Unit Head, Human Resource and Finance, Office for Research

About the role

The National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore's national teacher education institute, is recruiting a Unit Head for its Human Resource and Finance (HRF) team in the Office for Research. The Unit Head leads a team overseeing HR, finance, administrative and research support processes, plays a lead role in research support operations and works closely with institutional stakeholders to ensure compliance and effective support. This is a contract post until 31 March 2028.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the OfR HRF team in all operations, supervise team members and manage performance.
• Ensure strong internal controls and compliance with HR and financial policies and institutional guidelines.
• Oversee HR processes including faculty matters (appointment, reappointment, appraisal, promotion) and research staff appointment, reappointment and temporary staffing, including alignment for ERFP and Non-ERFP grant hiring.
• Provide HR advisory, liaise with NIE HRD and programme offices, and oversee faculty mentoring (ERS/SERS/PERS).
• Oversee research funding, 5th tranche funding and OfR funding, and support 6th tranche proposal budget planning; liaise with NIE Finance and MOE.
• Support procurement, budgeting, claims processing and financial reporting, and act as Delegation of Authority for research and non-research expenditure where required.
• Provide financial consultations to Principal Investigators, update SOPs, ServiceNow articles and financial guidelines, monitor ERFP KPIs and drive process improvement, including using AI where appropriate.
• Support change management, shared services with Research Centres, OfR events and other duties assigned by the reporting officer.

Required profile

• University degree.
• At least 5 to 8 years of administrative, HR, financial or procurement experience.
• Meticulous, with good analytical, interpersonal, communication, writing and organisation skills.
• A motivated team leader able to collaborate across teams, solve problems under tight deadlines, and handle confidential information with integrity.

Required skills

• Proficiency in Excel and MS Word.