[NSCS] Head (Policy 3)

What the role is:
The role will give you the opportunity to strengthen:

• Critical Thinking: You will guide your team to keep abreast of national security developments and synthesise information across domains (geopolitical, economic, social, environment etc.) to identify and analyse cross-cutting national security risks. These include economic security risks, digital security risks, concentration risks, and inter-dependency risks.

• Systems Thinking: You will guide your team to integrate analysis of external developments with assessments of Singapore’s vulnerabilities and recommend the best way to structure the Whole-of-Government response to the risk. This will require you to suggest constructive solutions which balance policy considerations across domains. This also means contributing to the full policy value-chain from strategic planning to implementation.

• Influence: You will guide your team to mobilise colleagues from a wide range of agencies, with different mandates and policy considerations, to work with you on the overall risk assessment. You will need to build consensus on the risk level Singapore can live with and the Whole-of-Government action needed to mitigate the risks. This will require you to build extensive networks across domains, and develop a deep understanding of their considerations.

What you will be working on:
You will supervise a team of 2-3 officers to:

• Hunt for Singapore’s cross-cutting vulnerabilities, in the area of social resilience, that could be exploited/ disrupted and build shared risk pictures (through data analysis and/ or policy analysis) to inform decision-making by public sector leaders.

• Drive inter-agency collaboration, fostering mutual understanding and trust among officers from other agencies to shape cohesive Whole-of-Government responses. This could involve putting forth recommendations to achieve better national outcomes through balancing differing policy objectives.

• Use data analysis to support the development of shared risk pictures and evidence-based recommendations.

You will also individually handle complex and sensitive policy pieces that cut across NSCS’s work.

What we are looking for:
• At least one year of experience in policy supervisory roles preferred, but not required;
• Comfortable with drawing policy insights from data, and vice versa;
• Intellectual curiosity, and clear logical and systems thinking;
• Excellent writing skills to deliver analyses synthesising information from multiple domains;
• Experience engaging multiple agencies and stakeholders, with skills to listen empathetically, sense dynamics, and persuade across agencies and seniority levels to achieve desired outcomes;
• Ability to move between macro and micro perspectives;
• An intuitive grasp of Singapore’s security imperatives;
• Ability to work in a dynamic environment and pick up new skills/domain knowledge;
• Proactive, articulate, purpose-driven, persistent, and patient;
• Comfortable with ambiguity and autonomy

About National Security Coordination Secretariat
The National Security Coordination Secretariat’s mission is to build a shared picture of cross-cutting national security risks, and mobilise the multi-agency effort needed to mitigate risks.

We work to secure Singapore against risks in any domain that could compromise Singapore’s survival and success. This includes vulnerabilities to disruptions to day-to-day life, social divisions, and coercion to act against our national interest. Such risks impact multiple sectors and require multi-sector responses to effectively mitigate risks to Singapore.