Shelley Labs is hiring a Technical Program Lead / Systems Architect to translate our research and governance requirements into implementable technical systems.
The role sits between product definition, systems architecture and programme delivery. You will work directly with the CEO, research collaborators and external technical partners to define how Shelley’s data-governance models should operate in practice.
A central responsibility will be converting institutional requirements — including data access controls, provenance, withdrawal, privacy, governed computation and cross-border data restrictions — into clear technical specifications and implementation plans.
Responsibilities will include:
- Translate research, policy and governance requirements into system requirements and technical specifications
- Define system architecture, data flows, trust boundaries, permissions and interfaces
- Develop technical requirements for data access, storage, computation, provenance, withdrawal and auditability
- Determine where technologies such as federated learning, secure computation, zero-knowledge proofs, confidential computing and machine unlearning are appropriate
- Distinguish between requirements that can be implemented using conventional infrastructure and those requiring specialised privacy-preserving technologies
- Produce architecture diagrams, technical specifications, API requirements and implementation documentation
- Define technical milestones, work packages and delivery plans for pilots
- Evaluate external vendors, research partners and technology providers
- Coordinate technical work across internal and external contributors
- Identify technical dependencies, security considerations and implementation risks
- Support prototype development where appropriate
- Review engineering outputs against agreed requirements
- Contribute technical sections to grant applications, partnership proposals and funding materials
- Support technical due diligence for prospective partners and infrastructure providers
The role will initially focus on Shelley’s data-governance and governed-computation architecture, including applications involving agricultural and community-generated data.
Candidates should have:
- A degree or equivalent experience in computer science, software engineering, data engineering or a related technical field
- Approximately 4–8 years of experience in software engineering, systems architecture, data infrastructure, technical product, privacy engineering or a related field
- Strong understanding of backend systems, APIs, databases and distributed system design
- Experience translating product or institutional requirements into technical specifications
- Ability to reason clearly about data flows, access control, security and system boundaries
- Experience coordinating technical delivery across multiple contributors
- Ability to assess technical trade-offs and communicate them clearly to non-technical stakeholders
- Ability to prototype or review implementation work where required
Experience in one or more of the following would be advantageous:
- privacy-preserving computation
- federated learning
- secure enclaves or confidential computing
- cryptographic systems
- data provenance
- machine learning infrastructure
- decentralised or distributed systems
- identity and access management
- data governance or regulated technology environments
Experience working with research teams, early-stage technology companies or complex multi-party systems would also be relevant.
Please submit to liyana@helloshelley.com:
- Your CV
- A short cover letter outlining your interest in Shelley Labs and how your experience relates to the role
- One example of a system, product or technical programme for which you were responsible
- Where possible, an architecture diagram, technical specification, design document or similar work product demonstrating how you approach system design
- A short explanation of your individual contribution to the submitted work
- Your current location and Singapore work authorisation status
Shortlisted candidates will complete a technical design exercise based on a simplified Shelley use case. Candidates will be asked to translate a set of governance requirements into an initial system architecture and identify key technical decisions, assumptions and risks.
The exercise will assess systems thinking and technical judgment rather than familiarity with a specific technology stack.