Position Summary

The Assistant Director / Senior Manager, Strategic Planning, Research & Partnerships will support the planning and delivery of NSCC 3.0, Singapore’s next-generation national advanced computing, AI and scientific computing platform.

The role will be responsible for strategic planning, research and analysis, project management, policy paper development, stakeholder engagement, and strategic partnerships. The officer will work closely with internal technical, finance, operations and corporate teams, as well as external stakeholders including R&D researchers, Institutes of Higher Learning, public research institutions, government agencies, industry partners, cloud providers and international HPC centres.

This is a strategic and execution-oriented role. The successful candidate must be able to translate complex technical, policy and funding issues into clear analysis, practical recommendations, and well-written papers for senior management, Board, Steering Committee and government stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

1. NSCC 3.0 Strategic Planning

Develop and support NSCC 3.0 strategic plans, including capacity planning, service model design, resource allocation, pricing, funding, governance, user enablement and partnership strategies.

Conduct horizon scanning and benchmarking of global HPC, AI infrastructure, cloud, sovereign compute, research infrastructure and advanced computing trends.

Analyse how national R&D priorities, AI for Science, agentic AI, digital twins, scientific simulation, secure data workflows and emerging technologies should shape NSCC’s future compute strategy.

Translate strategic direction into actionable workplans, implementation roadmaps, milestones and decision papers.

2. Research, Analysis and Evidence Building

Carry out structured research and analysis to support NSCC 3.0 planning and policy decisions.

Develop evidence-based assessments on researcher demand, compute requirements, international benchmarks, funding models, cost recovery, capacity scenarios and operating models.

Synthesise information from multiple sources, including researcher engagements, workload data, system utilisation, financial models, global HPC trends, and input from consultants or external experts.

Prepare concise analytical summaries, options papers, planning assumptions, risk assessments and recommendations for senior management.

3. Policy Papers and Senior Management Writing

Draft and refine high-quality policy papers, Board papers, Steering Committee papers, management briefs, funding proposals, consultation notes and presentation materials.

Convert complex technical and policy issues into clear, structured and persuasive narratives for non-technical and senior decision-making audiences.

Ensure papers are well-organised, evidence-based, concise, internally consistent and aligned with NSCC’s strategic position.

Support responses to government agencies, funding bodies, institutional stakeholders and strategic partners.

4. Project and Programme Management

Manage NSCC 3.0 planning and implementation workstreams, including timelines, deliverables, dependencies, risks, issues and follow-up actions.

Coordinate across internal teams including Planning, Technical Operations, Finance, Procurement, Legal, Corporate Communications and User Services.

Track progress against agreed milestones and prepare regular updates for management.

Support project governance, meeting preparation, secretariat functions, action tracking and decision follow-through.

Ensure project plans are realistic, well-documented and executed with discipline.

5. Researcher and Stakeholder Engagement

Engage R&D researchers, Principal Investigators, research programme leads, Institutes of Higher Learning, A*STAR research entities, government agencies and other national R&D stakeholders to understand future compute needs.

Facilitate discussions on scientific workflows, AI training, inference, simulation, data movement, storage, secure compute, priority access and allocation models.

Translate researcher needs into planning inputs for NSCC 3.0 capacity, services, allocation policy and partnership models.

Support workshops, roundtables, consultations and structured engagement sessions with the R&D ecosystem.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline such as Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Science, Economics, Public Policy, Business, Technology Management or a related field.
• For Senior Manager: preferably 5–8 years of relevant experience in strategic planning, policy, programme management, research administration, technology planning, partnerships, consulting, public sector planning or R&D ecosystem roles.
• For Assistant Director: preferably 8–12 years of relevant experience, with demonstrated ability to lead complex workstreams, influence stakeholders and produce senior-level papers.
• Strong analytical ability, with experience synthesising complex information into clear findings, options and recommendations.
• Excellent written communication skills, with proven ability to draft policy papers, management papers, briefing notes or strategic proposals.
• Strong presentation skills, with ability to communicate clearly to senior management, technical teams and external stakeholders.
• Strong project management skills, with ability to manage timelines, milestones, risks, dependencies and multiple concurrent priorities.
• Good stakeholder engagement skills, with ability to work across government, research, academic, technical and industry stakeholders.
• Meticulous, structured and organised, with strong attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently in ambiguous situations and develop practical recommendations.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Experience in HPC, AI infrastructure, cloud computing, research infrastructure, digital infrastructure, data platforms, R&D planning or science and technology policy.
• Understanding of Singapore’s RIE ecosystem, public research funding, universities, public research institutions and national technology priorities.
• Experience supporting Steering Commitee, senior management, government or funding papers.
• Experience in strategic partnerships, business development, industry collaboration, public-private partnerships, or international research collaborations.
• Ability to understand technical concepts such as GPU/CPU infrastructure, AI workloads, scientific simulation, cloud access, storage, networking, data governance and secure compute at a planning and policy level.
• Experience with financial analysis, cost modelling, funding proposals, capacity planning, benchmarking or cost recovery models would be advantageous.
• Postgraduate degree in a relevant field would be an advantage but is not mandatory.

Key Competencies

• Strategic thinking and systems-level planning.
• Strong analytical judgement and evidence-based reasoning.
• Excellent writing and policy formulation skills.
• Clear and confident presentation skills.
• Strong project planning and execution discipline.
• Good interpersonal and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to translate technical issues into policy, funding and management implications.
• Ability to manage ambiguity and competing priorities.
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• Collaborative, proactive and outcomes-driven work style.

• Strategic thinking and systems-level planning.
• Strong analytical judgement and evidence-based reasoning.
• Excellent writing and policy formulation skills.
• Clear and confident presentation skills.
• Strong project planning and execution discipline.
• Good interpersonal and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to translate technical issues into policy, funding and management implications.
• Ability to manage ambiguity and competing priorities.
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• Collaborative, proactive and outcomes-driven work style.