Assistant Director

[What the role is]

The Singapore Food Agency's mission is to ensure and secure a supply of safe food for Singapore.

The Science and Technology Division (S&T) designs, builds, and refreshes SFA's digital capabilities and systems to enable effective, efficient, and resilient organisation processes.

The candidate will work in the Data Governance and Transformation Department (DGT) under S&T. DGT empowers SFA to become a digitally driven organisation by harnessing data to inform policy development, strategic planning, and operational efficiency. This role is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining a comprehensive data governance framework and enterprise-wide data policies that align with our business objectives and regulatory requirements.

[What you will be working on]

Technical Oversight & Architecture

• Provide comprehensive architectural oversight and technical direction to development teams for digital solution delivery and implementation

• Establish and enforce IT architecture principles with emphasis on system scalability, performance optimisation, service reliability, security-by-design methodologies, and infrastructure resilience

• Champion enterprise architecture best practices and system design standards to ensure consistent technical excellence across projects

• Proactively identify and strategically mitigate technical risks, dependencies, security vulnerabilities, integration challenges, and implementation barriers throughout project lifecycles

• Develop and maintain comprehensive technical documentation including architecture diagrams, security assessments, implementation plans, infrastructure specifications, and network configurations in accordance with government standards and audit requirements

Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate with system owners, data owners, business users, and project managers to develop and implement data architecture and infrastructure solutions

• Serve as the primary technical liaison with Government Technology Agency (GovTech), internal IT divisions, and key stakeholders for system implementations, security reviews, IT infrastructure planning, and technical assessments

• Lead technical architecture discussions and requirements gathering to secure necessary approvals for system deployments, application whitelisting, infrastructure provisioning, and configuration changes

Vendor Management

• Manage vendor relationships and service level agreements while ensuring compliance with government standards and regulatory requirements

• Conduct comprehensive review and validation of vendor deliverables to ensure quality standards and contractual obligations are met

• Maintain accurate documentation systems to support audit requirements and regulatory compliance

• Facilitate coordination and communication between external vendors and internal stakeholders to ensure seamless project delivery

Technical Expertise

• Proven expertise in enterprise cloud platforms (Azure/AWS/GCP) and Singapore Government Cloud (GCC/GDC), with demonstrated expertise in cloud architecture design and implementation and security controls and compliance frameworks
• Proven experience in designing data architectures in dynamic environments, including cloud-based or hybrid data platforms
• Strong knowledge of modern data tools and concepts, including:
• Data warehousing solutions (e.g., Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Synapse).
• Data modeling techniques (star schema, snowflake schema, dimensional modeling).
• Familiarity with data integration tools and the ability to assess and adopt new tools as the platform evolves.
• Proficiency in SQL and one or more scripting languages (Python preferred).
• Ability to bridge business requirements with technical design, keeping both scalability and usability in mind.
• Experience in, or strong knowledge of Singapore Government Cloud (GCC/GDC) architecture, including security boundaries and controls, network architecture, identity and access management and compliance requirements
• Good understanding of Singapore Government IT policies and technical standards, including IM8 policies and security guidelines, digital service delivery standards, technical risk management frameworks, Government procurement processes, and security compliance requirements.
• Demonstrated expertise in enterprise architecture frameworks and industry best practices with focus on cloud-native solutions, system integration patterns and API-driven architectures

[What we are looking for]

• Bachelor's Degree in Data Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related discipline
• Minimum 3 to 5 years of relevant experience in ICT project management and end-to-end deployment of data engineering projects.
• Proven experience with cloud computing platforms (e.g., Azure, AWS) and their data services, with implementation experience on government commercial cloud platforms being highly advantageous.
• Experience working on data engineering, and/or database architectural work with good project management skills such as Agile methodologies
• Experience working on data pipeline: data ETL, data cleaning, data modelling, and feature engineering.
• Strong track record in strategic planning and project delivery, technical solution architecture and risk management and mitigation
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a keen eye for detail
• Good oral and written communications and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively across teams, translate business requirements into technical solutions, and communicate complex concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Be inquisitive and an advocate for best practices and continuous learning to stay abreast of emerging trends and technologies in data governance and management.