Associate Design Director

Temus was established by Temasek in partnership with UST, to provide digital transformation solutions for the private and public sectors as we aspire to be a strategic partner in realising the Singapore Government’s Smart Nation vision. We are headquartered in Singapore and have more than 400 employees across a wide range of disciplines in strategy, design, architecture, technology, data & AI.

About the Role

We are seeking a Head of Design to lead, grow, and inspire our Design practice. This role will blend exceptional design leadership with commercial drive, helping clients solve complex challenges while expanding our business impact. You will shape high-value programs, mentor a growing team, and directly contribute to business development through scoping, pitching, and growing client relationships.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead & Mentor: Guide the Design team to deliver complex digital programs with a strong culture of quality, creativity, and accountability.
• End-to-End Project Ownership: Oversee programs from discovery and strategy through design, prototyping, testing, and implementation.
• Champion HCD & Service Design: Embed human-centered design and service design principles throughout all engagements.
• Design Systems & Experience Strategy: Define and scale UI/UX design systems, visual standards, and cross-platform frameworks for clients.
• Shape Product Vision: Develop experience roadmaps, prioritize features, and help clients define product strategies that drive business value.
• Senior Stakeholder Engagement: Present design strategies, prototypes, and business cases to C-suite and executive stakeholders with clarity and confidence.
• Drive Business Development: Identify growth opportunities, define scopes of work, lead proposals, and contribute to pitch processes to win and grow design-led engagements.
• Client Relationship Building: Build and nurture long-term client partnerships, expanding our impact and value with existing and new clients.
• Operational Excellence: Establish team processes that promote innovation, high-quality delivery, and accountability.

Requirements

• 10+ years in digital design, with 3–5+ years in senior leadership within consulting, agency, or in-house environments.
• Proven success delivering end-to-end design-led digital programs.
• Expertise in UX/UI design, design systems, service design, and experience strategy.
• Skilled in qualitative and quantitative research, behavioral insight, and user testing.
• Strong project leadership, agile delivery, and cross-functional alignment skills.
• Ability to communicate design value and business impact clearly to senior stakeholders.
• Experience in business development and proposal shaping, including scoping and pitching design-led work.
• Commercially astute, with a growth mindset and the ability to identify and capture opportunities within client environments.

What Success Looks Like

• The design team is inspired, high-performing, and delivering best-in-class work that aligns with client goals.
• You have established a culture of design excellence, driven by research and insight while balancing delivery pragmatism.
• You have grown client accounts through your commercial focus and relationship-building.
• You are recognized internally and externally as a trusted advisor in design-led transformation.

Temus is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all. We do not discriminate by race, religion, belief, ethnicity, origin, disability, age, partnership status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

We see the diversity of our team as a strategic advantage, and we work actively to maintain it.

By applying for this role, you have read and acknowledge the data privacy statement via this link - temus.com/job-applicant-data-protection/