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Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment

SENIOR EXECUTIVE/ ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (HAWKER POLICY), EPD

Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment

Permanent/Contract

Closing on 01 Sep 2025

What the role is

At MSE and our family of agencies – PUB, NEA, and SFA – we drive sustainability and resilience initiatives that improve the everyday lives of Singaporeans. As part of the MSE Family, you will be at the forefront of innovation, leading efforts to safeguard water resources, protect public health, and ensure food safety. Through partnerships across sectors, we tackle evolving challenges while fostering an inclusive, safe, and supportive workplace. Join us in shaping Singapore’s sustainable future and making a lasting impact on the everyday lives of generations to come. Environmental sustainability has underpinned Singapore’s policymaking since our independence. As a small city state with limited natural resources, we had to protect our environment to preserve our longer-term developmental opportunities. As early as the 1970s, we started putting in place policies to do so by managing pollution and conserving our water resources. Today, Singapore is widely recognised as a green and sustainable city, and Singaporeans enjoy clean air, water and environment. Environment sustainability remains a key priority for the government. The Environmental Policy Division evaluates, reviews and formulates environmental and sustainability policies and strategies. This spans a broad range of areas including Environmental Public Health, Hawker Centres and Markets, Environmental Protection, as well as Zero Waste and Circular Economy. We are looking for a Senior Executive/ Assistant Director to be part of the Hawker Policy Team.

What you will be working on

Hawker centres and markets are key icons in many Singaporeans’ daily lives. Hawker policies and issues are close to the hearts of Singaporeans given they are highly impactful, visible, and politically significant. The inscription of Singapore’s Hawker Culture as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage as well as the recent global inflationary pressure on business cost have brought about greater impetus to support and transform the hawker trade, and to ensure that hawker centres and markets can continue to be relevant and serve future generations. As part of the Hawker Policy team within Environmental Policy Division, you will play an important role in the following areas: • Formulating strategic policies and programmes to meet the key hawker policy objectives of: (i) ensuring access to affordable food in a clean environment; (ii) sustaining and developing the hawker trade; and (iii) championing hawker culture and hawker centres as community spaces • Performing research and analysis on environmental policies, both domestic and international, to evaluate and inform policy and programme design and implementation. You will also have the opportunity to contribute to projects on environmental sustainability within the Environment Policy Division.

What we are looking for

• Strong analytical skills. This means you should be able to take an issue and dissect it to identify the specific problems / gaps and develop considered solutions to those problems / gaps • Strong synthesis skills. This means you should be able to draw links / connections between a range of seemingly disparate issues, and frame those issues coherently in a logical and intuitive way • Strong communication skills, both in writing and speaking. This means you are able to be succinct yet precise, by raising only the most pertinent points. It also means that you are able to express your points in a logical manner, where one issue is intuitively related to the next • Ability to work both independently and in teams • Have a passion for and openness to learn. This means taking on board feedback appropriately, being willing to recalibrate, and applying yourself rigorously until you get it right Prior experience in policy development will be an advantage, but not a necessity. We will help you to develop and grow your skillsets which will be useful in advancing your career interests while contributing meaningfully to the betterment of Singapore.

About Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment

The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) is committed to providing Singaporeans with a clean and sustainable environment, and safe and secure supplies of food and water. MSE’s key priorities are to ensure a sustainable, resource-efficient and climate resilient Singapore. Our three strategic directions include economic resilience, resource resilience and climate resilience. We enjoy challenging and diverse careers, which are bound together by the common cause - making Singapore’s living environment among the best in the world. Everyone who works at MSE has a role to play in helping to shape our environment – not just for now, but for generations to come. We are constantly on the lookout for energetic, pro-active and committed individuals to join us. Successful candidates can expect a fulfilling career with competitive remuneration package and comprehensive range of benefits, as well as opportunities for cross-deployment within MSE and our Statutory Boards as part of our holistic career development. To learn more about us, please visit https://www.mse.gov.sg.

About your application process

This job is closing on 01 Sep 2025.

If you do not hear from us within 4 weeks of the job ad closing date, we seek your understanding that it is likely that we are not moving forward with your application for this role. We thank you for your interest and would like to assure you that this does not affect your other job applications with the Public Service. We encourage you to explore and apply for other roles within Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment or the wider Public Service.