Senior Assistant Director, Governance & Employee Relations

A*STAR - Agency for Science, Technology and Research; Singapore; On-site; SGD 85,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A*STAR - Agency for Science, Technology and Research is seeking an experienced HR professional to strengthen workforce governance and employee relations, ensuring practices are fair, consistent and aligned with Public Service standards of accountability, integrity and due process.

You will oversee governance controls, compliance reviews, audit coordination and employee conduct matters, balancing employee fairness with organisational risk.

Qualifications

• Preferably 7 to 10 years of relevant HR experience in employee relations, governance, compliance, investigations or related areas.

Responsibilities

• Maintain the workforce governance framework, including controls, approving matrix, delegations of authority and escalation paths, and partner key stakeholders to strengthen awareness of governance requirements and expected standards of professional conduct.
• Coordinate internal and external audits of People processes, prepare responses, and track remediation through to closure.
• Manage employee conduct and disciplinary cases end-to-end, including reviewing investigation findings, assessing cases against relevant policies and precedents, and recommending proportionate disciplinary actions.
• Provide advice on complex and sensitive employee conduct matters, ensuring due process, procedural fairness, consistency and appropriate documentation.
• Maintain case records and precedents to support consistent and defensible decision-making across the organisation, and monitor case volume, ageing and resolution quality.
• Analyse case and grievance themes and feed them back into policy review, manager capability and employee experience improvements.

Skills

HR experience

Governance & compliance

Investigation management

Policy documentation

Stakeholder management

Job description

Job Summary You will strengthen workforce governance and employee relations at A*STAR, ensuring practices are fair, consistent and aligned with Public Service standards of accountability, integrity and due process. You will oversee governance controls, compliance reviews, audit coordination and employee conduct matters, balancing employee fairness with organisational risk.

Job Summary You will strengthen workforce governance and employee relations at A*STAR, ensuring practices are fair, consistent and aligned with Public Service standards of accountability, integrity and due process. You will oversee governance controls, compliance reviews, audit coordination and employee conduct matters, balancing employee fairness with organisational risk.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain the workforce governance framework, including controls, approving matrix, delegations of authority and escalation paths, and partner key stakeholders to strengthen awareness of governance requirements and expected standards of professional conduct.
• Coordinate internal and external audits of People processes, prepare responses, and track remediation through to closure.
• Manage employee conduct and disciplinary cases end-to-end, including reviewing investigation findings, assessing cases against relevant policies and precedents, and recommending proportionate disciplinary actions.
• Provide advice on complex and sensitive employee conduct matters, ensuring due process, procedural fairness, consistency and appropriate documentation.
• Maintain case records and precedents to support consistent and defensible decision-making across the organisation, and monitor case volume, ageing and resolution quality.
• Analyse case and grievance themes and feed them back into policy review, manager capability and employee experience improvements.

Requirements

• Preferably 7 to 10 years of relevant HR experience in employee relations, governance, compliance, investigations or related areas.
• Working knowledge of Singapore employment legislation and tripartite guidelines; familiarity with Public Service HR frameworks is an advantage.
• Demonstrated experience managing sensitive matters and investigations with discretion, fairness and sound judgement on risk and precedent.
• Strong documentation and reporting discipline, and comfort with risk and control concepts, audit processes and evidence-based reporting.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills across People & Culture, leaders and employees.

All new hires are appointed on a 3-year renewable contract in the first instance.