Assistant Dir / Snr Assistant Dir (Drugs, Rehabilitation, Immigration Research)

This role is part of MHA’s Civilian Generalist career track. Learn more: https://go.gov.sg/civiliangeneralist The primary function of MHA’s Criminal Justice & Immigration Research Directorate (CJIRD) is to provide evidence-driven research support in the domains of criminal justice, safety, gambling, drugs, rehabilitation and immigration to help drive MHA’s key policy initiatives and development in these domains. CJIRD’s work facilitates the achievement of various Home Team desired outcomes. Within CJIRD, the Drugs, Rehabilitation & Immigration Research Team focuses on the domains of drug control, offender rehabilitation and immigration. The job holder is responsible for: • Conducting research on issues related to illicit drugs, offender rehabilit0ation and immigration; • Managing research partnerships with external researchers; • Supervising the day-to-day work performed by junior MX officers in the Drugs, Rehabilitation & Immigration Research Team; and • Serving as co-deskhead for the Immigration & Checkpoint Authority (ICA) on statistical and research matters. Responsibilities Research: To conduct research on issues related to illicit drugs, offender rehabilitation and immigration in support of MHA’s key policy initiatives and development. The types of research activities that the Job Holder will be required to undertake include: • Conducting data-driven policy research studies, including experimental and quasi-experimental studies to establish the causal impacts of policies, as well as cost-benefit analysis of major MHA initiatives; and • Analysing international trends and developments in overseas jurisdictions’ approaches. Research Partnerships: The Job Holder will be tasked with managing research partnerships with external researchers, including an ongoing multi-year partnership with an international organisation in the area of drug-related research. Supervisory Responsibilities: The Job Holder will be tasked with supervising 3 MX officers. Home Team Department Deskhead: To serve as co-deskhead for ICA on research and statistical matters. Responsibilities include conducting audits of key ICA statistics. Regular Trends and Statistics Reporting: To produce regular reports on key trends and statistics to help MHA senior management in sense making. Requirements • Have at least 8 years of relevant working experience. Past professional experience in a research role with supervisory duties is preferred; • Have a good Degree in statistics, economics, data science, sociology, psychology or other related disciplines. Post-graduate qualifications would be an advantage; • Able to process and analyse data and information and derive conclusions from patterns and trends based on sound reasoning. Familiarity with analysing large administrative datasets would be an advantage; • Proficient in using statistical analysis or business analytical software tools such as SPSS, STATA, R and Python; • Have good project management skills – able to manage timeline and contractual details effectively; • Have good writing and conceptualisation skills; • Have good interpersonal and communication skills and be able to collaborate effectively with other MHA-HQ divisions, Home Team Departments and external agencies on research studies and reviews; and • Have a good sense of perspective and judgment, possess the socio-political sensitivity to develop a holistic appreciation of situations.