Deputy Director, Engineering Management (PDO Lead), Ministry of Social and Family Development

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About Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) is Singapore's lead ministry for social and family policies, working to build a caring and inclusive society where every individual and family can thrive. We deliver essential services through our network of Family Service Centres, Social Service Offices, and industry partners, supporting vulnerable populations across all life stages. Our work encompasses family services, early childhood, social assistance, disability support, mental health initiatives, and community development programmes. We are actively expanding our team to drive impact for our key initiatives including: Case Central for integrated case management for Social Service Sector ComLink+ for enhanced community support programme Social Service Coordination Centre for Whole-of-Govt insights Early Childhood programmes that give our youngest citizens the best start in life Sectors Futures Technology to look ahead on sectoral digitalisation and transformation efforts These innovative platforms represent our commitment to leveraging technology and coordinated approaches to better serve Singaporeans. Join our dedicated team of professionals and help make a meaningful difference in the lives of Singaporeans as we work together to nurture strong families and build resilient communities. Background Product Development Offices (PDOs) bring together Product, Design and Engineering leadership to help Ministries and their agencies deliver digital products faster, more securely and with better user outcomes. Each PDO partners closely with the Ministry CIO and senior stakeholders, supports multiple product teams, and connects these teams to GovTech's shared platforms, engineering practices and capabilities. As the PDO Engineering Leader for MSF, you will serve as the Ministry's Head of Engineering, providing strategic technical leadership across MSF's digital products, platforms, systems and engineering teams. You will shape MSF's engineering direction, drive architectural coherence and governance, strengthen engineering capability and establish the standards and practices needed to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable digital services. You will lead through engineering managers, technical leads and delivery partners, ensuring that engineering teams are aligned to common outcomes while retaining the autonomy to deliver effectively. [What you will be working on] As Deputy Director, Engineering Management (MSF), you will lead engineering across the MSF Ministry Family, working in close partnership with Product and Design leadership, the Ministry CIO Office, agency stakeholders and GovTech engineering practices. You will oversee engineering direction and outcomes across multiple product teams, delivery workstreams and vendor-led systems, balancing immediate delivery priorities with longer-term engineering transformation. A key priority will be to establish and mature the MSF Engineering Landscape, providing visibility, engineering standards and measurable improvements across a portfolio of 30+ systems managed by multiple vendors in a mix of co-sourced and outsourced arrangements. Beyond ensuring successful delivery, you will develop engineering leaders, strengthen enterprise architecture, guide technical investments and build a high-performing engineering culture across the Ministry Family. Engineering Strategy and Technical Direction Define and champion a unified engineering vision, strategy and multi-year technical roadmap for the MSF Ministry Family, aligned with Ministry priorities and GovTech's engineering direction. Serve as the senior technical authority for engineering across MSF, providing leadership on architecture, engineering standards, technology choices and long-term sustainability. Shape the technical direction of digital products and platforms, guiding teams from problem discovery and proof-of-concept through production delivery, scaling and operations. Partner with Product and Design leaders to ensure engineering decisions support user needs, measurable outcomes and sustainable product delivery. Establish common engineering principles and technical standards across teams and vendors, promoting interoperability, reuse and alignment with shared government platforms. Guide strategic technical investments and trade-offs, balancing delivery speed, security, scalability, maintainability and cost-effectiveness. Enterprise Architecture and Technology Governance Own the strategic direction and evolution of MSF's enterprise architecture, ensuring coherence across business capabilities, applications, platforms, infrastructure and data integration. Establish architecture principles, design review mechanisms and technical governance standards across the Ministry Family. Guide architectural decisions for new products, system enhancements, modernisation initiatives and major technology transitions. Identify opportunities to simplify the technology landscape, reduce unnecessary complexity, improve interoperability and maximise reuse of common capabilities. Oversee technical debt, architectural risks and system lifecycle planning, ensuring engineering investments deliver sustainable improvements. Align MSF's architecture and engineering standards with GovTech practices and relevant Whole-of-Government technology policies. MSF Engineering Landscape and Engineering Excellence Establish and drive the MSF Engineering Landscape, creating Ministry-wide visibility of engineering capabilities, maturity, technical risks and delivery practices across 30+ systems and multiple vendors. Develop an evidence-based understanding of engineering practices across teams, supported by technical reviews, code-level assessments, delivery pipelines and operational metrics. Define and drive common engineering standards across key capabilities, including: Infrastructure-as-Code, covering provisioning, patching and remediation. CI/CD pipelines, automated build, testing and deployment. Software quality, automated testing and engineering assurance. DevSecOps, vulnerability management, audit readiness and compliance. Site Reliability Engineering, observability, incident