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Policy & Transformation Specialist

  • On-site
    • Singapore, Central Singapore, Singapore
  • Policy

Job description

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 & Transformation Specialist do?

The P&T team helps Open Government Product (OGP) product teams and the larger organisation navigate and influence the Singapore government to maximise our collective impact on the public good and transform the Singapore government to be more high-performing.

P&T Specialists do this in five areas:

1. P&T as a product enabler

P&T specialists are domain experts of a given product or problem space. They work as part of product teams to:

  • Gain access to the right agencies and decision-makers

  • Preemptively identify and circumvent policy blockers,

  • Ground the product roadmaps and visions in solving public problems,

  • Communicate the nuances of policy to product teams and the technicalities of product development to bureaucrats, and

  • Align resources, regulatory levers and government leadership consensus - to achieve product success, policy outcomes, all to improve the lived experiences of citizens and public servants


2. P&T as solution provider

P&T specialists use their strategic view of a problem space to:

  • Identify where new/reimagined policies could solve the problem, at times independent from Product.

  • Discern policy solutions and nurture collaborations and partnerships with external stakeholders and leadership to execute policies to reshape the space to achieve the public good objectives of that problem space


3. P&T as a propagator for OGP products, practices and policies
P&T specialists get buy-in from agency/government leaders to expand the use of OGP’s products and/or implement its operating practices in other agencies to help them become more high performing.

To achieve this, P&T specialists:

  • Identify, conceptualise, execute and track high-impact public service platforms to propagate OGP’s practices and products where agencies can learn and implement OGP’s product suite and deliver more effective processes for public officers and citizens

  • Reframe agencies’ structures, performance culture, hiring, skills etc.

This also ignites a cultural shift and buy-in for OGP’s approach across Government and beyond.


4. P&T as an enabler of OGP’s corporate goals and public service mission
P&T specialists:

  • Navigate and influence the government in support of OGP’s corporate goals (e.g. maintaining our structure, performance management, financing, manpower, propagation mandate etc.) by e.g. liaising with SNDGO (OGP’s parent ministry) and GovTech, engaging with MOF for OGP manpower/funding, and effectively engaging with OGP’s Supervisory Panel.

  • Create learning and exposure opportunities to ensure that OGP officers have access to the most impactful problems in government and how to work through government to solve these (e.g. fireside chats, learning journeys and public service onboarding).


5. P&T as a “forward scout”

P&T specialists find and evaluate new domains and problem spaces for OGP product teams to address. Once new spaces have seeded teams, P&T explores if/how seeded teams can grow (i.e. multiple products, verticals, and embedded teams), thrive with their stakeholders, and maximise their impact in their domain.

Job requirements

Who we are looking for

If you have a passion to improve the lives of Singaporeans and possess the requisite attitudes, knowledge and skills, we invite you to apply for this challenging and rewarding role as a Policy & Transformation Specialist at OGP.


Attitudes

  • Empathy and an insatiable drive to improve the lives of Singaporeans
  • Curiosity to find the ways of doing so
  • Initiative to try these ways independently and
  • Willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done


Knowledge

  • Have either extensive experience working in and/or collaborating with the Singapore Government to drive public good outcomes
  • Have a deep understanding or appreciation for technology and how it can be used to improve lives
  • Able to apply backcasting to a problem space


Skills

  • Possess strategic thinking ability, with an eye for operational details.
  • Able to drive and implement ideas in a changing environment
  • Able to collaborate effectively with people in other parts of government to achieve public good outcomes
  • Have excellent communication, presentation and writing skills, and be prepared to work with tight deadlines
  • Have excellent analytical and quantitative skills - to make meaning out of data and translate that into actual changes

Overall we look for people who have ability, initiative, good communication, and an interest in public good.

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I hereby give my consent to Open Government Products, Government Technology Agency (“OGP”) to: Obtain and verify information from or with any source (including third parties) as may be deemed appropriate by OGP and/or any relevant Government agency for the purposes of assessing my application for employment and/or for recommendation to a third party for employment with or engagement by that third party (see below for more information). Share my personal data set out in this application form and any other personal data subsequently provided by me arising out of or in connection with my application for employment with other Government agencies or a third party vendor appointed by OGP for the purposes of recruitment and/or review of recruitment practices, and for such personal data to also be used as part of de-identified and aggregated data for reporting purposes.  

Additionally, where relevant, OGP may share my personal data set out in this application form and any other personal data subsequently provided by me to a third party for that third party to consider employing or otherwise engaging me to undertake work relevant to OGP. I understand and acknowledge that the collection, use and/or disclosure of such personal data may also be subject to that third party’s privacy terms. I declare that all the information given by me is true to the best of my knowledge and voluntarily given.   By clicking the 'Apply' button, I hereby certify that I have read and understood all of the clauses above and that I agree to all of them.