Office spotlight: Singapore

From the Shiok cafe in Google’s Singapore office, you can catch a glimpse of the docks along Singapore’s west coast — and beyond that, the Singapore Strait, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. It’s a reminder of Singapore’s long-standing role as a hub for global trade.

We first opened a Singapore office in 2007 — a tiny space in the business district — before moving to a new, purpose-built space in 2016. Today, Singapore is our Asia Pacific headquarters, located at the center of Asia’s vibrant digital economy, and home to more than 2,000 Googlers. Like Singapore itself, the office is a melting pot of cultures, languages, ideas and (importantly) incredible food. It gives us a platform to understand, build for and invest in the entire region. But it’s also deeply anchored in the local community: from the names of the kampongs (village in Malay) and meeting rooms where Googlers work, to the outreach programs we run in support of Singaporean developers, nonprofits and students. Let’s take a closer look…

Shared spaces and a close-knit community

Exploring the office, you may see people sharing ideas for products in the Maker Space, going for a stroll in the rooftop garden or catching up with colleagues over kopi in one of our cafes. Over the past few months, Googlers in Singapore have been gradually (and safely) returning to the office, as local restrictions ease. Right now, only a certain percentage of Googlers are able to be in the office at any one time, while others work from home. It’s part of our new, hybrid approach to work — which focuses on flexibility, giving Googlers more options for where and how they work in the future.

Whether at the office or working from home, Googlers often connect through clubs, cultural celebrations and employee resource groups (ERGs). ERGs are communities where members support each other in personal and professional development. Googlers also support each other through groups such as the Blue Dot peer support network, which aims to destigmatize mental health conversations. Clubs give Googlers an opportunity to share hobbies, such as the gardening group that grows herbs for our cafes. Google Singapore is home to one of the largest board game groups of any Google office, with more than 600 members and more than 200 games in their collection.

Another big part of life at Google Singapore is volunteering time and space to support the local community.

Singapore Googlers work on many different Google products and in areas like sales, marketing, finance and business operations. Here’s a look at some of the cool stuff Googlers here help build.

Google Pay

This team is working to make payments more simple, helpful and inclusive for users around the world. For example, the idea for Google Pay’s new Menu Discovery feature came about when a few Singapore Googlers noticed how food and beverage shops were facing a drastic drop in business during the pandemic lockdown and brainstormed how to create more opportunities for food merchants to bring their businesses online. The result: a new local feature that helped to bring over 250 merchants and their menus online for free, boosting their online presence during a challenging time. The number has grown to nearly 2,000 food merchants on Google Pay.

Google Cloud

Singapore is the first Cloud region we opened in Southeast Asia and the team here has grown significantly since.

Googlers on our Cloud team help organizations around the world serve their customers and build what’s next for their businesses with Google’s cutting-edge, enterprise-grade technology – all on the cleanest cloud in the industry. Want to keep track of what the Cloud team is up to? Follow our SG Cloud Twitter feed.

Data Centers

More new internet users come online every day in Asia than anywhere else in the world. Our Singapore data centers help us to make sure that our users here have the fastest and most reliable access possible to all of Google’s services, and then some. These facilities are also some of the most efficient and environmentally friendly in Asia.

YouTube

Members of the YouTube team work together to give everyone the power to share their story, explore what they love and connect with one another in the process. Singapore is the regional hub for YouTube, and the teams here focus on growing the creator environment in the region and creating locally relevant experiences for our users.

And that’s just some of the work being done at this office! Interested in learning about job opportunities on these or other teams at Google Singapore? Check out our Careers Site to explore open roles.