Policy Specialist (Senior Manager / Assistant Director)

Who we are

Open Government Products is primarily an in-house team of engineers, designers, and product managers who build technology for the public good. We proactively identify areas where technology can help, test our prototypes with actual users, and bring our best ones to launch. This includes everything from building better frontend applications for citizens, to automating the internal operations of public agencies. We use and release open source software, keep a flat hierarchy, and bypass bureaucracy to focus on delivery. We work on real problems, build for the user, and push for change.

Projects we have worked on include:

Covid-19 Vaccination National Appointment System - A suite of systems built to enable Singapore's national vaccination campaign for Covid-19. This includes informational sites, appointment booking systems, and records management systems.

Data.gov.sg - An open repository of all the Singapore Government's public data. It helps people understand the data using visualizations and articles, and provides real-time APIs for developers to use.

Parking.sg - A mobile app alternative to parking coupons. It lets users pay, extend, and refund their parking sessions just using their phones.

FormSG - A form builder tool for agencies to self-service and create online forms that capture classified data, with the goal of replacing paper forms.

Isomer - Isomer provides government agencies with an easy-to-deploy static website building and hosting service to create usable, secure and faster informational websites quickly.

RedeemSG - RedeemSG helps the Singapore Government to create, send and track redemptions of digital vouchers easily.

PaySG - PaySG was developed to enable digital payments for government services, and was initially used for payments for COVID-19 swab tests and Stay-Home Notices for incoming travellers to Singapore.

An overview of other OGP products can be found on our website https://open.gov.sg

What does a Policy Specialist do?

As a Policy Specialist, you will craft and influence policies (in particular, tech policy) upstream in government to create a favourable regulatory environment for government tech teams to build tech for public good. 

Concretely, your responsibilities can entail:

• Influence policy-making (mostly tech policy, but also potential to influence wider policies that can result in making an agency more high-performing) upstream to create a more favourable regulatory environment / create more public impact, including writing policy proposals for well-defined workstreams.

• Clear roadblocks for products by working effectively with stakeholders

• Education for wider public service officers - reset expectations / redefine what is possible, e.g.

  • Procurement can be significantly accelerated through appropriate tech solutions and process improvements

  • Lines between policy, ops, tech, comms are not permanent hard lines, they should be continuously challenged and negotiated

  • What it means to be truly citizen-centric and user-centric in practice not just in theory

  • How to rally resources by effectively navigating the system

Who we are looking for

We look for people who:

• Possess strategic thinking ability, with an eye for operational details.

• Are able to drive and implement ideas in a changing environment.

• Are independent and self-driven, with the initiative to resolve problems.

• Have excellent analytical and quantitative skills, ability to analyse and make meaning out of data and translate that into actual changes

• Have excellent communication, presentation and writing skills, and be prepared to work with tight deadlines.

• Show the ability to collaborate effectively with people in other parts of government

• Have either extensive experience collaborating with Singapore government agencies, or a deep understanding of tech tools/organisations