Deputy Director (Community Relations)

Are you passionate about developing policies and plans to foster cohesion and promote racial and religious harmony in Singapore? Join us to build meaningful partnerships and co-develop policies and plans to strengthen social cohesion. We seek an experienced Deputy Director to lead policy development and strategic planning efforts to strengthen Singapore's social fabric through community partnerships, racial and religious harmony, and social cohesion efforts. This role offers the opportunity to shape policies that foster understanding and unity across Singapore's diverse communities.

Policy Development: Lead a team of policy officers to develop and review policies related to racial and religious harmony, including frameworks for ethnic-based self-help organisations, places of worship, religious worker arrangements, and community dispute management. Strategic Planning and Operations: Drive divisional work plan development and target setting processes, manage performance tracking systems to monitor objectives and outcomes to advance our social cohesion goals. Lead learning and development initiatives for officers across the Division and support operational policy functions to enhance divisional effectiveness. Stakeholder Engagement and Relationship Management: Build and maintain strategic relationships with key community organisations, religious groups, inter-faith leaders and community youth leaders. Facilitate dialogue and collaboration across diverse community stakeholders to promote racial and religious understanding. Manage the Harmony Fund to support ground-up initiatives to promote understanding between races and religions. International Engagement: Oversee Singapore's response to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and other relevant international platforms. Coordinate preparation of national reports and monitor international developments in promoting racial and religious harmony. Host incoming visitors keen to understand Singapore’s model of racial and religious harmony. Secretariat Roles: Provide secretariat support to national-level platforms focused on racial and religious harmony, to ensure cross-agency coordination on initiatives and policy alignment towards social cohesion and harmony.

Work Experience: • At least 10 years, with 3-5 years of supervisory experience • Experience in policy development, strategic planning and community engagement roles preferred. Competency Requirements: • Clear Thinking and Writing: Ability to think strategically and express ideas clearly and concisely in writing, with confidence in preparing, staffing and vetting policy recommendations to senior leadership. • Policy and Planning: Able to understand complex issues, apply systems thinking and develop innovative and comprehensive solutions. • Stakeholder Engagement: Strategically identify, analyse, and prioritise stakeholders across diverse domains, developing targeted engagement approaches. Build and maintain effective relationships with varied stakeholders, demonstrating cultural sensitivity and aligning partnerships with policy and organisational goals. Personality Traits: • Strategic thinker will strong inter-personal and communication skills. • Proven ability to lead teams and drive organisational objectives • Passionate about working with different ethnic and religious groups and committed to uniting Singaporeans of all walks of life. This role is ideal for individuals who are driven to make a meaningful impact on Singapore's social fabric through thoughtful policy operations and community engagement. If you are ready to contribute to building a more inclusive and united Singapore, we welcome you to join our team.