Assistant Director, Strategic Planning Division (SPD)

About the role

The Assistant Director leads a team in the Strategic Planning Division (SPD) of SWDA, shaping its strategic direction and policy positions across SWDA, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) family and Singapore's jobs-and-skills ecosystem. The role drives strategy, informs policies and programmes, monitors trends, develops cross-cluster strategies and brings together workforce, skills, employer and economic perspectives to inform government decision-making.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the development and coordination of Career Health and other organisation-wide strategies across SWDA, MOM and WOG stakeholders, including new operating paradigms, training and employment service providers, and strategic pivots such as TCE ecosystem development, private provider leverage, AI strategy and labour reallocation.
• Represent SWDA's strategic positions in WOG forums and engagements with MOM and other ministries.
• Lead the formulation and review of Career Health policies and programmes, assessing trade-offs between policy objectives, feasibility and fiscal sustainability, and incorporating evaluation findings and stakeholder views into recommendations for senior management.
• Oversee the Career Health evaluation plan, outcomes framework and outcome tracking and reporting to MOM and MOFCo.
• Guide the team in supporting Budget/COS speeches, PQs, Cabinet memos and management reports, and set up and review processes and SOPs for key platforms such as PS/Min-SWDA meetings and staffing at the Jobs & Skills, Economic and Social Forums.
• Coordinate Budget/COS and PQ inputs across SWDA and with ministries through the secretariat pool and SPD team.

Required profile

• At least 8 years of public sector experience and in leading teams, preferably in strategic planning or policy.
• Understanding of labour market, workforce development and employment policies, including WOG roles and interdependencies.
• Strong influencing and consensus-building skills, with the ability to engage senior leaders, ministries and industry stakeholders without formal authority.
• Sound judgement on when to push for alignment, compromise or escalate, and comfort in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

Required skills

• Ability to synthesise complex economic, workforce and policy issues into coherent narratives and recommendations.
• Systems thinking and the ability to assess trade-offs across policy objectives, implementation and resource constraints.
• Familiarity with strategic foresight, data analytics and AI applications is preferred.

Successful candidates receive a contract initially, which may be extended or converted to permanent tenure. Candidates are encouraged to use a Careers & Skills Passport (CSP) account and include their CSP profile in their resume.