
• High-Stakes Systems Thinking: Demonstrated capability to design scalable workflows and user experiences for complex, data-heavy systems (e.g., intelligence dashboards, emergency operations) where users operate under extreme cognitive load.
• Hybrid Workforce Management: Experience and proven ability to oversee a mixed product design team, including setting clear delivery metrics, quality standards, and governance for external contract designers and vendors.
• Stakeholder Leadership & Advocacy: Strong ability to influence, align, and defend design decisions to senior, non-design stakeholders, translating user value into operational efficiency and diplomatic outcomes.
• Design Operations & Standardization: Advanced fluency in building design infrastructure, standardizing research methodologies, and embedding critique frameworks across multiple product tracks.
• Organizational Navigation: Comfort operating within government, public-sector constraints, and highly secure information environments without losing user advocacy.
• Domain Expertise: Diploma or Degree in Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), or equivalent practical experience demonstrating deep mastery of the design craft.

What We Offer:

GovTech is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive workplace that values diverse voices and perspectives, as we believe it is key to innovation.

Our employee benefits are based on a total rewards approach, offering a holistic and market-competitive suite of perks.

We champion flexible work arrangements (subject to your job role) and trust you to manage your time to deliver your best.

Learn more about life insideGovTechat. go.gov.sg/GovTechCareers.

Stay connected with us on social media at go.gov.sg/ConnectWithGovTech