[What the role is]
About Urban Planning & Design Technology Centre of Excellence (URBEX)
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.
About Design and Planning Lab (DPLab)
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 Excellence Award for ePlanner at Geospatial World Forum 2026, recognising URBEX’s exemplary usage of geospatial tools and solutions in Smart City and Urban Planning. In 2024, URA received the 2024 Esri Special Achievement in Geographic Information System (GIS) Award for demonstrating vision, leadership and innovation in the use of GIS technology, as well as the Esri Singapore GeoInnovation Award 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 Software Engineer (Geospatial), you will develop geospatial applications, data solutions and workflows that synthesise land and space data from various sources, enabling planners to access, manage and use reliable data more effectively.
Key Responsibilities
- Take technical ownership of end-to-end feature development, working with Product Owners and Data Product Managers to translate requirements and implement technical solutions.
- Design, develop, integrate and maintain geospatial applications, features, tools and workflows for urban planning and data use cases.
- Develop Python scripts and SQL scripts for data processing, integration and automation.
- Build and maintain applications, dashboards and reporting tools to support planning workflows and analytics.
- Develop and integrate cloud and on-premise solutions using APIs, SDKs and other methods.
- Contribute to solution design, document and communicate system architecture, data flows, interfaces and technical decisions to stakeholders.
- Ensure reliable and maintainable solutions through testing, troubleshooting, documentation and UAT support.
- Contribute to Agile delivery, code reviews, problem-solving, continuous improvement and knowledge sharing.
[What we are looking for]
Knowledge
- Good understanding of software engineering and the development lifecycle, including design, testing, deployment, maintenance and version control.
- Good understanding of relational databases, data modelling and systems integration concepts, including REST APIs, HTTP methods and data exchange mechanisms.
- Understanding of system and solution architecture, including components, data flows, interfaces and dependencies.
- Understanding of cloud, virtualisation and hybrid environments, particularly AWS.
- Understanding of access control and application security principles.
- Familiarity with GIS and spatial technologies, particularly Esri tools such as ArcGIS Pro, Enterprise and Workflow Manager, is advantageous.
Skills
- Strong Python and SQL skills for data processing, automation, systems integration and troubleshooting.
- Strong software engineering skills, including code design, debugging, testing, code review and Git-based version control — a public GitHub or GitLab portfolio is welcomed.
- Able to design and implement solutions and integrations using APIs, SDKs, development frameworks and data exchange mechanisms such as SFTP and SMTP.
- Able to translate functional requirements into robust technical solutions, considering dependencies, security and maintainability.
- Able to produce clear system diagrams and technical documentation, and communicate designs and trade-offs to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Able to work effectively within an Agile multidisciplinary team across the full development lifecycle.
- Experience in geospatial data processing, integration, visualisation or web GIS development is advantageous.
Attitude
- User-focused and outcome-oriented, applying technology to business and operational needs.
- Proactive and resourceful, with willingness to investigate problems and drive solutions through to completion.
- Collaborative, adaptable and committed to reliable, maintainable and well-documented solutions.
- Curious and committed to continuous learning.