Executive Director, Advocacy

The Executive Director, Advocacy & Policy serves three roles:
- Shape government policies by leading and overseeing all advocacy and policy initiatives of the SBF as the voice of businesses in Singapore. You will play a pivotal role in shaping the national business landscape and driving policy changes that benefit our members and the broader business community, in partnership with the other Trade Associations & Chambers.
- Align secretariat plans by coordinating the whole-of-SBF corporate planning and reporting process to the SBF Council (Board equivalent), and partner HR and Finance to drive organisational change.
- Incubate new programmes, platforms and/or public-private partnerships that play to the strength of SBF, build internal capabilities and bring value to the business community, with a view to mainstream them into SBF’s programme/ product offering.

**Responsibilities**:
As part of the Senior Management Team reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the primary responsibilities of this role are:
Shape Government Policy
- Monitor legislative and regulatory developments at the national and international level, analyzing their potential impact on businesses and developing proactive positions.
- Oversee the research and survey unit, ensuring the team conducts rigorous research, analysis, and data collection to develop insightful products that inform policy development and advocacy efforts. Existing products include the SBF National Business Survey, SME Internationalisation Index, and flash polls on the national budget and wage recommendations.
- Foster strong relationships with key stakeholders, including government agencies, industry associations, think tanks, and other business chambers, to enhance collaboration and influence policy outcomes that promote business growth, innovation, and competitiveness nationally and internationally.
- Represent the organization and its trade associations in high-level meetings, conferences, and public forums to promote our policy positions and advance the interests of the business community.

Align Secretariat Plans
- Conduct regular reviews of SBF’s strategic alignment, programmatic and product offerings, and outreach channels to ensure SBF’s relevance to the business community.
- Provide timely updates on corporate KPIs/OKRs to SBF Council to track progress, milestones, and achievements.
- Serve as custodian of SBF workplan cycle and structure processes to coordinate whole-of-SBF envisioning and workplan discussion annually.

Incubate New Programmes
- Identify new growth areas where SBF can create value for the business community through partnerships with ecosystem players.
- Currently, this includes the Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Coordination Office to drive adoption of corporate purpose amongst the business community and the Progressive Wage Mark Admin Office that oversees the issuance of PW Mark certification.

**Job Requirements**
- A good degree in Policy Studies, Business, Economics or a relevant discipline.
- At least 15 years of working experience in the public or private sector on policy and planning related to businesses.
- Acute understanding of the key concerns and challenges of the Singapore business community, especially our SMEs.
- A passion for helping businesses grow.
- A good understanding of Government’s policies, programmes and schemes for businesses, and Government regulations that impact businesses.
- Good knowledge of strategic and corporate planning, and the setting of corporate KPIs.
- Results-oriented with multi-tasking capabilities.
- Excellent qualitative, quantitative and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to express complex issues simply and logically.