Lead Designer / Assistant Director, Design Management (MSF)

GovTech Singapore; Singapore; On-site; SGD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Holistic employee benefits

Continuous learning opportunities

Job summary

GovTech Singapore is looking for a Design Manager to drive digital transformation in early childhood development services. This role involves leading modernization initiatives and redesigning service delivery for families and educators, ensuring user-centered experiences.

The ideal candidate will have 10+ years of experience in digital design, including leadership of design teams. A commitment to inclusive design and strong communication skills are essential. The position offers a chance to impact public services positively.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience designing digital solutions end‑to‑end.
• 5+ years leading design teams.
• Expertise in accessibility and inclusive design.
• Comfort with tech, APIs, and system integrations.

Responsibilities

• Define service design strategy for digital transformation.
• Influence decision makers on modern design principles.
• Partner with stakeholders to ensure unified delivery of services.
• Manage design work and ensure compliance with standards.
• Mentor designers in modern practices and technologies.

Skills

Digital design solutions

Design team leadership

User-centered design

Service design

Communication

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. At GovTech, 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.

What you will be working on

As a Design Manager, you will play a crucial role in driving digital transformation and modernising early childhood development services through service design and design excellence. You will be responsible for leading modernisation initiatives that redesign service delivery for families, educators, and early childhood professionals, while setting design standards across multiple digital products and platforms across the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). You will manage and lead designers under your care to deliver transformative design solutions that align with Early Childhood Development Agency’s (ECDA) modernisation objectives. Your leadership will be instrumental in reimagining how early childhood services are delivered digitally, ensuring accessible, efficient, and user‑centred experiences that meet the evolving needs of Singapore's families and educators.

Assistant Director Responsibilities

• Define and drive service design strategy supporting ECDA’s digital transformation and service modernisation goals. Champion innovative design approaches to enhance early childhood service delivery.
• Influence and educate key decision makers, early childhood professionals, and policy stakeholders on modern design principles and digital transformation opportunities. Advocate for user‑centred approaches that modernise traditional service touchpoints.
• Partner with product managers, developers, policy teams, and early childhood stakeholders to ensure unified delivery of modernised digital services. Ensure service design is prominently featured throughout the modernisation process.
• Work with functional leads to plan product roadmaps that prioritise modernisation initiatives. Scope required effort for digital transformation projects and plan work with your design team to maximise impact on service modernisation outcomes.
• Maintain oversight over design work to ensure alignment with ECDA’s modernisation objectives and adherence to government digital service standards. Drive adoption of modern design systems and usability guidelines across all digital touchpoints.
• Manage design work, ensuring external partners deliver solutions that advance ECDA’s modernisation agenda while meeting established design and usability standards.
• Propose, establish and track metrics that measure both product performance and modernisation success together with the Product team, including digital adoption rates, service efficiency improvements, and user satisfaction with modernised services.
• Be prepared to work directly on design deliverables for critical modernisation projects, demonstrating best practices and innovative approaches to digital service transformation.
• Lead and mentor your designers in modern design practices, emerging technologies, and government digital transformation principles. Ensure continuous learning and growth while driving exceptional quality.
• Plan career paths for your designers that include expertise in digital transformation, modern government service design, and innovative user experience practices relevant to early childhood services.

What we are looking for

• 10+ years designing and shipping digital solutions end‑to‑end – from insight, to product and service delivery, to GTM and impact.
• 5+ years leading and growing design teams, with proven success building design culture and capability across disciplines.
• Experience leading design across complex, multi‑stakeholder environments (B2B, enterprise, or platform experience is particularly relevant).
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and portfolios while maintaining quality and impact.
• Mastery across design disciplines – problem framing, research, service design, product design, prototyping and storytelling – turning insight into action and inspiring others around it.
• Comfort working at the edge of tech and design – fluent enough in APIs, system integrations, data‑driven interfaces, and permissions models to co‑create with engineers.
• Commitment to accessibility and inclusive design (WCAG), ensuring services work for everyone.
• Strong communicator and storyteller who builds trust quickly and brings people together at all organisational levels.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with a drive to create impact for public good.

Vibrant Design Community

We have a vibrant design community in GovTech. As a member of the community, you may also be asked to lead the work on design initiatives to benefit the entire design community.

• Pilot new initiatives in your work.
• Actively seek out new ways and methods to improve your fellow designers’ efficiency, effectiveness and craft.
• Actively contribute to design learning and sharing sessions.
• Be a member of the community that less experienced designers aspire to be.
• Take steps to improve yourself in a personal and professional capacity.
• Actively note areas of improvement and propose changes for the benefit of all designers.

Benefits

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 inside GovTech at go.gov.sg/GovTechCareers.