Director, Design Strategy & Leadership

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 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.