IMDA Career Conversion Programme: What a Tech Employer Signs Up For

If you can't find experienced tech staff, the IMDA career conversion programme lets you hire a mid-career switcher into a software, data or cybersecurity role. As the employer you sign up to train them on the job for six months, per SGTech's track pages. Its info-kit sets support at up to 70%, or 90% from age 40.

Here's what the headline leaves out. You pay the full salary first, and the same kit says reimbursement takes about 12 months from the claim deadline. So the real test for your business is cash flow, and eligibility comes second.

Updated 19 September 2026. Every source below was read on that date.

Key takeaways

• IMDA supports the programme, SWDA funds it and SGTech runs it as programme manager, per SGTech's own kit.
• SGTech lists eight ICT tracks, from Software and Applications to Cybersecurity and Data and AI, on its CCP page.
• A new hire gets 6 months of on-the-job training and funding at up to 70% capped at S$5,000 a month, or 90% capped at S$7,500, according to the kit.
• You claim after training ends, and the kit estimates about 12 months to reimbursement. Since 7 July 2026, new applications go through the Business Grants Portal, per SGTech's notice.
• This page covers new hires only. Retraining your existing IT team is a different mode.

Who actually runs the IMDA career conversion programme?

Three bodies share it, and knowing who does what saves you a few wasted emails.

IMDA drives TechSkills Accelerator, or TeSA. On its TeSA page, IMDA calls it a SkillsFuture initiative built with industry, SkillsFuture Singapore, Workforce Singapore and NTUC.

IMDA's own CCP page is a signpost. It gives employers of ICT professionals four reasons to take part, including recruiting career switchers and funding through a course fee grant and salary support, but it publishes no rate, no duration, no track list and no partner name. Its fourth reason, reskilling experienced employees, means staff you already employ, which sits outside this practice.

Money and paperwork sit elsewhere. SGTech's company info-kit names Workforce Singapore as the funding agency, IMDA as the supporting agency, and SGTech as the programme manager that handles the administrative matters. Workforce Singapore now operates as SWDA, whose CCP FAQs describe the same set-up in every sector: a Programme Partner runs the programme and follows up once you register interest.

So when you ask about an IMDA CCP, your real counterpart is SGTech, working on a programme SWDA pays for. IMDA's name is on the front door, and SGTech handles the file.

The eight ICT tracks and the roles inside them

SGTech's programme page lists eight tracks under one family name, the CCP for ICT Professionals. Each track page gives example roles and marks the list as non-exhaustive.

Track	Example roles SGTech names
Software and Applications	DevOps Engineer, Software Engineer, UI Designer, Embedded System Engineer, Software Engineering Manager
Data and Artificial Intelligence	Data Analyst (or Associate Data Engineer), Data Scientist, AI/ML Engineer, Data Engineer, Business Intelligence Manager
Cybersecurity	Security Operations Analyst, Cyber Risk Analyst, Security Engineer, Security Architect, Forensic Investigator
Product Development	Full Stack Developer, Product Manager, Quality Engineer, Product Designer, Front End or Back End Developer, Product Analyst
Strategy and Governance	Data Protection Officer, IT Auditor, Business Analyst, Scrum Master or Project Manager, Chief Technology Officer
Infrastructure	Network Engineer, SysOps Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer, Automation and Orchestration Engineer
Operations and Support	Data Centre Operations Engineer, Systems Support Engineer, Applications Support Engineer, Operations Centre Support Engineer
Sales and Marketing	Pre-Sales Consultant, Business Development Manager, Sales Account Manager, Marketing Manager, Channel Sales Manager

Two things stand out in that list. Roles run up to manager and director level, so the family isn't an entry-level scheme. And CCP for ICT roles covers more than coders: pre-sales, audit and data protection all have a home on SGTech's track list.

Match the job title to a named role before you write the advert. A vague "tech executive" title gives an assessor nothing to anchor the conversion to.

What the employer commits to before day one

SGTech's eligibility list is short, and every line is a promise you make in writing.

• Your company is incorporated or registered in Singapore and holds a valid UEN with ACRA.
• You offer a new hire a permanent full-time PMET position, or a contract of no less than one year.
• Pay is aligned to the market rate for the role.
• On-the-job training is in place, and you commit to the training arrangements.
• Your hire isn't a shareholder, isn't related to the owners and isn't immediate ex-staff. We explain who counts as related in the four exclusions.

