GovTech restructuring signals shift towards technical, outcome-driven roles: Experts

SINGAPORE - The restructuring at the Government Technology Agency mirrors a larger trend where companies favour hands-on tech workers who can deliver business outcomes, as administrative tasks increasingly become automated or integrated into other functions, said recruitment experts.

On July 15, the agency announced that it had retrenched 93 staff, and expects a total of 7 per cent to 9 per cent of roles in its workforce to be affected by restructuring over the next two years.

GovTech currently has around 3,900 employees, excluding those in its experimental tech arm Open Government Products.

Staff working in project delivery and vendor management roles are among those affected, said the agency.

These functions are widely known to involve the handling of budgets and timelines, coordination of stakeholders and vendors, and compliance with governance standards.

Linda Teo, country manager of ManpowerGroup Singapore, said project and vendor management functions are increasingly being folded into other roles, rather than existing as a standalone.

“Organisations are adopting leaner, product-led models, driven by the need to respond more quickly to changing user and business demands, reduce handoffs, and deliver continuous improvements,” she said.

She added that in this shift, there is typically less reliance on traditional middle management layers, with greater emphasis placed on teams that can directly design, build and run technology solutions.

But the shift towards stronger internal ownership of critical products does not mean that vendors will disappear, said Anurag Garg, managing director of recruitment firm Michael Page Singapore.

“It means organisations want enough in-house capability to set direction, own risk, and stay accountable for outcomes rather than outsourcing that judgment entirely,” he said.

While not the first instance of public-sector workforce adjustment in Singapore, GovTech’s retrenchment is notable, said Felicia Romli, managing consultant for technology and transformation roles at Robert Walters Singapore.

“Because it involves a technology agency operating in an area associated with rapid change and known to be at the forefront of technology adoption,” she said, adding that as technology priorities change, organisations need to also evolve their operating models, workforce structure and workforce skill make-up.

“Companies and professionals that can adapt to these changes will be better positioned for the next phase of digital transformation,” said Romli.

She added that as organisations across industries invest in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud, data and digital product capabilities, the common theme is a growing need for professionals who can not only build tech, but also apply it effectively to solve business needs.

GovTech’s restructuring exercise signals that no organisation delivering critical digital infrastructure is exempt from reviewing how its workforce matches how its tech is built and run, said Garg.

He added: “Singapore’s AI and digital agenda means every organisation, public or private, has to benchmark against global standards.”

The exercise comes amid a flurry of layoffs by companies worldwide in recent months, including big tech firms such as Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and Shopee.

In May, around 8,000 Meta staff were retrenched across the organisation’s global workforce, including more than 100 based in Singapore. The latest round of cuts affected mainly the engineering and product teams.

A few weeks later, online retail giant Shopee cut hundreds of developer jobs globally, which amounted to about 8 per cent of the firm’s developer workforce.

In July, TikTok cut jobs in its trust and safety team, marking the second consecutive year the social media giant has trimmed its team responsible for content moderation and platform safety.

Labour economist Walter Theseira said GovTech is under the same competitive pressure as the rest of the tech industry, as the services it provides can be easily benchmarked against external providers. But he does not expect the rest of Government to be under similar pressures, and it is hence unlikely to have to make similar moves soon. 

Theseira, who is an associate professor of economics at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said the retrenchment also reflects the phenomenon in the wider economy where people are losing jobs despite good company performance. 

It has become increasingly necessary for firms to engage in restructuring despite high demand for services. “This is making the labour market hugely more uncertain to everybody.”