Assistant Director, Programme Management (Smart City Technology Division)

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]

We are seeking an experienced Programme Manager to take full programme ownership of a portfolio of interdependent initiatives and significant smart city programmes. In this role, you will be accountable for driving end-to-end strategy, systemic risk management, operational oversight, and measurable outcomes across our smart city and technology portfolios. You will bridge technical product engineering with multi-workstream program governance, resource trade-offs, and stakeholder leadership while building capability across the team.

You will translate high-level business strategy and public-sector mission objectives into scalable, operationalized technology programs. Serving as the primary interface between senior leadership, multidisciplinary engineering teams, external contractors, and public partners, you will ensure our system portfolios deliver sustainable value, operational excellence, and measurable impact.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Programme Ownership, Governance & Lifecycle Delivery

Single Point of Accountability: Drive full programme ownership for a portfolio of interdependent, high-visibility initiatives—including smart-city pilots, technology launches, and infrastructure deployments—taking direct accountability for target outcomes, strategic roadmaps, and priority setting from concept exploration through validation and continuous improvement.

Requirements & Roadmap Alignment: Translate broad policy and business goals into clear strategic roadmaps and system requirements specifications. Balance feature velocity against architectural integrity and operational debt across the portfolio.

Product & Market Readiness: Oversee product launch and go-to-market efforts, including stakeholder engagement, showcase events, and integration of field feedback into ongoing portfolio iterations.

Dependency & Priority Management: Actively manage complex dependencies, resolve competing priorities, and orchestrate alignment across multiple parallel workstreams to maintain delivery momentum.

Systemic Risk Mitigation: Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate systemic risks and architectural bottlenecks before they impact overall portfolio performance.

Resource Trade-offs & Optimization: Evaluate and make decisive calls on resource trade-offs and trade-offs between scope, timeline, and quality across competing projects.

2. Operations, Procurement & Financial Stewardship

Financial & Vendor Oversight: Manage program budgets, procurement processes, contractor service level agreements (SLAs), and third-party delivery partners to ensure cost efficiency and accountability.

Process Standardization: Establish unified ways of working, operational frameworks, and audit-ready governance structures to streamline execution and increase agility across all teams.

3. Stakeholder Engagement & Strategic Partnerships

Cross-Sector Collaboration: Build and maintain trusted relationships with internal leaders, external partners, agency stakeholders, and community groups to preserve strategic alignment across large-scale smart-city collaborations.

Contractor & Vendor Governance: Act as the primary escalation point for vendor performance, contract negotiations, and multi-party alignment.

4. Leadership Through Others & Capability Building

Strategic Direction: Provide clear operational and strategic guidance to workstream, project, and product leads, empowering them to execute effectively within the governance framework.

Mentorship & Coaching: Mentor project managers, coordinators, and team members to elevate delivery capabilities, foster professional growth, and nurture high-performing delivery teams.

Practice Development: Establish, refine, and drive adoption of standardized programme management practices, frameworks, and continuous improvement mechanisms across the organization.

[What we are looking for]

Core Competencies & Skills Required:

• Programme & Portfolio Ownership: Proven track record of taking full accountability for complex, multi-workstream technology portfolios, delivering defined outcomes and managing trade-offs.
• Stakeholder Management & Communications: Exceptional interpersonal, negotiation, and written communication skills with experience presenting to C-suite executive leadership or public-sector officials.
• Analytical & Strategic Thinking: Strong ability to synthesize complex data, navigate lateral domain areas quickly, resolve systemic friction, and convert insights into actionable portfolio decisions.
• Leadership & Talent Development: Demonstrated talent for guiding workstream leaders, building team capability, and embedding best-in-class programme management methodologies.

Experience & Qualifications:

• Experience: >8 years of progressive experience navigating complex hardware/software/operations lifecycles, portfolio delivery, or organizational transformations.
• Requirements & Governance Tools: Mastery of formal requirements engineering, traceability tools (e.g., Jira/Confluence), and program governance frameworks.
• Domain Background: Experience in smart city verticals (e.g., smart mobility, smart grid, IoT, building automation) or strategic public-sector operations.

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