SGTech's kit adds the paperwork behind those promises. From you: your latest ACRA record with shareholding, no older than six months, the signed employment letter, the job description and an On-the-Job Training Blueprint. From your hire: their past 15 months of CPF contribution statements, their CV and their certificates, per the kit's document list.

One more line deserves a slow read before you sign. You're asked to keep proof of work for at least three years after the final disbursement: work samples, timesheets, training attendance, approval emails. If you can't show the training happened, the kit says that could be treated as a breach of the terms.

How much salary support does an ICT CCP pay?

Per SGTech's info-kit, a new hire earns you support of up to 70% of fixed monthly salary for six months, with a monthly cap of S$5,000. If your hire is 40 or older, or has been unemployed and job-hunting for six months or more, the rate rises to up to 90%, capped at S$7,500.

Here's how the ICT kit lines up against SWDA's programme-wide factsheet. Read the middle column for an ICT hire; the right column is the baseline every sector starts from.

	SGTech ICT kit	SWDA factsheet
Salary base	Fixed monthly salary: basic plus fixed monthly allowances	Monthly salary, with no further definition
Standard rate	Up to 70%, capped at S$5,000 a month	Up to 70%, capped at $5,000 a month (SCs/PRs under 40)
Enhanced rate	Up to 90%, capped at S$7,500 (aged 40+ or long-term unemployed)	Up to 90%, capped at $7,500 (mature or long-term unemployed)
Duration for a new hire	6 months of training, 6 months of funding	Typically 3 to 6 months
Modes for a new hire	Place and Train (the kit also offers Job Redesign Reskilling for existing staff; not covered here, outside this practice)	Place-and-Train or Attach-and-Train (JR-Reskilling for existing staff is not covered here)

A salary above the cap still earns support, according to SWDA's FAQs, just at the capped amount. SGTech marks its rates as effective from 1 April 2024, so if you've seen different caps quoted elsewhere, check the date on that page.

We unpack how rate and cap interact in what up to 90% really pays, and the 40-and-over band in the grant for hiring older workers.

Fixed monthly salary is the base, not the package

SGTech's kit is precise about the base. Fixed monthly salary is your hire's basic monthly pay plus any fixed monthly allowances, so commission, performance bonuses and one-off payments don't count towards the figure the percentage is applied to.

That bites hardest on the Sales and Marketing track, where much of the pay can be commission. A thin basic with a fat commission plan shrinks your support, so set the fixed component at the market rate for the role.

Our own eligibility check asks whether the expected monthly salary is S$3,000 or above. That line is this practice's threshold for taking on the work. It isn't a programme rule.

A worked example on a S$6,000 data analyst

Say you hire a 34-year-old logistics planner as a Data Analyst on a fixed monthly salary of S$6,000. Here's our arithmetic on the rates in SGTech's Data and AI kit. Beside it sits the same hire at 41. It's a calculation, not a quotation, and SWDA sets the actual amount case by case.

	Hire aged 34	Hire aged 41
Fixed monthly salary	S$6,000	S$6,000
Rate and cap	70%, cap S$5,000	90%, cap S$7,500
Support a month	S$4,200	S$5,400
Support over 6 months	S$25,200	S$32,400
Salary you pay over 6 months	S$36,000	S$36,000
Your net salary cost	S$10,800	S$3,600

Same role, same salary, S$7,200 apart, decided by age alone. Above the cap the curve flattens. On S$8,000 a month, 70% would be S$5,600, so the S$5,000 cap applies and support tops out at S$30,000 over six months, per the kit's table.

Our arithmetic covers salary only. Nothing in the kit's definition of fixed monthly salary mentions employer CPF, so don't budget it as covered.

The money arrives about a year after the claim

This is the line in the kit we'd want every employer to read before they hire.

You claim after the full on-the-job training period ends. Then, in the kit's own words, "it will take approximately 12 months for companies to receive the reimbursement from the deadline of claims submission."

Put that on a calendar. Six months of training, then a claim deadline, then about 12 months. On the kit's figures, the S$25,200 in our example lands around 18 months or more after your hire's first day, and you'll have paid the full S$36,000 long before it arrives (source: the kit's claim timeline).

None of this makes the programme a poor deal. Per the kit's rates, S$25,200 back on a S$36,000 outlay is real money. It's a reimbursement you wait for, though, and a small team that plans on monthly cash will feel the gap.

