Job Purpose

The Professional Officer leads SIT’s Design Factory in advancing design-led education, research, and enterprise collaboration. This role emphasizes strategic leadership in industrial design, guiding multidisciplinary teams to deliver impactful solutions across product, service, and system innovation. The incumbent will champion human-centred design, foster industry partnerships, and drive the Centre’s vision as a hub for applied innovation and leadership in design.

Key Responsibilities

• Applied R&D and Design Innovation Leadership
  • Human-Centred Research: Direct advanced research in ergonomics, usability, and design thinking, ensuring projects address real-world challenges.
  • Lead integrated applied R&D and design projects for SMEs, MNCs, and public sector partners, overseeing full project lifecycles from research framing, ideation, and user insights through to prototyping, validation, and manufacturing considerations.
  • Apply human-centred design, systems thinking, and futures methodologies to translate research insights into functional prototypes, design frameworks, and scalable innovation outcomes.
  • Spearhead the curation and growth of specialist labs and material exploration environments, supporting experimentation across emerging materials, structural design, and advanced fabrication methods.
  • Bridge creative design with engineering feasibility to develop manufacturable, real-world product and service solutions.
• Industrial Design Leadership
  • Set Strategic Direction: Lead the vision and standards for industrial design across the Design Factory’s initiatives, ensuring excellence in product aesthetics, usability, and manufacturability. Define and oversee mechanical design standards across projects, ensuring structural integrity, manufacturability, and performance excellence.
  • Champion Human-Centred Design: Embed ergonomics, user research, and co-creation practices into all projects, aligning outcomes with real-world needs and industry expectations.
  • Engineering Integration: Champion the fusion of mechanical engineering principles with design innovation, bridging technical feasibility with creative outcomes.
  • Mentorship & Technical Oversight: Provide critique, guidance, and quality assurance for student and project team outputs, cultivating design rigor and professional practice. Guide students and project teams in CAD modelling, simulation, and mechanical prototyping, ensuring precision and reliability in outputs.
  • Drive Innovation: Lead the integration of sustainable design, circular innovation, and advanced prototyping into project deliverables, ensuring relevance in evolving markets.
  • Innovation in Mechanical Systems: Drive the adoption of advanced materials, sustainable engineering practices, and emerging technologies into mechanical design projects
  • Capability Building: Develop toolkits, frameworks, and learning pathways that strengthen SIT’s industrial design capacity and equip collaborators with transferable design skills.
• Strategic Platform and Programme Development
  • Co-lead the Design Factory as a design-led platform bridging applied R&D, industry collaboration, education, and enterprise adoption; growing its role within SIT's innovation ecosystem.
  • Identify and develop opportunities for programme growth in human-centred design, circular innovation, applied R&D, and cross-disciplinary learning.
  • Contribute to strategic planning and long-term development of the Design Factory in alignment with SIT's institutional goals.
• Partnership and Business Development
  • Build Strategic Relationships: Establish and manage partnerships with industry, academia, government, and international design ecosystems.
  • Drive Collaboration: Identify opportunities, develop proposals, and formalize agreements to advance innovation projects.
  • Activate Networks: Lead a multi-stakeholder innovation community spanning students, researchers, and external partners.
• Capability Building and Education
  • Build SIT’s mechanical design expertise through curated methodologies, workshops, and collaborative frameworks that strengthen applied engineering design skills.
  • Design and deliver applied learning programmes, masterclasses, workshops, and structured learning experiences integrating design thinking, human-centred research, prototyping, and real-world application.
  • Translate Design Factory methodologies, applied R&D projects, and industry case studies into structured content for internal and external programmes, including CET modules and industry workshops.
  • Support academic delivery through preparation of learning resources, demonstrations, and supervision of student work across interdisciplinary projects.
  • Mentor and guide interdisciplinary teams across design, engineering, and research domains within lab, workshop, and applied project environments.
• Project and Operational Management
  • Plan, implement, and monitor multiple concurrent applied R&D and innovation projects, ensuring delivery on time and within budget.
  • Manage budgets, procurement, and reporting for internal and external initiatives, with a strong track record of on-time and on-budget performance.
  • Oversee daily operations of the Design Factory, including facilities, safety, scheduling, and resource utilisation.
  • Maintain records, documentation, and performance metrics for projects, programmes, and collaborations.

Requirements

• Degree in Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Human Factors, or Innovation Management; postgraduate qualifications in design leadership or applied engineering are advantageous.
• Minimum 5–8 years in industrial design, mechanical design, innovation management, or R&D, with a proven record of delivering industry-relevant outcomes.
• Project Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead complex projects and multi-stakeholder collaborations across academic, research, and industry contexts.
• Technical Proficiency: Expertise in design research, prototyping, fabrication, CAD modelling, simulation, and applied learning environments.
• Team Leadership: Proven track record in guiding multidisciplinary teams, mentoring talent, and ensuring design rigor in both industrial and mechanical outputs.
• Industrial Design Practice: Strong proficiency in product development, ergonomics, usability testing, and industry-standard design tools; portfolio evidencing leadership in industrial design projects is preferred.
• Mechanical Design Expertise: Experience in mechanical systems, material selection, structural design, and integration of engineering principles into innovative solutions.