Senior Product Designer

Who we are 

Open Government Products is an experimental tech start-up team within government that consists mainly 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. As an experimental team, we have redesigned our organisation to move quickly, fail fast, and scale what works to deliver the maximum public good within a larger bureaucracy. We think about how we run the organisation from first principles, keep a flat hierarchy to maximise ownership, and bypass bureaucracy to focus on delivery of good products through a good organisation. We work on real problems, build for the user, and push for change.

Projects we have worked on include:

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.

Vaccine.gov.sg – The Covid-19 vaccine registration and national appointment system was developed to help people register for the vaccine in order of priority, and help manage supply and demand of vaccines to increase the rate at which Singapore’s population is vaccinated against Covid-19.

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 Senior Product Designer do?

As a senior product designer, you are comfortable with the design processes and can work independently on a project. You are able to scope and prioritise design tasks for yourself and deliver them efficiently. This starts from understanding users needs and the problems they face, to creating intuitive user flows through your application, and polishing the detailed aesthetics and understanding how they make users feel.

On a day to day basis, this means:

• Talking with users to understand their problems

• Identifying appropriate research methods to use and conducting adequate research to drive insights for solving a problem

• Creating personas, user flows, sketches, and information architectures to guide design decisions

• Building mockups and prototypes to illustrate different design approaches

• Testing early designs with users and iterating on their feedback

• Capable of executing the overall aesthetics and visual styles for the product

• Creating detailed user interface specifications

• Guiding engineers in their implementation of your designs

Additionally, more senior designers will be expected to:

• Propose and drive new front-end features independently

• Optimise own design processes to become more efficient and effective

• Mentor junior designers

• Help with recruiting

Digital services are about improving the way people interact with their government. Getting the subtle details right is the difference between an intuitive experience and a frustrating one. As we launch new products, your role will be to ensure that the future of public service is not just functional, but delightful to use.

You will work on meaningful projects that solve problems pertinent to our society, from transportation, to education, to healthcare. The public sector is full of opportunities where even the simplest software can have a big impact on people’s lives. You will have direct ownership of your work with over 70% of our projects starting as ground up initiatives. Rather than work on commercial ventures commonly found in the startup scene, we're here to improve how we live as a society through what we can offer as a government.

We look for people who

Have a demonstrated ability to design products and experiences - Prior work and personal projects count for much more than specific degrees. Ideally, we are looking for candidates with more than 5 years of experience in digital product design.

Have a great visual design sense and an eye for detail - You should have a portfolio that showcases your prior work and be able to explain your design decisions.

Are passionate about user-centered design - We look for experience with user research processes and an understanding of mobile-first and responsive design.

Are proficient with design tools - You need proficiency in Figma and Adobe Creative Suite. Familiarity with HTML/CSS/JS and other web development technologies is a plus.

Communicate well with both users and engineers - You need to be comfortable taking feedback from laymen to inform your designs and then explaining those designs in sufficient detail to engineers for implementation.

Take initiative to make things happen - Our job is to push for change in government, so we need to challenge the status quo and not wait for instruction.

Want to work for the public good - We are public servants, we serve the public. This sometimes means ignoring political pressures and misguided policies. We need people who will push back if something is not in the public interest.

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

What it is like working here

Rapid Prototyping - Instead of spending too much time debating ideas we prefer testing them. This identifies potential problems quickly, and more importantly, conveys what is possible to others easily.

Ownership - In addition to technical responsibilities, this means having opinions on what is being done and having ideas on what should be done next. Building something that you believe in is the best way to build something good.

Continuous Learning - Working on new ideas often means not fully understanding what you are working on. Taking time to learn new architectures, frameworks, technologies, and even languages is not just encouraged but essential.