Who we are
Open Government Products is an in-house team 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. This includes everything from building better frontend applications for citizens, to automating the internal operations of public agencies. We use and release open source software, keep a flat hierarchy, and bypass bureaucracy to focus on delivery. We work on real problems, build for the user, and push for change.
On the Financial and Anti-Scam (Finscam) Vertical, your primary role is to manage engineering teams and ensure the success of the following products:
Parking.sg - a mobile application developed to allow drivers to pay for their parking sessions digitally as an alternative to paper coupons. It can be used at all non-gantry public carparks managed by URA and HDB.
RedeemSG - a voucher system that helps government agencies easily create, issue, and track the redemption of vouchers. It also bridges merchants and residents for effortless acceptance and spending of Government-issued vouchers.
PaySG - a Whole-of-Government trusted platform that makes it easy for Singapore government agencies to accept online payments from individuals and businesses.
DistributeSG - a distribution system used by Singapore Government agencies to track the distribution of items. It comprises a Mobile/Web Application that agency officers use to track items issued to individuals or households and an Admin Portal that provides dashboarding and report generation for agencys use to facilitate the smooth redemption of items.
Postman - a simple, secure messaging system for government agencies and officers to send official communications to members of the public by SMS or email, serving as a trusted way for the public to receive official messages.
Scamshield - a product suite that defends against scams, and was developed by Open Government Products in collaboration with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC). It consists of iOS and Android mobile applications used by members of public to report scam messages and calls.
Pair - an AI-based product suite for the government, designed to help public officers increase their productivity with the use of Large Language Models (LLMs).
An overview of other OGP products can be found on our website https://open.gov.sg
What the role is
As a Senior Engineering Manager, your job is to build, nurture, and enable a strong engineering team. You will be in charge of balancing staffing and resourcing allocation with delivery expectations, provide career guidance and performance management for their reports, and help to foster successful group dynamics to accomplish the teams mission. You will also be responsible for tracking, enabling, and developing the skills and careers of individual contributors and engineering managers. You are ultimately responsible for making sure the engineers themselves are well developed, cared for, and utilized.
Responsibilities include:
Develop the capabilities of your engineering team through mentorship, training opportunities, and actionable feedback.
Lead and mentor a team of engineers and engineering managers, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Work closely with the Product Managers to proactively identify, initiate, and build worthwhile products for the Singapore Government to pursue.
Design processes to allow the team to collaborate efficiently with high product standards and good engineering.
Provide hands-on technical guidance and mentorship for engineers and product teams.
Identify strong engineering candidates, reach out to them, and convince them to join the team.
Positively influence product and organisational direction, beyond the scope of their own reports and products
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.
Who we are looking for
We work mostly in JavaScript. However, we dont require experience in any specific programming language or technology. Core competency in at least one language and the ability to learn is what matters to us.
We look for people who:
Has solid experience building software without losing touch due to seniority
Drive to solve problems that benefit the public coupled with strong principles and values - we are public servants, we serve the public. This means you will have to develop empathy for users problems and push back against misguided policies that go against public interest.
Are comfortable leading people - you will need to develop engineers careers, motivation, culture, and their overall effectiveness as a team. You will also need to work closely with cross functional leads across product, design, ops and policy to build teams and shape the strategy of a problem space.
Are confident in making technical decisions - you understand the tradeoffs between multiple approaches to implementing a given system, committing to one, and mitigating the drawbacks of that approach.
Can organize complicated projects, while communicating clearly - you can keep track of vague requirements with many dependencies and break them down into clear objectives with understandable steps. You can communicate clearly what the plans and goals of a project are.
Are comfortable dealing with ambiguity and leading from the front in a fast-paced environment. Experience working at high growth organisations (e.g. pre-seed startup to Series A) is a bonus.
Able to design simple solutions that tackle the problem - you are able to think from first principles about what is the problem at hand. You will also be able to design simple solutions to citizens problems, trimming down unnecessary complexity where possible.
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.
Overall, we look for people who have ability, initiative, good communication, and strong values.
