Deputy Director, Regulatory Intelligence & Licensing

Government of Singapore · Biopolis (Helios Building)

[What the role is]

As Deputy Director, Regulatory Intelligence & Licensing, you will lead a team of operations and policy experts to maintain operational excellence while transforming HSA into an integrated, efficient and future-ready regulator—one that anticipates risks, predicts stakeholder needs and enables innovation through intelligence-led and AI-powered regulation. Your responsibilities will include redesigning HSA’s technology systems, stakeholder journeys, internal workflows and officer roles; establishing robust policies and processes; driving continuous improvement; and maintaining high standards of service.

Through this work, you will contribute to HSA’s mission of safeguarding public health by upholding standards of quality, safety and efficacy.

[What you will be working on]

You will oversee the following business operations:

A. Licensing and certification applications

Oversee the end-to-end administration of licences and certificates under the Healthcare Services Act and Health Products Act. This includes licensing public and private healthcare services and regulating health-product dealers—including manufacturers, importers and wholesalers—across all regulated product categories. Ensure the effective management of new applications, renewals and amendments, as well as cessations, revocations, rejections and cancellations, from initial screening and fee collection through processing and final approval.

Oversee regulatory powers relating to the refusal, suspension or revocation of licences, financial penalties and the removal of Key Appointment Holders, where applicable requirements under the HCSA, HPA or other legislation administered by HSA have not been met.

B. Enquiries, complaints and feedback processes

Establish and oversee a structured and transparent framework for the timely management, escalation, resolution, tracking and closure of licensing and certification enquiries, complaints and feedback from licensees, industry stakeholders and members of the public. Ensure clear accountability, high service standards and continuous improvement.

Work closely with Corporate Communications & Service Quality and relevant HSA departments to ensure that licensing and certification enquiries are assigned appropriately and addressed accurately, consistently and promptly.

Oversee the review and resolution of appeals arising from licensing and certification decisions. Engage applicants and licensees to clarify HSA’s decisions, address areas of disagreement and facilitate resolution, while ensuring that all appeals are handled fairly, consistently and in accordance with established regulatory processes.

C. Policy and regulatory framework

Oversee the periodic review of licensing and certification guidelines, guidance documents, circulars and codes of practice to ensure that they remain current, coherent and aligned with the HCSA, HPA and other legislation administered by HSA.

Ensure that licensing and certification policies, screening criteria and operating procedures are translated into clear, consistent and practical guidance for officers, applicants and licensees.

Work with relevant policy, legal and regulatory teams to identify gaps or ambiguities in existing requirements and recommend appropriate policy, legislative or operational changes.

2. You will prioritise and lead the sequencing of the following transformation initiatives, which may have synergies. The transformation is to take place over a 2-year period, not necessarily in a linear sequence.

A. Integrated licensing operating model

Design and implement an integrated operating model for licensing and certification across health products, services, professionals and information, providing stakeholders with a single point of access to HSA.

Redesign internal triage, routing and hand-off arrangements to direct applications and enquiries efficiently to the appropriate regulatory teams and subject-matter experts.

B. Internal workflow redesign and AI-enabled automation

Review and redesign licensing, certification and enquiry-management workflows to eliminate unnecessary steps, bottlenecks and ineffective hand-offs – also with a view towards harmonising workflows across products, services and professional licensing.
Implement interim standalone AI-tools to introduce automation, while working with the Chief Information Officer to translate redesigned workflows into a prioritised pipeline of system enhancements with agentic AI capabilities.

Establish appropriate outcome-based performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of redesigned workflows.

Scale this capability across the division without increasing headcount.

C. System design, enhancement and consolidation

Lead the design, implementation, continuous improvement, and governance of existing IT systems (e.g. Healthcare Application and Licensing Portal, Pharmaceutical Regulatory Information System (PRISM), Singapore Health Product Access and Regulatory E-System (SHARE), Healthcare Application and Licensing Portal (HALP) and Professional Registry System (PRS)). Consolidation may be necessary.

D. Regulatory analytics

Develop and deploy data- and AI-enabled regulatory-intelligence capabilities to support risk stratification, early warning, horizon scanning and the identification of emerging industry trends, technological developments and public-health threats.

Apply analytics to licensing, certification and enquiry-management operations to support risk-based triage, demand and workload forecasting, bottleneck detection, processing-time analysis and the identification of recurring stakeholder issues.

E. Improving stakeholder experience

Shift from predominantly reactive responses towards proactive regulatory guidance, including timely prompts, reminders and information tailored to stakeholders’ circumstances and regulatory obligations.

Simplify the discovery of licensing and certification requirements and implement AI-enabled self-service tools that help stakeholders identify relevant requirements and complete applications accurately.

[What we are looking for]

A strong commitment to public service, organisational integrity and the safeguarding of public health and safety.

A recognised qualification in any discipline that demonstrates analytical training and systematic thought. It is more important to demonstrate strong analytical and systems-thinking capabilities, including the ability to understand complex issues, evaluate evidence, identify risks and develop practical solutions.

Experience in strategic planning, policy development and/or operational management roles. These roles develop the abilities of translating broad organisational objectives into implementable plans, processes and outcomes; and balancing operational efficiency, stakeholder needs, regulatory requirements and public-interest considerations.

A minimum of 5 years of supervisory experience.

Ability to lead digital and AI-enabled transformation from a business perspective, including identifying appropriate use cases, defining operational requirements and working with technology specialists. Coding or technical-development experience is not required.

Strong stakeholder-management skills, with experience working directly with senior leaders, government agencies, operational teams and external stakeholders to build alignment and deliver shared outcomes.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex matters clearly, influence senior stakeholders and manage differing perspectives.

The successful candidate will be offered a 1-year contract (with option for automatic renewal for a further one year) in the first instance.

Shortlisted candidates would be contacted within 30 days from the closing date of the advertisement. We regret that only shortlisted candidates would be notified.

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