Manager/Senior Manager, Partners

Summary

As a Manager/Senior Manager in the Partners division, you play an important role in engaging business leaders with the aim to raise awareness and drive adoption of design, to empower innovation-led growth in businesses. To communicate the value of design to businesses, you will work closely with best-in-class design consultancies and industry thought leaders and advocates and you will also develop and curate programmes to help Singapore enterprises understand and make steps towards using design for strategy and organisational transformation.

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 Partners Division

The Partners Division works with both Singapore companies and MNCs to raise the awareness of, and facilitate the implementation of design for business strategy and organisation transformation, through establishing partnerships and connections.

Responsibilities

This role reports to the Assistant Head of the Partners Division and your responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Engaging business leaders in industry sectors and companies at all stages of growth to understand their business challenges, as well as identifying and facilitating the required connections, tools and support for them to drive business impact through design;
• Meeting leading local and global designers and design consultancies to learn about their capabilities and best practices, keeping your finger on the pulse of the industry, and learning how they can be best placed to bring value to Singapore.
• Working with partner organisations to conceptualise and organise outreach activities (eg. learning journeys, industry roundtables, networking sessions) targeted at business leaders and design/innovation leads in different industry sectors and across all stages of design awareness.
• Working with design consultancies and thought leaders to curate content that will help amplify the value of design among business communities.
• Structuring and implementing programmes and initiatives to support organisations to use design to grow their internal innovation capabilities.
• Regular reviewing of strategies, programmes and projects to identify areas for improvement and/or developing new initiatives to support existing or new business sectors adopt design.
• Developing annual workplan and budget requirements, and monitoring overall progress and achievements.
• Undertaking Dsg special projects, where relevant.

Requirements

To meet the challenges of this role, you must be/have:

• A degree holder with 2 to 8 years of relevant experience in business development, industry development, or design management, with a strong track record in formulating and implementing business strategies.
• Have a background or degree preferably specialising in Business Management, Marketing or Design.
• Client-management experience in a strategic design or creative agency and/or public sector experience in industry engagement programmes and strategies.
• Experience in events and project management.
• Familiarity with design innovation principles and process a bonus.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficient in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and basic event planning tools/platforms.

In addition, we are looking for:

• A Business Development extraordinaire who is always looking for new ways to use design to transform businesses and organisations. You are someone who really enjoys helping organisations understand how design can be used to innovate and create great experiences. You love being creative and finding new companies from different industries that are on their innovation journey and working with them to make their ideas a reality.
• A people person who loves to connect with others and build strong relationships with colleagues, stakeholders, and clients. You're always looking for ways to spread the message of design and build partnerships both locally and internationally through exciting platforms like leadership roundtables and learning journeys.
• A curious and versatile person who loves learning and keeping up with diverse business trends and needs. You're great at analysing complex information and finding creative solutions to roadblocks in project implementation. You're a proactive and motivated individual who loves discovering new opportunities and bringing together different resources to make things happen.