response and operational resilience. Establish engineering scorecards and maturity indicators to measure delivery performance, reliability, security and engineering effectiveness. Use metrics such as lead time for changes, deployment frequency, change failure rates and remediation effectiveness to drive accountability and continuous improvement. Identify systemic engineering gaps and work with internal teams and vendors to establish structured improvement plans. Drive the progressive adoption of modern engineering practices, including AI-assisted development and engineering automation, with appropriate quality and security controls. Engineering Delivery and Outcome Accountability Provide engineering leadership across multiple product squads, delivery workstreams, internal engineering teams and vendor-led development initiatives. Establish clear engineering outcomes and accountability structures aligned with Ministry priorities and product objectives. Guide engineering managers and technical leads in making sound architectural and delivery decisions across the product lifecycle. Ensure teams balance new feature delivery with operational reliability, security remediation, technical debt reduction and modernisation. Oversee major cross-system engineering initiatives and resolve systemic dependencies, technical risks and delivery blockers. Strengthen engineering delivery practices to improve predictability, quality and time-to-value. Ensure engineering decisions and investments contribute to measurable improvements in digital service delivery and public-sector outcomes. Engineering Leadership and Capability Development Build and lead a high-performing engineering leadership community across MSF, developing Engineering Managers, Tech Leads and senior engineers. Coach engineering leaders to take ownership of technical direction, team performance, engineering quality and delivery outcomes. Establish clear expectations for engineering leadership, technical craftsmanship, accountability and continuous improvement. Identify engineering capability gaps across internal teams and vendors and develop strategies to strengthen engineering maturity. Contribute to strategic hiring, workforce planning, leadership development and succession planning to build sustainable engineering capability. Foster a culture of technical excellence, constructive challenge, knowledge sharing and continuous learning. Promote cross-team collaboration and communities of practice to encourage reuse, consistency and shared learning. Strategic Partnerships and Organisational Influence Serve as a trusted technical advisor to the Ministry CIO and senior stakeholders on engineering strategy, architecture, technical risks and technology investments. Work closely with PDO Product and Design leadership to align technical direction with product strategy, user outcomes and delivery priorities. Build strong relationships with MSF agencies, business stakeholders, technology partners and vendors to drive shared engineering outcomes. Influence technical decisions and engineering practices across organisational boundaries through collaboration, sound judgment and technical credibility. Connect MSF engineering teams with GovTech's shared platforms, engineering practices and capabilities, ensuring alignment and promoting reuse. Represent MSF's engineering priorities and contribute insights, patterns and lessons learnt to GovTech's wider engineering community. Champion a high-trust, inclusive engineering culture grounded in transparency, accountability and continuous improvement. [What we are looking for] We are looking for an experienced engineering leader with strong technical credibility, strategic thinking and the ability to build engineering capability across a complex Ministry-wide technology environment. Engineering and Technical Leadership Significant experience leading software engineering teams and technical leaders across multiple products, systems or delivery workstreams. Strong technical foundations, with hands-on experience designing, building or operating production systems at scale. Demonstrated ability to define engineering strategy, establish technical standards and guide architectural decisions across complex environments. Strong understanding of enterprise architecture, modern software architecture, cloud infrastructure, distributed systems and system integration. Experience driving system modernisation, engineering transformation and long-term technical improvement. Engineering Excellence and Delivery Strong understanding of modern engineering practices, including CI/CD, Infrastructure-as-Code, DevSecOps, automated testing and reliability engineering. Experience establishing engineering standards and improving engineering maturity across multiple teams or delivery partners. Ability to use engineering metrics and evidence to identify gaps, guide investments and drive measurable improvements. Sound judgment in balancing delivery speed, quality, security, scalability and operational sustainability. Experience working with both internal engineering teams and external technology vendors. People Leadership and Organisational Influence Proven experience coaching Engineering Managers, Tech Leads and senior technical professionals. Ability to build high-performing engineering teams and develop sustainable leadership capability. Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to engage senior business and technology leaders. Experience navigating complex organisational environments and influencing outcomes across multiple teams and stakeholders. Ability to establish clarity, accountability and a culture of continuous improvement. Product Mindset and Public-Sector Impact Experience working across the product lifecycle, from problem discovery and experimentation to production delivery and scaling. Ability to collaborate effectively with Product and Design leaders to deliver user-centred digital services. A pragmatic, outcome-oriented approach to technical decision-making. Interest in emerging engineering approaches, including AI-assisted development and platform automation. Passion for engineering excellence and using technology to deliver meaningful public-sector outcomes. 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