Manager/Senior Manager, Design Practice

Summary

As Manager/ Senior Manager within the Design Practice division, you will drive initiatives, events, and strategic engagements that embed design thinking capabilities across the General Education ecosystem. Your focus will be on maximising the long-term impact of our core Learning by Design programmes. This includes leading whole-of-school engagements, our signature Design Education Summit (The Wonder Lab), and community initiatives like The Wonder Pop and The Wonder Gather.

About DesignSingapore Council

DesignSingapore Council (Dsg)s vision is for Singapore to be a liveable, loveable, and limitless city by design. As the national agency for design, our mission is to develop the design sector to be globally competitive, champion the use of design for innovation and growth in Singapore, and make life better in this UNESCO Creative City of Design. The Dsg is a subsidiary of the Singapore Economic Development Board.

About Design Practice Division

The Design Practice division equips Singaporeans with practical design thinking and application skills across the general education sector and the wider community, including collaboration with other Dsg divisions as our design thinking delivery partner. Primarily established to activate the non-design community to understand the role design can play in realising desired outcomes, and equipping people with skills to enable them to design for change, the Design Practice division focuses on upskilling, building design mindsets, and enabling design-led change by everyday innovators.

The Design Practice division comprises two teams: School of X, a national platform for development of design thinking skills and mindsets whilst co-designing solutions to complex, real world challenges and Learning by Design, a multifaceted platform to enable stakeholders in the General Education space to readily integrate design thinking, design mindsets and design culture into schools through curriculum innovations, innovative learning experiences, partnerships, and change programmes.

To advance Singapore's Design 2035 Masterplan and develop Singapore into a liveable, loveable and limitless city by design, the Design Practice division - bringing together the Learning by Design and School of X - curates experiences to deepen participation in design with and in communities, across the General Education ecosystem, social sectors and public agencies.

The Learning by Design formulates and implements policies and initiatives to grow a pipeline of future ready workforce by infusing design into our national skills sets. It is a nationally supported initiative that advances the adoption of Design Thinking and Mindsets across General Education, from primary to junior college levels, with the aim of nurturing creative, resilient youths who can navigate change and contribute meaningfully to society. For more information on the various programmes of Learning, please visit https://iamlearningbydesign.sg/.

Responsibilities

This position reports to the Assistant Head, Design Practice (Learning by Design). You will be part of a team responsible for implementing design education strategies to nurture design sensibilities as a national capability. You will have a chance to be involved in policy implementation of the Learning by Design initiative by engaging, and co-creating, with key stakeholders in the General Education space, such as students, educators, parents, community and industry partners.

We are seeking a self-initiated individual who is passionate about design and enjoys working with people. Here is what you will do:

Project Management

• Drive the implementation of programmes under the Learning by Design initiative to nurture design mindsets in everyday innovators from the General Education ecosystem (from Primary, Secondary Schools to Junior Colleges).
• Develop and strengthen relationships with the General Education stakeholders (e.g. School leaders, students, parents, design consultants, industry partners etc), especially the schools partnering with the Learning by Design initiative to unlock actionable insights and drive further adoption.
• Work closely with the schools to co-design actionable roadmaps and ensure key milestones of the plans are delivered and achieved.

Community Engagement

• Contribute to, and implement, stakeholder engagement plans for the General Education Community to enable sustained practice and learning.
• Manage outreach and organise regular events to engage the General Education community, including the design educators in the space.

Communications and Website Management

• Work closely with the marketing communications team in the development and implementation of a Communications & Outreach Plan (i.e., Learning by Design Resource Portal, Dsg's website, social media and other engagement channels) to raise awareness of design mindsets and facilitate the building of a community of educators, students, parents and industry stakeholders.
• Develop, or contribute to the development of, visual assets for use in social media and marketing campaigns.
• Manage the Learning by Design Resource Portal, including website maintenance and content updates.

Business Administration

• Support Learning by Design operations, including procurement, contract management, tracking and monitoring of key metrics, finance processes, and reporting functions.
• Provide training operations support to drive effective learning and project outcomes, (e.g. by supporting logistics, set-up, managing inventory, etc).
• Co-ordinate with team members across the Design Practice and provide regular updates to ensure an integrated and informed approach to project delivery.

Requirements

To meet the challenges of this role, you should be:

• Experienced in the General Education or design education space, with at least 2 - 5 years of relevant experience in programme implementation, project management and managing relationships across stakeholders
• Self-driven, results-oriented with strong written and communication skills to engage stakeholders
• A resilient, open-minded problem-solver, who enjoys new experiences and is passionate about driving positive change
• A keen and fast learner who can multi-task and adapt to fast-changing environments, focusing on how to leverage new opportunities, overcome emerging challenges, and adjust plans accordingly to achieve desired outcomes
• A good team player who enjoys collaborating and co-creating with others
• Able to make sound judgements and informed decisions, drawing upon human-centered insights and strong analytical skills to assess situations with both empathy and logic
• Passionate about design and education
• Exposed to design thinking or innovation, and bring some basic experience in applying design-led or co-design approaches to real-world situations (preferred, but not essential) and
• Knowledgeable of the design sector and/or possess prior background in design, education industry and/or General Education.