Senior Data Scientist (Senior Manager/Assistant Director), Data Science & Analytics (1 year contract)

[What the role is]

Overview of Health Promotion Board (HPB) and HPB’s Chief Data Officers’ Office (CDOO):
Established in 2001, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) is a government agency dedicated to empowering Singaporeans to lead healthier lives. HPB drives national health promotion efforts by designing and scaling programmes that improve physical and mental well-being across the population.
As part of HPB’s Precision Public Health (PPH) strategy to deliver more personalised, engaging and effective interventions at scale, we are leveraging AI to translate complex insights into actionable initiatives to improve the health of Singapore’s 4 million residents. This involves:
• Building a 360-degree understanding of individuals’ lifestyle behaviours, health and motivations, and
• Delivering personalised lifestyle recommendations and targeted messaging aligned with their needs and preferences.
To this end, HPB’s Chief Data Officer’s Office (CDOO) plays a central role in driving data-informed decision-making across the organisation. CDOO oversees HPB’s data strategy, governance, engineering and analytics / AI capabilities to ensure data is used responsibly, effectively and at scale.
CDOO comprises 4 functions:
• Planning & Integration (P&I)
• Data Governance & Compliance (DGC)
• Data Engineering & Architecture (DEA)
• Data Science & Analytics (DSA)
Overview of Data Science & Analytics (DSA) Department:
The DSA department sits within CDOO and supports HPB’s PPH strategy by strengthening analytics rigour and expanding data science applications to deliver:
• Internal productivity optimisation: AI-powered productivity tools including chatbots and automated AI workflows,
• Personalised health interventions: Predictive models that enable customised lifestyle interventions through behavioural insights and targeted marketing.
Throughout this journey, you will get the opportunity to work with data scientists and business analysts across HPB and WOG agencies (e.g. GovTech), and external partners (e.g. public healthcare and data science institutions, academics and technology players) to co-develop and deploy GenAI (e.g. digital twins) and classical machine learning models. You will get to work with big data from diverse real world data sources (e.g. intra-minute heart rate data from wearable sensors, meal logging and sports participation data from digital apps such as Healthy 365) and health sector data such as Healthier SG Admin Repository to facilitate data feature engineering and AI use cases.

[What you will be working on]

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead execution of AI use cases, in-line with HPB’s AI roadmap. This includes leading cross-functional teams (e.g. CDOO, Programmes, IT) to develop and deploy production-ready machine learning models, that translate the value of AI to design of digital health programmes.
• Establish and implement robust monitoring frameworks to track model performance and refine modelling process, ensuring continuous improvement and reliability
• Translate complex AI concepts into clear, actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders, broker negotiations with stakeholders, balancing technical rigour with business needs and propose next steps amidst operating and technical constraints

[What we are looking for]

Qualifications and Skillsets

• Bachelor / Master / PhD in AI / Data Science, Analytics, Computer Science, Computer Engineering or Information Systems from a recognised university:
  • Professional certifications in data science / ML engineering / business analytics from accredited professional bodies coupled with a few years of related working experience for graduates from other disciplines, are also acceptable for the position.
  • Minimum 5 years hands-on data science experience developing and deploying machine learning models in production environments, including experience working with cloud-based analytics platforms and tools (e.g. Microsoft Azure, Spark Ecosystems).
• Proficient in Python, SQL, R, PySpark for model development
• Proven ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously in agile, matrix environments
• Navigate organisational challenges through strong problem-solving and negotiation skills to manage and deliver complex projects involving internal and external stakeholders.
• Exceptional communication skills with experience presenting to senior leadership and external stakeholders
• Strategic mindset with demonstrated success connecting data science capabilities to business outcomes
• Demonstrate passion in digital health and healthcare.

Why Join CDOO?

• Meaningful Impact: your work directly influences public health policy and programmes affecting millions of citizens.
• Unique Data Access: work on comprehensive, individual-level health data across rich sources and domains.
• Career Development: senior role with autonomy and leadership responsibilities to chart the approach.
• Innovative Environment: prototyping new features and helping HPB pioneer AI innovations.
• Collaborative Culture: collaborate in cross-matrix teams, such as data engineering, governance, tech and programme teams as well as external partners to deliver joint outcomes.

Successful candidates will be offered a 1-year contract