Assistant Director / Deputy Director Product Operations (MOE)

How We Think About Product Operations 

Before describing the role, it is worth being clear about our beliefs — because they shape what we hire for, how we measure success, and what kind of leader we are looking for. 

Product Operations exists to make it easier for product teams to deliver citizen-centric outcomes at scale, with precision and reliability. Where Product Managers focus on "what" and "why", Product Operations focuses on "how well" and "how efficiently" we deliver. 

Role Overview 

As an Assistant Director / Deputy Director of Product Operations in DXD (Digital Excellence & Products Division), you are accountable for designing, implementing, and driving adoption of product operations capabilities within a core digital vertical portfolio.  

You are a senior leader who defines the vision and strategy for product operations across a cluster of agencies. You focus on operational excellence at scale — building frameworks that align with organisational strategy and enable efficient, consistent, and impactful product delivery. You partner with executive stakeholders, drive cross-functional alignment, mentor senior talent, and champion a culture of continuous improvement. 

In the GovTech context, this means shifting the organisation from ad-hoc coordination structures to sustained operating cadences — portfolio reviews, cross-agency alignment forums, and scaled feedback systems that continuously inform product strategy across policy cycles and legacy environments. 

Target Portfolio Scope 

You will be accountable for end-to-end product operations across a core digital vertical portfolio or cluster of agencies, which may include: 

• Parents-facing applications and services 
• Teacher professional learning and development platforms 
• Student Learning Space (SLS) and related ecosystem products 
• National placement and registration services (e.g. OnePlacement) 
• Platform & Infrastructure (e.g. Data, AI and Identity Management) 
• HQ functions (e.g. HR and Corporate Finance) 

Within this scope, you will partner closely with business owners (e.g. schools, HQ divisions, Academy of Singapore Teachers) and align with central DXD standards and practices. 

Key Responsibilities 

Organised across the 5 core pillars of Product Ops at GovTech: 

Strategic Partnership 

• Define and drive the Product Ops vision and strategy across a cluster of agencies, partner with executive stakeholders to align operational priorities with agency and Smart Nation objectives 
• Position Product Ops as a force multiplier for PMs — co-owning outcome metrics like PM Strategic Time Index, launch success rates, and Playbook Standardisation Rate 
• Drive development and implementation of operational strategies aligned with the mission of a cluster of agencies, own funding and procurement strategies at the cluster level 
• Drive cross-agency strategies to proactively shape the impact of policy changes on product operations, oversee policy review processes and integrate them with operational frameworks 

Data-Driven Insights 

• Drive a data-driven culture across agencies — championing the use of objective indicators in all governance, tooling, and process decisions 
• Author cross-agency user research initiatives that inform and shape operational strategy at scale 
• Build automated reporting and dashboarding systems that provide real-time visibility to product leadership, implement data governance and quality assurance processes that ensure trusted insights 
• Hold the cluster accountable to the Product Ops scorecard: PM Strategic Time Index, Insights Activation Rate, Collaboration Health Score, Feedback-to-Feature Conversion Rate 

Operational Excellence 

• Drive operational excellence across a cluster of agencies, lead development of cross-agency operating frameworks that enable consistent, high-quality product delivery 
• Champion innovative practices that raise the standard of product performance across the cluster, conduct regular maturity assessments and drive continuous capability uplift 
• Oversee robust risk management and incident management frameworks across agencies, ensuring compliance and operational resilience at scale 
• Develop lightweight, scalable governance frameworks that provide clear product delivery oversight without creating bottlenecks, design quality assurance standards that reduce launch risk 

Voice of Customer 

• Drive user support and engagement optimisation across multiple agencies, improving overall user satisfaction and product adoption 
• Spearhead the design of scaled feedback infrastructure — ensuring user signals from citizens, educators, and students are systematically captured, triaged, and routed to inform product roadmaps 
• Maintain closed-loop feedback processes that visibly connect user input to product decisions across the cluster 

Cross-Functional Orchestration 

• Build and lead high-performing product operations teams across agencies, significantly elevate the function's capabilities at scale 
• Drive cross-functional collaboration and alignment between practice leads on cluster-level operational strategies — ensuring everyone sees the same information and understands their decision rights 
• Serve as a formal mentor to senior product operations talent, actively develop their careers and build the next generation of Product Ops leaders 

What Success Looks Like 

We hold Product Ops leadership to a clear, outcome-oriented scorecard. You will know you are succeeding when: 

• PM Strategic Time Index improves across the cluster — PMs spend more time on strategy, research, and user engagement, and less on coordination overhead 
• Product teams deliver more predictably with clear visibility of risks, dependencies, and progress 
• Launches are smoother across agencies, with fewer last-minute issues, stronger adoption, and measurable reduction in post-launch incidents 
• Product leaders have reliable operational and adoption insights, driven by trusted data, not anecdotes, to support strategic decisions 
• Playbook Standardisation Rate improves — teams across agencies use shared playbooks and templates rather than reinventing processes each cycle 
• Governance enables confidence without unnecessary overhead — lightweight, decision-enabling, not bureaucratic 
• A high-performing, cross-agency Product Ops function is established with consistent standards, strong talent, and measurable citizen-facing impact 

What We Are Looking For 

• Senior Operations Leadership: Proven ability to design, implement, and embed product operations frameworks across multiple agencies or portfolios at scale 
• Pit Crew Leader Mindset: You understand that your job is to make the whole system win — building enabling infrastructure, not owning the product. You measure your success by how much better PMs can do their job 
• Data-Driven Thinking: Advanced fluency in product analytics, metrics framework design, and insight generation — and the ability to build a culture where data shapes decisions at every level 
• Systems Thinking: Demonstrated capability to design scalable solutions that work across complex, multi-agency environments without creating unnecessary process overhead 
• Stakeholder Leadership: Strong ability to influence and align diverse stakeholders — from product teams to executive partners — around operational improvements and strategic direction 
• Organisational Navigation: Comfort operating within government and public-sector constraints, including procurement, policy, inter-agency dynamics, and consensus-building norms 
• People Leadership: Passion for developing high-performing teams, mentoring senior talent, and building collaborative Product Ops communities of practice across GovTech 
• Strategic Mindset: Ability to connect operational excellence to broader product strategy and citizen value — not just execution, but impact at scale 

Education 

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, Engineering, or related fields 
• Master's degree preferred in Business Administration (MBA), Information Systems, or Operations Management 

Experience 

• 10+ years of professional experience in product operations, operations management, or delivery roles 
• Demonstrated senior leadership across multiple product portfolios or agencies, with a track record of building and scaling high-performing operational functions 
• Proven ability to design and implement scalable processes, governance frameworks, and operational standards with cross-agency impact 
• Experience in product-focused, agile, or technology-driven environments 
• Background in educational technology or government digital services is advantageous 

Technical Competencies 

• Advanced proficiency in data analysis and visualisation tools (SQL, Python, Tableau, or similar) 
• Strong understanding of agile methodologies, modern delivery toolchains, and product development workflows 
• Expertise in operational metrics framework design and insight generation 
• Familiarity with common product operations tools and platforms (e.g. Jira, Zendesk, Confluence) 
• Experience with governance design, risk management frameworks, and incident management protocols