Senior Manager / Assistant Director, AI Strategy

GovTech Singapore; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work

Total rewards

Wellness programs

Job summary

GovTech Singapore is seeking a senior strategist to steer AI transformation with a rigorous analytical approach and clear policy-oriented thinking. You will influence leadership decisions, work with engineers and policy owners, and translate strategic positions into actionable priorities.

You will engage internal and external stakeholders, craft concise position papers, and help GovTech stay future-ready amid evolving AI capabilities and government priorities.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in strategy, public policy, research, management consulting or technology strategy.
• Independently develop rigorous strategic arguments and author papers informing senior decisions.
• Strong analytical reasoning and independent judgement with hypothesis framing.
• Excellent writing to articulate a clear thesis and concise recommendations for leaders.
• Ability to connect technology, policy, organisational and operational considerations.
• Sufficient technical understanding of AI to engage with practitioners.
• Mix of quantitative and qualitative evidence with delivery experience.
• Openness to challenge assumptions and revise positions when warranted.
• Strong engagement and communication skills with senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Shape AI strategy and strategic frames guiding AI transformation across GovTech.
• Lead strategic inquiries from framing problems to recommending actions.
• Assess AI developments and advise on future direction and capabilities.
• Examine AI adoption in work processes and organisational change.
• Develop concise position papers with supported arguments and trade-offs.
• Collaborate with engineers, policy owners and agencies to verify capabilities and feasibility.
• Engage experts and stakeholders to challenge hypotheses and refine recommendations.
• Translate strategic positions into actionable priorities and decision points.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Public policy

Research analysis

Policy writing

Stakeholder engagement

AI literacy

Data-informed decision making

Intellectual openness

Communication skills

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.

Play a part in Singapore’s vision to build a Smart Nation and embark on your meaningful journey to build tech for public good. Join us to advance our mission and shape your future with us today!

Learn more about GovTech at tech.gov.sg.

[What you will be working on]

• Shape GovTech’s AI strategic direction. Develop and refine the strategic frames, principles and positions that guide AI transformation across GovTech and inform its role in enabling Whole-of-Government outcomes. Help leadership make choices on priorities, investment, capability development, partnerships and organisational change.
• Identify and lead strategic inquiry. Surface consequential questions and take ownership of investigating them—from framing the problem and developing hypotheses to assessing evidence and recommending a considered course of action. Challenge assumptions and identify issues that warrant leadership attention.
• Anticipate change and its implications. Assess developments in AI technology, industry and ways of working. Distinguish enduring shifts from short-term signals and recommend how GovTech’s direction and approach should evolve to remain future ready.
• Shape the transition to an AI-native organisation. Examine how AI could reshape work, organisational capabilities, operating models and digital delivery. Develop approaches that connect technological possibilities with the practical changes needed to realise them.
• Author rigorous, concise position papers. Develop a clear thesis supported by credible evidence. Assess alternatives, address the strongest counterarguments, make assumptions and uncertainties explicit, and explain the trade-offs, practical implications and conditions under which recommendations should change.
• Ground strategy in technology and delivery evidence. Work closely with engineers, product teams, policy owners, functional leads and agencies to understand capabilities, constraints and needs. Interrogate technical claims and test strategic assumptions against operational experience and practical feasibility.
• Test and strengthen recommendations. Engage internal experts, researchers, industry partners and other stakeholders to challenge hypotheses, draw out competing perspectives and refine arguments. Present and defend recommendations constructively in leadership discussions.
• Translate strategic positions into actionable choices. Set out the priorities, sequencing, enabling conditions and decision points needed to act on recommendations. Work with relevant owners to inform programme and policy approaches, and reassess positions as evidence and circumstances change.

[What we are looking for]

• Significant relevant experience in strategy, public policy, research, management consulting, technology strategy or a comparable role involving substantive analysis and writing.
• A demonstrated record of independently developing rigorous strategic arguments and authoring papers that have informed senior decisions, policy positions or organisational direction.
• Strong analytical reasoning and independent judgement, with the ability to frame unfamiliar problems, formulate hypotheses, evaluate evidence and weigh competing approaches.
• Excellent writing skills, with the ability to articulate a clear thesis, build a coherent argument, address counterarguments and distil complex analysis into concise recommendations for senior leaders.
• Ability to think across technology, policy, organisational and operational considerations, connecting developments in one area to their wider strategic implications.
• Sufficient technical understanding of AI to engage substantively with practitioners, interrogate claims about capabilities and limitations, and assess their implications for government. Curiosity and discipline to build depth in unfamiliar subjects.
• Ability to combine research, quantitative and qualitative evidence, expert insights and delivery experience to reach sound conclusions under uncertainty.
• Intellectual openness and the confidence to challenge established assumptions, defend a considered position and revise it when new evidence warrants.
• Strong engagement and communication skills, including the ability to draw out expert insights, facilitate substantive discussions and influence senior stakeholders.
• Comfort working with ambiguity and evolving priorities, alongside the discipline to bring open-ended inquiry to a clear, useful conclusion.
• Experience in digital transformation, organisational redesign or government strategy would be an advantage.

What we offer you:

GovTech is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive workplace that values diverse voices and perspectives, as we believe that diversity is the foundation to innovation.

Our employee benefits are based on a total rewards approach, offering a holistic and market-competitive suite of perks. These include leave benefits to meet your work-life needs and employee wellness programs.

We champion flexible work arrangements (subject to your job role) and trust that you will manage your own time to deliver your best, wherever you are, and whatever works best for you.

Learn more about life inside GovTech at go.gov.sg/GovTechCareers.

Stay connected with us on social media at go.gov.sg/ConnectWithGovTech