AVP, Technology Governance

Singlife is a leading homegrown financial services company, offering consumers a better way to financial freedom. Through innovative, technology-enabled solutions and a wide range of products and services, Singlife provides consumers control over their financial wellbeing at every stage of their lives.

In addition to a comprehensive suite of insurance plans, employee benefits, partnerships with financial adviser channels and bancassurance, Singlife offers investment and advisory solutions through its GROW with Singlife platform. It also offers the Singlife Account, a mobile-first insurance savings plan.

Singlife is the exclusive insurance provider for the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Officers Group Insurance Scheme. Singlife is also an official signatory of the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance and the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, affirming its commitment to finding a better way to sustainability.

The merger of Aviva Singapore and Singlife was announced in September 2020 and created one of the largest homegrown financial services companies in Singapore in a deal valued at S$3.2 billion. It was the largest insurance deal in Singapore at the time. Singlife was subsequently acquired by Sumitomo Life in March 2024, one of Japan’s leading life insurers, which valued Singlife at S$4.6 billion, making the transaction one of the largest insurance deals in Southeast Asia.

Role Overview

The Assistant Vice President, Technology Governance is responsible for strengthening the management of technology risks and controls across the Technology function. The role operates as part of the embedded Technology Governance function, working closely with Technology risk and control owners to translate risk, policy and regulatory requirements into practical actions and sustainable controls.

The role provides governance oversight, risk advisory and quality assurance across technology issues, risk acceptances, audits, regulatory matters, incidents and control-related activities. The candidate is expected to apply sound judgement, constructively challenge risk and control owners, identify systemic risk themes, and escalate material concerns to the appropriate management and governance forums.

The role will contribute to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Technology Governance through standardisation, data analytics, automation and the responsible use of artificial intelligence.

The proposed scope reflects the team’s documented responsibilities relating to issue closure, Technology control advisory, GRC documentation quality, risk acceptance, incident root cause analysis, audit support, third-party control attestations, regulatory gap assessments and regulatory queries.

Key Responsibilities

Technology Issue Governance

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Oversee the governance and monitoring of technology issues recorded in the organisation’s governance, risk and compliance system.

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Review the quality and completeness of technology issue documentation, including risk articulation, root cause, impact assessment, remediation actions and ownership with target dates.

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Monitor high and medium-risk technology issues and highlight matters requiring intervention or management attention.

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Constructively challenge issue owners on the adequacy, feasibility and sustainability of remediation plans.

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Review requests for issue extensions and assess whether the supporting rationale, interim controls and revised remediation timelines are appropriate.

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Support the proper closure of technology issues by assessing whether agreed actions have been completed and adequately evidenced.

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Identify recurring issues, common root causes, control weaknesses and systemic risk themes across applications, infrastructure and Technology processes.

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Escalate overdue, stalled or inadequately remediated issues through the appropriate governance channels.

Technology Risk and Control Advisory

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Provide advice to Technology teams on the interpretation and practical implementation of technology risk and control requirements.

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Work with Technology risk and control owners to identify risks associated with systems, infrastructure, cybersecurity, data integrity, technology operations and regulatory requirements.

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Translate applicable policies, standards and risk requirements into actionable control expectations for Technology teams.

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Assess whether proposed controls are proportionate to the risks identified and capable of being implemented and operated sustainably.

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Provide governance input into significant Technology initiatives, process changes and remediation programmes.

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Support Technology teams in improving the design, documentation and operation of controls.

Risk Acceptance Governance

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Review technology risk acceptance requests for completeness, accuracy and clarity.

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Challenge whether the underlying risk has been adequately identified, assessed and articulated.

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Assess whether reasonable remediation or risk-reduction alternatives have been considered before risk acceptance is pursued.

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Evaluate the adequacy of compensating or interim controls proposed during the risk acceptance period.

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Monitor approved risk acceptances, expiry dates and associated remediation commitments.

Audit and Assurance Management

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Coordinate and support internal and external technology audits throughout the audit lifecycle. Monitor the progress of audit-related action plans and escalate delivery concerns.

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Act as a key interface among auditors, Technology stakeholders, control owners and subject matter experts.

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Review audit information and evidence before submission to ensure that it is relevant, accurate, complete and responsive to the audit request.

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Coordinate audit walkthroughs, evidence gathering, factual validation and management responses.

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Review potential audit observations and work with Technology stakeholders to confirm factual accuracy and understand the underlying risk and control implications.

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Support the development of clear, practical and sustainable audit remediation actions.

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Support management self-assessments, control attestations and other assurance activities.

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Coordinate third-party technology control attestations and information requests, where applicable.

Regulatory Compliance and Gap Assessment

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Monitor relevant technology-related regulatory developments, consultation papers, guidelines, notices, circulars and industry advisories.

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Coordinate impact and gap assessments against relevant internal policies, standards, processes and controls.

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Work with Technology stakeholders to identify required actions, accountable owners and implementation timelines.

Data Analytics, Automation and AI Enablement

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Identify opportunities to streamline repetitive or manual Technology Governance activities.

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Drive the development of dashboards and analytical approaches that help the team prioritise higher-risk items.

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Explore automation opportunities across issue monitoring, audit evidence preparation, regulatory mapping, risk acceptance review, control monitoring and governance reporting.

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Assess risks arising from AI-enabled solutions, including confidentiality, inaccuracy, bias, lack of explainability and over-reliance on generated outputs.

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Ensure that AI supports, rather than replaces, accountable risk ownership and professional judgement.

Qualifications and Experience

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Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Information Systems, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Risk Management, Business, Accounting or a related discipline.

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Relevant professional certification would be advantageous, such as CISA, CRISC, CISSP, CISM, CGEIT or an equivalent qualification.

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Relevant experience in one or more of the following:

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Technology risk management;

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Technology governance;

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IT audit;

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Cybersecurity governance;

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IT controls or assurance;

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Regulatory compliance;

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Operational risk;

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Financial services technology.

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Experience working with Technology teams, auditors, risk functions, compliance stakeholders or regulators would be advantageous.

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Familiarity with technology risk and control frameworks, risk assessments, audit processes, issue management and risk acceptance.

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Understanding of technology domains such as access management, change management, systems development, cloud computing, infrastructure, cybersecurity, resilience, data management and third-party technology risk.

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Experience with governance, risk and compliance platforms, data analytics, dashboards or workflow automation would be advantageous.

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Awareness of the opportunities and risks associated with generative AI and AI-enabled process automation.

Core Competencies

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Strong technology risk and control judgement.

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Ability to analyse complex information and identify material risk themes.

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Ability to challenge stakeholders constructively and confidently.

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Strong written and verbal communication skills.

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Ability to translate technical matters into clear business and ris