Deputy Director (WPD)

Skills and Workforce Development Agency; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Skills and Workforce Development Agency in Singapore seeks a role to lead and implement operational policies and service delivery plans for programmes, ensuring policy intent and outcomes. You will design and supervise partnerships with government, unions, communities and private sectors, and oversee grant governance and workflow improvements.

You will manage strategic partnerships with NTUC-e2i and CMPs, lead funding support schemes, coordinate internal stakeholders, and handle appeals and

Qualifications

• Experience in leading and developing a team of officers to deliver policy outcomes.
• Ability to write clear submissions and present to diverse audiences.
• Strong time management and ability to meet project deadlines.
• Proven skill in initiating partnerships and managing stakeholder relationships.
• Experience in designing or improving service delivery and customer management.

Responsibilities

• Design, enhance, implement and review partnership collaborations with agencies across sectors.
• Oversee strategic partnerships and performance oversight of key institutional partners.
• Lead funding support schemes, develop processes, and ensure grant governance.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to improve operations and grant-related processes.
• Manage appeals/feedback processes across agencies and ensure proper responses.

Skills

Leadership & team management

Critical thinking

Personal effectiveness

Relationships & account management

Service design & customer management

Resource estimation & management

Audit & governance

Job description

What the role is:

You will be responsible for supporting the development and leading the implementation of operational policies and service delivery plans for programmes and services, targeted at individuals, ensuring it meets policy intent and outcomes.

What you will be working on:

• Designing, enhancing, implementing and reviewing partnership collaborations with agencies across the government, union, community and private sectors. This includes identifying and evaluating suitable partners based on specific segments and planned scope, curating partnership arrangements and securing necessary resources, and overseeing the implementation of formalised partnership agreements with due diligence.
• Managing and supervising the management of strategic partnerships and performance oversight of key institutional partners like NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (NTUC-e2i) and Career Matching Providers (CMPs), ensuring effective service delivery and partnership outcomes.
• Leading the implementation of funding support schemes and ensuring it meets policy intent, outcomes and proper grant governance. This includes developing business processes, mapping out workflows and standard operating procedures, ensuring operational-technological integration for the processes, putting in place robust grant management processes, communicating with and managing relevant stakeholders, monitoring and analysis of relevant data for the conduct of scheme effectiveness review.
• Working with internal stakeholders to manage the implementation of various operations and grants-related processes, and collaborating with these internal stakeholders for continuous review and improvement of the same processes.
• Managing individual and employer-facing appeals/feedback processes, including collaborating across agencies to craft and devise proper responses and potential operational resolution within stated service level agreements.

What we are looking for:

• Leadership and team management: Capable of managing, developing and motivating a team of officers to consistently ideate, innovate and improvise on existing strategies and approaches, synergising cross-division efforts to achieve productivity and optimal impact, while fostering a productive work environment
• Critical thinking and problem-solving: Skilled in writing/preparing clear submissions/presentations and framing appropriate narratives to suit different target audiences to achieve communications objectives, analysing information to make inferences and drawing insights, recommending refinements to policy and SOP, pre‑empting potential implementation problems, analysing issues encountered and following through on actions that need to be taken until issues are resolved
• Personal effectiveness: Able to meet timelines for assigned projects, email replies and preparation of presentations, contribute to high‑level discussions on strategies and approaches, build rapport with team members, assign work effectively and ensure timely completion of tasks with quality
• Relationships building and account management: Proficient in initiating contacts, engaging and communicating with different types of organisations, identifying opportunities for new areas of collaborations or new innovations, facilitating partnerships by linking up suitable parties, supporting the team to execute appropriate negotiation strategies to formalise agreements aligned to SWDA’s interests and objectives, and managing the accounts effectively and professionally to consistently achieve a high level of trust and camaraderie while ensuring SWDA discharges its responsibility on prudent governance in the use of public funds by its appointed partners
• Service design and customer management: Proficient in empathising with customer experience, improving service delivery, and supporting the team in managing appeals and feedback from customers with issues
• Resource acquisition and management: Capable of computing/estimating budgets and resources required for each assigned project with appropriate assumptions and basis, prioritising the use of available budgets and resources and making trade-offs when necessary
• Audit management and enforcement: Skilled in identifying risk areas (e.g. fraudulent claims and process lapses), guiding the team to implement effective mechanisms including tweaking business workflows, processes and documentation checks to mitigate risks, taking and following through appropriate enforcement actions, and ensuring closure of audit observations and findings
• Successful candidates will be offered a contract in the first instance and may be considered for an extension or be placed on a permanent tenure.
• Candidates are encouraged to sign up for a Careers & Skills Passport (CSP) account and include your CSP public profile in your resume. Please check out www.myskillsfuture.gov.sg for details on the CSP

About Skills and Workforce Development Agency

The Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA), a statutory board under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), drives lifelong learning and workforce development to enable Singaporeans to take charge of their careers, learn for life, access good jobs, and grow in fulfilling careers. We enable employers to build a skilled, future‑ready workforce, design quality jobs, and adopt skills recognition practices. Together with our partners, we build a trusted, high‑quality, industry‑relevant, and innovative ecosystem that meets the evolving workforce needs of both businesses and workers.Guided by our vision of a Singapore where everyone can grow in fulfilling careers, we live our promise of Building Skills, Growing Careers by nurturing lifelong learning, strengthening employability and enabling career growth for all, including our own officers, through a continuous learning culture and a supportive, flexible, inclusive working environment that fosters innovation, collaboration, and well‑being.So, join us to be part of a dynamic team driving the national SkillsFuture movement and building a strong Singaporean core. Together, we create opportunities, transform lives, and shape the future of work.