Singapore's 2027 shortage list adds forward deployed engineers

Singapore's 2027 shortage list adds forward deployed engineers

10 November 2026: Singapore's Ministry of Manpower has released the Shortage Occupation List that will apply to new and renewal Employment Pass applications from 1 January 2027, and its technology section has been rewritten. Forward deployed engineer and quantum scientist or engineer are new entries, and several familiar software and security titles no longer appear.

Not yet independently verified. The list of titles that dropped out is our own comparison of the Ministry of Manpower guides released in November 2025 and November 2026. The ministry has not published such a list, and we found no press release from it. Its main web page still shows the 2026 titles. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

What the list is worth to an employer

A candidate in a listed occupation can earn bonus points under criterion C5 of COMPASS, the points test behind the Employment Pass. Jobs in the infocomm technology section carry a further benefit, because they also qualify for the five-year pass. To use either, the candidate must actually perform the key duties listed for the occupation, and the application must select one of the eligible job titles and meet the extra requirements attached to that entry.

The ministry says updates to the list do not affect the validity of existing passes. Its updated Self-Assessment Tool has been available since 1 November, so employers can test a 2027 application now.

Nine technology entries, down from ten

The whole guide covers 30 occupations, against 29 in the current one. The infocomm technology section for 2027 reads as follows:

• AI or machine learning engineer
• AI applied researcher
• Cloud specialist
• Data scientist
• Digital forensics specialist
• Forward deployed engineer
• Penetration testing specialist
• Quantum scientist or engineer
• Software developer

The Infocomm Media Development Authority is the supporting agency. The forward deployed engineer entry asks for three years' experience in that title and describes someone who leads complex AI or software projects from problem discovery to production, working with customers across engineering, product and go-to-market teams. That is the role AI vendors have been recruiting for, and it now has its own line in immigration guidance.

The titles that have gone

Comparing the two guides, four entries in the 2026 section have no counterpart under the same name in 2027: applications or systems analyst, cybersecurity specialist, software and applications manager, and web and mobile developer. Software developer remains, with eligible titles that now include blockchain, cryptography, full stack and platform engineering roles.

A cybersecurity hire is the case to look at first. Penetration testers and digital forensics specialists stay on the list, while the broader cybersecurity specialist entry is gone. An employer planning a renewal or a new pass for such a person in 2027 should run the Self-Assessment Tool before relying on the C5 bonus or on a five-year term.

The ministry says occupations may be added or removed once a year, and that the list is comprehensively reviewed every three years, so a title's absence in 2027 need not be permanent.

Sources

• Ministry of Manpower, COMPASS C5 Shortage Occupation List Employer Guide, released November 2026, 3 November 2026
• Ministry of Manpower, COMPASS C5 Skills Bonus and Shortage Occupation List page, 10 November 2026