Principal/Senior Modelling & Simulation Specialist (Environmental M&S)

Urban Redevelopment Authority; Singapore; On-site; SGD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading government agency in urban planning in Singapore seeks a Principal/Senior Modelling & Simulation Specialist. You will enhance climate resilience and manage urban designs through Environmental Modelling & Simulation. Candidates should have significant experience in urban planning, strong analytical skills, and be adept in multidisciplinary teamwork. This role involves project management and the opportunity to shape sustainable solutions for Singapore's urban development.

Qualifications

• Interest in cities and Environmental M&S for urban planning.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in Environmental M&S.
• Experience with carbon accounting in urban settings.

Responsibilities

• Conduct multi-physics environmental modelling for urban design.
• Collaborate with policymakers to implement Environmental M&S.
• Develop a wind sensor network for environmental data collection.

Skills

Environmental Modelling

Computational Fluid Dynamics

3D GIS Software

Problem-Solving

Project Management

Education

Doctorate or Master's degree in Engineering, Environmental Science, Urban Planning, Architecture

Tools

3D CAD Modelling Software

Job description

What the role is

About Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is Singapore’s land use planning and conservation authority. Our mission is to make Singapore a great city to live, work and play. We plan and facilitate the physical development of Singapore, in partnership with agencies and the community, to create a vibrant, sustainable and cosmopolitan city of distinction.

About URBEX and DPLab Over the years, URA has spearheaded efforts to strengthen urban planning and design workflows through the application of urban science, geospatial and data analytics, modelling and simulation (M&S), and AI technologies. In 2022, URA was designated as the Whole-of-Government (WOG) Urban Planning & Design Technology Centre of Excellence (URBEX), to lead the planning and design sector in building up these strategic capabilities. The Design & Planning Lab (DPLab) is a multi-disciplinary team in URA which drives URBEX efforts. In recognition of our work, URA was conferred the 2024 Esri Special Achievement in Geographic Information System (GIS) Award for demonstrating vision, leadership and innovation in the use of GIS technology. URA was also awarded the Esri Singapore GeoInnovation Award in 2024 for being amongst Singapore’s most progressive organisations in the use of geospatial solutions to transform the future. Our flagship product, ePlanner (a web-based geospatial platform that brings digital planning tools to WOG) also won the Excellence Award at the Singapore Public Service’s Science, Technology and Engineering Conference 2024. In DPLab, you will work alongside talented individuals with expertise in wide-ranging domains including data policy, governance, strategy and engineering, product strategy, business analysis, software engineering, cloud engineering, urban design technologies, data science, AI/Machine Learning, and M&S. You will also work closely with planners, architects, and policymakers to co-create digital solutions that contribute to enhancing the liveability, sustainability and resilience of our city-state.

What you will be working on

As Principal/Senior Modelling & Simulation Specialist (Environmental M&S), you will be involved in important cross-agency work on strengthening Singapore’s climate resilience and mitigating Urban Heat Island effect, through the use of Environmental M&S in urban planning and design.

• Working with planners and architects to perform multi-physics environmental modelling to optimise land use and urban design plans for enhanced sustainability and liveability. This involves applying Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for wind flow, thermal comfort and pollutant dispersion modelling, acoustic simulation for transportation noise modelling and other relevant environmental factors to create more comfortable and liveable urban spaces.
• Partnering policymakers in studying and putting in place the required enablers to scale up the use of robust Environmental M&S (e.g. establishment of technical review and verification processes for thermal comfort modelling methodologies, as well as performance criteria for Environmental M&S studies).
• Facilitating the implementation of an island-wide wind sensor network strategy with partners from agencies and Institutes of Higher Learning to collect required environmental data to validate/refine M&S methodologies.

You will drive capability-building efforts to train relevant officers across WOG on the use of Environmental M&S. You will push knowledge frontiers by scoping and running research projects in collaboration with Institutes of Higher Learning to advance the science and practice of using Environmental M&S to support sustainable urban development.

What we are looking for

• Keen interest in cities and application of Environmental M&S to improve urban planning and design.
• Doctorate or Master's degree in Engineering, Environmental Science, Urban Planning, Architecture, or a related field is preferred. Candidates with a Bachelor's degree and substantial relevant experience will also be considered.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in Environmental M&S, particularly in use of commercial or open-sourced CFD models to support urban planning and design studies.
• Proficient in use of 3D GIS and 3D CAD modelling software.
• Experience with carbon accounting and sustainability metrics in urban environments.
• Ability to work well in cross-functional and multi-disciplinary teams (e.g. with software engineers and business analysts to develop web-based applications for urban planning).
• Excellent project management skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.