The short version
FormSG is the form platform behind the Singapore Government. 160+ agencies, 150,000+ public officers, 200 million+ submissions processed. Every time a citizen fills out a government form online, there's a good chance it's running on something we built.
We're a small team inside Open Government Products (OGP) — a startup embedded in government. No legacy vendors, no six-month procurement cycles. We identify problems, build software, and ship it to people who use it the next day.
We're hiring a Senior Software Engineer who wants to own things end-to-end: from we should build this through to it's live and serving millions of requests.
What you'd actually be doing
You won't be handed a spec and asked to implement it. You'll be figuring out what to build alongside PMs, designers, and the public officers who rely on FormSG daily. Then you'll build it, ship it, and make sure it holds up at scale.
Concretely, that looks like:
- Owning entire features and systems, from early prototyping through production deployment and iteration. Multi-respondent workflows, AI-assisted form creation, payment collection, submission processing — these are the kinds of problems you'd take on.
- Working across the full stack — React and TypeScript on the frontend, Node.js on the backend, MongoDB underneath, all of it running on infrastructure you help design and maintain.
- Building for security and reliability at a level most startups never have to think about. FormSG handles classified government data with end-to-end encryption. Downtime and data leaks aren't abstract risks — they affect real government operations.
- Shipping fast without breaking things. We prototype aggressively and test ideas early, but we also run a platform that tens of thousands of officers depend on every day. You'll need good judgment about when to move fast and when to be careful.
- Making the team better through code reviews, RFCs, monitoring, testing practices, and the kind of knowledge-sharing that compounds over time.
What makes this different
- You'll have more impact here than at most companies ten times our size. FormSG shapes how an entire government communicates with its citizens. A feature you build on Monday could be used by every ministry and agency by Friday. That feedback loop — build, ship, see real adoption — is hard to find anywhere else.
- You'll work like a startup, backed by government scale. OGP operates with flat hierarchies, fast iteration, and a bias toward building over debating. But unlike a startup, you're not fighting for product-market fit — the users are already there, and the problems are real and urgent.
- Engineers report to engineers. Your manager will be someone who's shipped production code, not someone who's only managed roadmaps. Technical decisions are made by the people closest to the work.
- Compensation is fair and competitive. We're not going to ask you to take a public-sector discount. OGP offers compensation that reflects the calibre of work and the people we're hiring against.
- You'll work with people who are here because they care. Not because of stock options or brand names. The team chose public service over big tech because they wanted their work to matter. That self-selection produces an unusually motivated, low-ego team.
What we're looking for
We care more about how you think than what's on your resume, but these things help:
- Strong TypeScript, React, and Node.js skills. You're comfortable across the stack.
- Experience with MongoDB or similar NoSQL databases, and building APIs that handle real traffic.
- Good instincts around security — encryption, access control, data handling. Experience with high-security systems is a strong plus, but a willingness to learn deeply counts too.
- You communicate clearly. You can translate a messy real-world problem into a well-scoped technical plan — and explain it to someone non-technical.
- You think in terms of product outcomes, not just code. You care about whether the thing you built actually solved the problem.
- Familiarity with CI/CD, Git workflows, and infrastructure-as-code.
If you've worked in startups or fast-moving environments and thrived in ambiguity — that's a great signal. But we'd rather hear about something you built that you're proud of than see a list of credentials.
What it's like working here
- Yearly learning months and hackathons — dedicated time to explore new ideas, architectures, and technologies.
- Flexible work arrangements — we optimise for output and trust, not hours at a desk.
- A portfolio of real products at real scale — OGP builds and runs FormSG, Plumber (workflow automation, 3.0M+ automations/quarter), Isomer (700+ government websites), ScamShield, ParkingSG, and more. You'll be part of a broader community of engineers solving hard problems across government.
More about OGP and our products: open.gov.sg
Hiring process
Your application will be prioritised for the FormSG team, but we'll also consider you for other engineering roles across OGP if there's a stronger fit. We'll keep you informed either way.
