Deputy Director - Digital Products & Platforms

[What the role is]

As a senior leader for the SMEs Go Digital (SMEGD) platform, you will set the overall product and platform direction, translate organisational and policy objectives into clear digital strategies, and ensure that Product, Engineering, UX, Data and Delivery capabilities work together effectively to deliver measurable outcomes for SMEs, vendors and internal stakeholders.

You will provide portfolio-level leadership across SMEGD, making strategic portfolio, technology, investment and organisational decisions while balancing user needs, business outcomes, delivery, operational resilience, governance and risk. You will work closely with other digital leaders to align priorities, remove organisational blockers and provide strategic guidance and establish clear accountability across teams.

[What you will be working on]

• Product Strategy & Portfolio Leadership – Define and drive the multi-year product and platform direction for SMEGD, translating policy and business objectives into portfolio priorities, strategic roadmaps and measurable outcomes.
• Portfolio Governance & Investment Prioritisation – Make informed trade-offs across products, capabilities and initiatives, ensuring resources and investments are aligned to organisational priorities and expected outcomes.
• Strategic Product Oversight – Provide portfolio-level direction and constructive challenge across the product portfolio, ensuring teams remain focused on user needs, outcomes, adoption, measurable impact and long-term product sustainability.
• Technology & Platform Leadership – Work closely with Engineering and Architecture leaders on platform strategy, APIs, system integration, cloud and platform choices, technical debt, cybersecurity, resilience, scalability and build-versus-buy decisions.
• Platform Modernisation – Set strategic priorities for platform modernisation and technology investment, ensuring SMEGD remains scalable, maintainable, secure and fit for future needs.
• AI, Data & Innovation – Set the strategic direction for AI-assisted services, GenAI, data platforms, analytics and experimentation, while ensuring appropriate governance, responsible adoption and alignment with organisational priorities.
• Outcome & Performance Management – Establish portfolio-level outcome measures across adoption, service performance, user experience and operational effectiveness
• Stakeholder & Ecosystem Leadership – Work across IMDA leadership, policy and programme teams, DTO, ESG, industry partners and external stakeholders to align priorities, resolve competing needs and drive cross-organisational decisions.
• Operating Model & Organisational Design – Define effective ways of working across Product, Engineering, UX, Data, Operations and Delivery, with clear roles, responsibilities and decision rights.
• People & Leadership Development – Coach and develop other senior digital leaders, build leadership capability and create a culture of accountability, collaboration, constructive challenge and continuous improvement.
• Delivery Health & Risk Oversight – Provide portfolio-level oversight of delivery health, major dependencies, risks and escalations, while empowering product and delivery leaders to own day-to-day execution.
• Vendor & Commercial Leadership – Provide strategic oversight of technology vendors, system integrators and delivery partners, including commercial performance, delivery accountability, capability transfer and major escalations.
• Budget & Resource Management – Manage portfolio-level budgets and resource allocation, ensuring investment decisions maximise value and support organisational priorities.
• Growth, Partnerships & Ecosystem Development – Set strategic direction for SME and vendor adoption, ecosystem development and external partnerships, ensuring these priorities are translated into coordinated initiatives and measurable outcomes.

[What we are looking for]

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Business, or a related field. An MBA or relevant advanced degree would be advantageous.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience in digital product, platform, technology or digital transformation roles, including experience operating at a senior leadership level.
• Proven track record of leading complex digital products, platforms or transformation portfolios in large or complex organisations.
• Strong understanding of modern product management practices, with the ability to provide strategic direction and challenge across product strategy, discovery, UX, experimentation, analytics, adoption and lifecycle management.
• Relevant experience working in modern product and technology environments, with familiarity in Agile delivery, Scrum, product backlogs, epics, user stories, acceptance criteria, sprint planning, backlog refinement, release management and software development lifecycles, as well as commonly used product and delivery tools such as Jira and Confluence.
• Strong technology literacy, including a good understanding of software architecture, APIs, system integration, cloud platforms, cybersecurity, scalability, resilience and technical debt.
• Good understanding of AI, GenAI, data platforms, analytics and experimentation, with the ability to assess strategic opportunities, risks and investment priorities.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to operate effectively with senior management, government agencies, business stakeholders, industry partners and external vendors.
• Strong people leadership and coaching capabilities, with experience developing senior leaders and building effective multidisciplinary organisations.
• Strong commercial and vendor management experience, including the ability to manage strategic delivery partners and major technology relationships.
• Strong judgement in balancing user outcomes, organisational priorities, technology constraints, investment, delivery, governance and risk.
• Experience working in complex or regulated environments would be advantageous. Public-sector experience is preferred but not mandatory