Staff / Senior Software Engineer, Ministry of Education

GovTech Singapore; Singapore; On-site; SGD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

GovTech Singapore is seeking an experienced backend engineer to design and build scalable services for the Parents Gateway and related platforms. You will own critical systems from design through production, collaborating with product, UX, and education teams.

You will work on cloud infrastructure, DevOps practices, and modern architectures using AWS/GCP/Azure, Docker, Kubernetes, and IaC, while upholding secure coding and reliable operations.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong professional software engineering experience, with depth in backend development, platform engineering, cloud infrastructure, site reliability engineering or related areas.
• Strong proficiency in at least one modern backend programming language or ecosystem, such as TypeScript/Node.js, Python, Go, Java or similar.
• Experience designing and building production backend systems, APIs and distributed services.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP and modern cloud-native architectures.
• Experience with infrastructure as code, containerisation and related technologies such as Terraform, Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience building or improving CI/CD pipelines and automated software delivery practices.
• Good understanding of production operations, including monitoring, observability, logging, alerting, incident management and troubleshooting distributed systems.
• Strong engineering fundamentals, including automated testing, code quality, software design and secure development practices.
• Ability to independently navigate ambiguous technical problems, evaluate alternatives and drive solutions from design through implementation.
• Experience contributing to technical direction, conducting meaningful code and design reviews, and mentoring other engineers.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively within a cross-functional team.

Responsibilities

• Build the Next Generation of PG: Design and develop scalable backend services, APIs and platform capabilities that will form the foundation of the new Parents Gateway.
• Architecture & Technical Direction: Shape key architectural and technology decisions across backend services, data, integrations and cloud infrastructure, balancing scalability, reliability and maintainability.
• Cloud & Platform Engineering: Design and improve cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, infrastructure automation and shared platform capabilities that enable engineers to build and ship effectively.
• Reliability & Operations: Build for production from day one through strong observability, monitoring, performance, security and operational resilience.
• End-to-End Ownership: Own systems from technical design and implementation through deployment and production operations, while continuously improving the platform as it evolves.
• Engineering Excellence: Raise engineering standards through good software design, automated testing, code and design reviews, and mentorship of other engineers.
• You will also work closely with Product Managers, UX Designers, Education Officers and fellow engineers to turn real problems faced by schools and parents into well-designed technical solutions.

Skills

Backend development

Platform engineering

Cloud infrastructure

Site Reliability Engineering

CI/CD

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

Monitoring

Code reviews

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

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.

[Background]

Experimental Systems and Technology Lab (ESTL) of GovTech is an engineering team within the Ministry of Education (MOE). We are made up of engineers, user experience designers and education officers. Our team designs and develops software products that help MOE transform how it delivers services through digitalisation and innovation. One of these products is Parents Gateway (PG), MOE’s key digital platform connecting schools and parents across Singapore. Parents Gateway supports important interactions between schools and families — from receiving school information and providing consent, to managing parent-teacher engagements and other everyday school-parent interactions. We are now entering the next phase of Parents Gateway. The team has an opportunity to rethink and rebuild the product for the years ahead, modernising its architecture, improving the experience for schools and parents, and establishing the engineering foundations that will support its future evolution. You can find out more about ESTL at estl.edu.sg.

[What you will be working on]

Parents Gateway (PG) is MOE’s key digital platform connecting schools and parents across Singapore. The platform consists of a parent-facing mobile application, a web platform for school staff, and the backend services and cloud infrastructure that power them. It supports key school-parent interactions such as announcements, consent forms, parent-teacher engagements and other services, with integrations across the wider MOE ecosystem.

Your Responsibilities Include

• Build the Next Generation of PG: Design and develop scalable backend services, APIs and platform capabilities that will form the foundation of the new Parents Gateway.
• Architecture & Technical Direction: Shape key architectural and technology decisions across backend services, data, integrations and cloud infrastructure, balancing scalability, reliability and maintainability.
• Cloud & Platform Engineering: Design and improve cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, infrastructure automation and shared platform capabilities that enable engineers to build and ship effectively.
• Reliability & Operations: Build for production from day one through strong observability, monitoring, performance, security and operational resilience.
• End-to-End Ownership: Own systems from technical design and implementation through deployment and production operations, while continuously improving the platform as it evolves.
• Engineering Excellence: Raise engineering standards through good software design, automated testing, code and design reviews, and mentorship of other engineers.
• You will also work closely with Product Managers, UX Designers, Education Officers and fellow engineers to turn real problems faced by schools and parents into well-designed technical solutions.

[What we are looking for]

We are looking for an experienced engineer who enjoys solving problems beyond individual features and is comfortable taking ownership of systems from design through production.

• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong professional software engineering experience, with depth in backend development, platform engineering, cloud infrastructure, site reliability engineering or related areas.
• Strong proficiency in at least one modern backend programming language or ecosystem, such as TypeScript/Node.js, Python, Go, Java or similar.
• Experience designing and building production backend systems, APIs and distributed services.
• Strong understanding of software architecture and the ability to reason about scalability, reliability, maintainability, security and operational trade-offs.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP and modern cloud-native architectures.
• Experience with infrastructure as code, containerisation and related technologies such as Terraform, Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience building or improving CI/CD pipelines and automated software delivery practices.
• Good understanding of production operations, including monitoring, observability, logging, alerting, incident management and troubleshooting distributed systems.
• Strong engineering fundamentals, including automated testing, code quality, software design and secure development practices.
• Ability to independently navigate ambiguous technical problems, evaluate alternatives and drive solutions from design through implementation.
• Experience contributing to technical direction, conducting meaningful code and design reviews, and mentoring other engineers.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively within a cross-functional team.

Additional Job Description

• Designing or modernising large-scale production systems.
• Migrating from legacy or monolithic architectures towards modern architectures.
• Building internal developer platforms, shared infrastructure or reusable platform capabilities.
• Operating high-availability or high-traffic systems.
• AWS and its ecosystem of managed services.
• Infrastructure as Code and automated cloud environment management.
• Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices.
• Application and infrastructure security in regulated or government environments.
• Mobile backend systems, notifications or large-scale user-facing digital products.
• Applying AI-assisted engineering tools and modern software development practices to improve developer productivity.

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