Head of Product, Open Government Products

Who we are

We’re a 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. Our end goal is that through our work, Singapore becomes a model of how governments can use technology to improve the public good. You can check out the results of our latest hackathon at hack.gov.sg.

Products we’ve built

You can read about all our products at open.gov.sg/products. A few examples:

• Covid-19 vaccination system – Book vaccine appointments at clinics nationwide
• Data.gov.sg – Open data repository with real-time APIs
• Parking.sg – Pay for parking and extend your time-slot in seconds
• FormSG – Form manager that has eliminated most paper forms in government, with pioneered zero-knowledge features
• Isomer – Static government websites at a fraction (10%) of the cost

What does a Head of Product do?

As a Head of Product, your job will be to:

• Hire, train, & manage a team of around ~30 product managers to build good products across a wide range of government spaces
• Set product standards for speed, quality, and impact
• Communicate these standards and hold teams accountable
• Assess the opportunity, velocity, and traction of new and existing products and guide resourcing decisions accordingly
• Work with leaders from engineering, design, policy, and operations to guide product teams to success

What is it like working here?

• Working for Public Good - We care about making an impact on public good. For the Product Management team, this means working directly on the biggest opportunities out there. This also means creating what’s best-in-class, and then propagating these practices widely across the government so that the Singapore Government is equipped to deliver the best impact possible to our people.
• Rapid Prototyping - We’re not about building too-big-to-fail ideas, or getting stuck behind existing ways of doing things or mega projects. Instead of spending too much time debating ideas, we prefer to test them and iterate rapidly. This means being clear on what we’re trying to achieve, leaning forward to farm for dissent and feedback, prototyping early, and scaling what works quickly.
• Ownership - We are not here just to keep existing processes running, but to make an impact toward public good. This means taking ownership of problems, figuring out what needs to be done, and keep going until the problems are solved, regardless of job scope or existing ways of doing things.
• Growth Mindset - We focus on making better than they are today. This means that we are constantly working on new things and new areas, and reinventing the areas we are already ‘good’ at to get better. Working here means having a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed one, and leaning forward to try things, make mistakes, and learn.

We need someone who can

• Bring products from 0 to 1. We’re continually launching new products across the government, so you have to be comfortable with identifying product opportunities, rapid prototyping, and quickly finding product market fit.
• Bureaucracy hack their way through government. While our team has a lot of autonomy, getting things done in government requires building critical relationships and exploiting bureaucratic vulnerabilities.
• Be hands on with engineering and design. We’re a team of practitioners and our most effective leaders are able to get into the details.
• Work by coaching and supporting others. We function more like a VC than a company. While you will have to be directive sometimes, most of our success comes from building an environment and growing a team who can do good product work autonomously.

We’re looking for someone who can grow into the role! You’re encouraged to apply even if you don’t match the exact description.