Head of Governance and Risk

The Government Technology Agency (GovTech) is the lead agency driving Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives and public sector digital transformation. As the Centre of Excellence for Infocomm Technology and Smart Systems (ICT & SS), GovTech develops the Singapore Government’s capabilities in Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, Application Development, Smart City Technology, Digital Infrastructure, and Cybersecurity. At GovTech, we offer you a purposeful career to make lives better. We empower our people to master their craft through continuous and robust learning and development opportunities all year round. Our GovTechies embody our Agile, Bold and Collaborative values to deliver impactful solutions. GovTech aims to transform the delivery of Government digital services by taking an "outside-in" view, putting citizens and businesses at the heart of everything we do. Play a part in Singapore’s vision to build a Smart Nation and embark on your meaningful journey to build tech for public good. Join us to advance our mission and shape your future with us today! Learn more about GovTech at tech.gov.sg. About Singpass Singpass is Singapore’s national digital identity platform, enabling citizens and businesses to securely access digital services across government and the private sector. As part of Singapore’s critical digital infrastructure, Singpass must remain trusted, resilient and well-governed. As Singpass evolves in scale and complexity, our approach to governance and risk management must evolve alongside it. At Singpass, we believe governance should enable delivery, not slow it down. It should be embedded into how we design, build and operate our products and systems, rather than imposed as a final gate. We are looking for a Head of Governance & Risk to build and lead this capability. The Opportunity This is not a traditional Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) role. You will lead Singpass’ governance, enterprise risk and operational resilience capability, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Security and Operations teams to help Singpass move fast with confidence. Your mission is to ensure Singpass is: • Well-governed. • Operationally resilient. • Continuously audit-ready. • Crisis-prepared. You will champion a shift from reactive compliance to continuous assurance, where governance is embedded into delivery, risks are identified and monitored early, and audit readiness is an outcome of strong daily practices rather than periodic preparation. You will also help shape the future of governance by using automation, data and AI to modernise how risk, compliance and assurance are managed. What you will be working on: 1. Governance & Enterprise Risk. • Develop and continuously improve Singpass’ governance frameworks, decision rights and enterprise risk management practices.. • Maintain a holistic view of Singpass’ risk posture across operational, technology, vendor, policy, regulatory, compliance, data, delivery and reputational domains.. • Ensure risks are identified early, clearly understood, actively managed and owned by the appropriate leaders.. • Support leadership in making informed decisions where risk, control and delivery priorities must be balanced.. 2. Operational Resilience & Crisis Management • Lead Singpass’ business continuity, operational resilience and crisis management programmes.. • Develop and maintain business continuity plans, crisis playbooks, escalation structures and recovery strategies.. • Plan and conduct crisis simulations and resilience exercises to strengthen organisational readiness.. • Ensure lessons from incidents and exercises are translated into sustained operational improvements.. 3. Continuous Assurance & Governance Transformation • Build an organisation that is continuously audit-ready rather than periodically audit-prepared.. • Establish near-real-time visibility into risks, compliance status and control effectiveness through automation, data and modern tooling.. • Use AI and emerging technologies to improve risk detection, control monitoring, assurance and operational oversight.. • Reduce manual processes and recurring compliance effort through automation and reusable controls.. 4. Governance Enablement • Partner with Product, Engineering, Security and Operations teams to embed governance and risk management throughout the product lifecycle.. • Drive a shift-left approach where governance, controls and compliance requirements are considered from design through operations.. • Build governance capability through practical guidance, coaching, standards and reusable patterns.. • Develop a forward-deployed governance model that keeps governance close to delivery while maintaining consistency with GovTech-wide standards 5. Stakeholder Assurance • Provide clear and credible governance and risk reporting to senior leadership, auditors, regulators and oversight bodies.. • Translate complex risk matters into practical options and recommendations for technical and non-technical stakeholders.. • Build confidence that Singpass is responsibly governed, operationally resilient and managing its risks effectively. Who We’re Looking For: We are looking for a builder who believes that a modern governance and risk team should enable innovation rather than constrain it. You should have: • Significant experience leading governance, enterprise risk, operational resilience or related functions within a technology-driven organisation.. • Experience working with large-scale digital platforms, critical services or infrastructure.. • Strong understanding of enterprise governance, risk management, business continuity, crisis management and assurance.. • The ability to communicate complex governance and risk matters effectively and accurately with executives, engineers, auditors and regulators.. • Strong judgement and the ability to balance rigour, pragmatism and delivery speed.. • An interest in modernising governance through automation, data and AI.. Experience in government technology, digital identity, cloud platforms, agile development or continuous compliance will be an advantage. Why Join Us This is an opportunity to build a modern governance and risk capability for one of Singapore’s most important digital platforms. You will do more than write policies or coordinate audits. You will help redefine how governance is practised by embedding it into everyday delivery, strengthening operational resilience, and enabling Singpass to innovate with confidence while maintaining the trust placed in it by its users and partners. If you are excited by the opportunity to build the next generation of governance and risk capabilities for critical digital infrastructure, we would like to hear from you.