Ask for the claim deadline in writing once you're approved. SGTech's kit doesn't publish it, yet the 12-month clock starts from it. SWDA's own documents publish no claim timetable at all, which we cover in when CCP money actually arrives.

Six weeks, three months, and the planning figure

Four different clocks apply, from four different documents. Mixing them up is how a good hire ends up unfunded.

• Six weeks. The kit asks for full documents within 6 weeks of employment. After that, you must contact SGTech before applying, and the application may be rejected, per the kit.
• Three months. SGTech's page says a new hire must be hired no more than three months before CCP commencement, and SWDA's FAQs want a Place-and-Train application approved within 3 months of the start date.
• Four to six weeks is the kit's estimate from first submission to a start or a rejection for a new hire. The kit itself labels the figure an estimate.
• Twelve to fifteen weeks is this practice's planning figure for the approval-letter-first route, where no hire has started and no three-month clock is running (pricing page). Once your hire starts, SWDA's three-month approval line governs, so apply from their first day.

That's why we prefer securing the approval letter before you recruit, where the programme allows it. The letter stays valid for six months, and subsidies only start once it's issued.

SGTech's document list assumes a named hire, though. Confirm the letter-first route is open on your track before you rely on it. What missing the three-month line costs is set out in the 3-month approval deadline.

The application portal changed on 7 July 2026

If you've downloaded SGTech's kit, one part of it is already out of date.

Its four-step flow runs through SGTech's own portal. SGTech's notice now says every new CCP application from 7 July 2026 onwards has to go in through the Business Grants Portal. Applications already in training or waiting on claims aren't affected.

Updated guidelines are promised once the transition is settled, so treat the kit's timings as the last published position.

Hire first or train first: CCP, TIPP or CLT?

IMDA runs two other TeSA programmes that look similar from a distance. What separates them is the order of hiring and training, and that order decides who carries the risk. Figures below come from IMDA's TIPP page, IMDA's CLT page and SGTech's kit.

	CCP for ICT Professionals	TIPP	CLT
Order	You hire, then train	Trainee trains, then looks for a job	Grant approved, then you hire
Who runs it	SGTech as programme manager, SWDA funding, IMDA support	IMDA, with training institutions	IMDA
Training length	6 months, up to 100% on the job	3 to 4 months, bootcamp-style, before you meet them	Up to 12 months
Salary support to you	Up to 70% or 90% of fixed salary, capped	None described on IMDA's page	No rate published on IMDA's page
Who you can hire	Singapore Citizens and PRs	Singaporeans who are non-ICT professionals	Citizens and PRs; PRs capped at 15% of trainees

Our call: if you already know the person you want, choose CCP. If you'd rather meet people who've finished a bootcamp, look at TIPP and don't expect a salary rebate. If you're planning a cohort over one to two years and can run a real training programme, CLT is worth a conversation with IMDA. Hosting without hiring is a separate mode: see Attach-and-Train CCP.

Where do the ICT kit and SWDA's factsheet disagree?

Beyond the funding table, two gaps matter. Where a programme's own terms differ from the generic factsheet, the programme's terms decide, so ask SGTech in writing.

• Working pattern: SGTech's page specifies a full-time PMET position for new hires. SWDA's FAQs allow full-time or flexi-load, including part-time, for Place-and-Train since 1 April 2025. Planning a part-time tech hire? Get SGTech's answer first.
• Course fees: SWDA's factsheet offers a 70% course fee subsidy for selected CCPs with structured training. SGTech's ICT training can be up to 100% on the job, with classroom training optional, so ask whether any course fee applies to your track at all.

What does the assessor read first?

Two documents carry most of the weight, and both exist to prove a real career change.

CPF statements show where your hire has actually worked for the past 15 months. SWDA's factsheet requires a new hire's role to be substantially different from their previous roles, and SGTech adds that the person must not have held the same or similar role. Your hire's CPF record is where that claim can be checked.

Your On-the-Job Training Blueprint shows the change happening. With training up to 100% on the job, per SGTech's track pages, the blueprint is effectively the whole training plan. A plan that reads like onboarding won't carry it. Name the skills the person lacks, who teaches each one, and when.

We walk through the same approach for another function in CCP for HR roles. For the usual reasons a file comes back, see why CCP applications get rejected.

