About this Principal Manager, Strategic Foresight (FO) role at Singapore Public Service
[What the role is]
Support Chief Futures by developing, adapting and applying practical foresight methods for SWDA's Futures Office (FO) and conducting horizon scanning and evidence synthesis; and supporting the production of futures briefs, working arguments, discussion memos and other analytical products. The role structures uncertainty, designs analytical approaches and facilitates futures work across Work, Workers, Workforces and Workplaces, so that FO products are methodologically sound, credible and useful for leadership deliberation, strategic planning and institutional response design.[What you will be working on]
Horizon scanning and signal gathering
Monitor developments across Work, Workers, Workforces and Workplaces, to identify signals relevant to SWDA's mandate and strategic choices.
Scenario and futures framing
Structure weak signals, trends and uncertainties into scenarios, strategic questions, working arguments and institutional options, to improve leadership deliberation.
Futures product production support
Support preparation of futures briefs, decks, podcasts, consultation materials and leadership-facing notes, in order to translate FO analysis into usable products.
Futures consultation and facilitation
Design and facilitate internal and external consultations, cross-divisional workshops and deliberation sessions, to test assumptions and translate insights into actionable implications.
Foresight method design
Develop and adapt practical methods, templates and analytical routines for FO products, to make futures work consistent, credible and usable across SWDA.
Capability building
Build futures literacy and practical foresight capability among relevant officers, in order to embed long-range analytical capability across SWDA.
Knowledge infrastructure
Maintain the concepts log, signal register and reference infrastructure, to preserve analytical continuity and enable retrieval across FO products.
In this role, you can expect:
- To make futures methods practical rather than theoretical, translating futures and foresight methods into usable tools for SWDA's context rather than abstract frameworks;
- To structure uncertainty without creating false certainty, helping stakeholders examine possibilities, assumptions and trade-offs without treating scenarios as predictions;
- To facilitate across functions with different mandates, designing conversations that help policy, planning, research and operational teams contribute without blurring ownership of decisions; and
- To build capability while delivering outputs, supporting immediate FO products while also building methods and literacy for the longer term.
[What we are looking for]
The required competencies to execute the job duties proficiently:
- Relevant qualifications in public policy, economics, social sciences, futures/foresight, strategy, organizational development, analytics, systems thinking, design, technology or related disciplines.
- Experience in foresight, strategic planning, policy design, organizational transformation, systems analysis, facilitation or research methods.
- Experience designing workshops, analytical frameworks or executive-level facilitation would be advantageous.
- Exposure to public sector workforce, skills, employment or economic policy would be advantageous.
- Strategic foresight methods, scenario thinking and uncertainty framing.
- Strong facilitation and workshop design skills. Systems thinking and ability to connect issues across domains.
- Ability to translate ambiguous signals into practical decision questions and analytical products.
- Ability to use AI-supported horizon scanning and evidence synthesis tools responsibly to strengthen futures analysis.
- Executive writing and visual structuring of complex methods.
- Stakeholder engagement and influence across policy, planning, research and operational functions
Successful candidates will be offered a contract until 31 December 2028.
Candidates are encouraged to sign up for a Careers & Skills Passport (CSP) account and include your CSP public profile in your resume. Please check out www.myskillsfuture.gov.sg for details on the CSP.