Who should stop here

Some tech employers should hear a straight no now rather than in week nine.

• You want to retrain someone already on your IT team. That's Job Redesign Reskilling, and we handle new hires only. The two modes are compared in Place-and-Train versus Job Redesign.
• Your candidate already does the job. A developer moving to another developer role doesn't clear SGTech's same-or-similar test.
• Your hire holds an Employment Pass or S Pass. The general criteria on SGTech's page require a Singapore Citizen or PR.
• You can't offer a full year. Permanent terms, or a contract of at least one year, are required.
• You can't carry the salary. If six months of full pay plus a year's wait for reimbursement would strain the business, skip it for now. The programme improves a hire you can already afford; it doesn't rescue cash flow.
• Your hire started more than three months ago. SGTech's page caps the gap between hiring and CCP commencement at three months.

What to do this week, in order

1. Match the role to one of the eight tracks and to a named example role on SGTech's page.
2. Test the person: Citizen or PR, at least 21, two years past their last qualification or National Service, and a genuinely different previous role.
3. Price the role at market rate, with a fixed component that reflects it.
4. Draft the On-the-Job Training Blueprint before you draft the offer letter.
5. Check your cash flow against six months of full salary and a reimbursement about a year after the claim deadline.
6. Choose your route: approval letter first, or a named hire whose onboarding starts within 25 days, as described on our pricing page.

Check the hire before you post the role

What's left is whether your hire and your role clear the criteria, and that takes about a minute.

Run our eligibility check against the person you have in mind. It asks what an assessor asks first: a Singapore-registered company, a Citizen or PR hire, the salary, and a genuine new hire. Clearing it opens the payment options.

Our fees sit openly on the pricing page: SGD 4,500 plus a 1.5% success fee capped at SGD 360, or SGD 4,600 in stages. Either you get your subsidies, or the cost is on us. Our paid consultation ends with a written quotation.

If you'd rather write first, send the role and the track to hello@ccpconsulting.sg. We read everything that arrives.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a career conversion programme for data analyst roles?

Yes. SGTech's Data and AI track names Data Analyst or Associate Data Engineer among its example roles. Your hire must be converting from a different kind of role, not moving between analyst jobs.

Is there a career conversion programme for cyber security?

Yes, the CCP for ICT Professionals (Cybersecurity). SGTech's track page lists Security Operations Analyst, Cyber Risk Analyst and Security Engineer among its examples. A new hire goes through Place and Train, with six months of on-the-job training.

What are the TeSA CCP employer requirements?

A Singapore UEN, a full-time PMET contract on permanent terms or at least one year, market-rate pay and real on-the-job training. On paper: an OJT Blueprint, your ACRA record, the hire's CPF history, and proof of work kept for three years, per SGTech's kit.

How much is IMDA CCP salary support?

According to SGTech's info-kit, the standard rate is 70% of fixed monthly salary at most, paid for six months, with a S$5,000 monthly cap. For hires aged 40 and above, or long-term unemployed, it's up to 90% capped at S$7,500. IMDA's own page publishes no rate.

Can I hire before the CCP is approved?

Under the ICT CCP, yes, because Place and Train means you hire first. But the kit wants documents within six weeks, and SWDA wants approval within three months of the start date. Under IMDA's Company-Led Training the answer is no: hiring waits for grant approval.

The short version: the IMDA career conversion programme is SGTech's CCP for ICT Professionals, and the hire that works is one you could afford without it. Our eligibility check tells you in about a minute whether yours qualifies.

About this article. ICT terms come from SGTech's CCP pages and its November 2025 info-kits. Generic rules come from SWDA's factsheet and FAQs, and programme descriptions from IMDA's pages and Ngee Ann Polytechnic's IMDA Jobs Transformation Map site. We read everything on 19 September 2026.

What's deliberately absent: IMDA publishes no CCP rate, duration or partner, so no figure here is attributed to IMDA. SGTech's funding table carries the Cybersecurity heading in every kit we read, so we treat it as the family's table. Worked examples are our arithmetic, not quotations.

Rules, rates, tracks and processing times for the IMDA career conversion programme are set by SWDA, IMDA and SGTech as programme manager, and they change. Eligibility is assessed case by case. Confirm your position with SGTech, SWDA or a qualified adviser before you commit to a hire. Nothing here implies any influence over an approval decision, and nothing here is legal, tax or employment advice.