Charles Lee
Mechanical Engineering
School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Summary
I first fell in love with product management and development during my 6-month internship with Xiaomi Corporation’s Global Product Marketing Team (in their Beijing Headquarters), as part of the NUS Overseas College programme.
I’ve since taken this passion for product management and development one step further, by starting my career as a Business Analyst/Software Engineer in DBS Bank.
At DBS, I work on products that serve millions of consumers around the world, including DBS PayLah (a mobile wallet, payments, and lifestyle application). Specifically, I manage the digital delivery of such consumer banking platforms, to ensure that they continue to delight consumers.
I’m also part of the Skill Enhancement Education Development (SEED) Programme in DBS, which aims to groom young technologists for leadership and specialist roles.
Outside of work, I continue to hone my product management and programming skills by constantly upskilling and building new initiatives. I’m all about using technology to develop products that resonate with us, and would love to connect if you share the same aspirations.
Featured Skills
Work Experience
Business Analyst Software Engineer Jul 2021 - Present
DBS Bank SingaporeI joined DBS’s Consumer Banking Group as a Business Analyst and Software Engineer fresh out of school. I manage the digital delivery of DBS’s PayLah! platform.
I am also part of the 157-member Skill Enhancement Education Development (SEED) Programme in DBS, selected out of 500 applicants from 3 technical hackathons. The SEED Programme grooms young technologists for leadership and specialist roles in DBS.
Product Management Intern Jan 2021 - Mar 2021
Parcel Perform SingaporeI took up a 3-month internship with Parcel Perform, to hone and deepen my skills in product management through these involvements:
• Created an API integration dashboard, with a secure and optimized authentication process in place.
• Produced a low-fi wireframe for the API Integrations Page, in collaboration with 3 product owners and 1 lead designer.
• Crafted a happy path for Parcel Platform’s Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) operations, to help clients track their parcels more effectively.
Teaching Assistant Jun 2020 - May 2021
National University of Singapore SingaporeI was offered and took up the opportunity to be a Teaching Assistant for the ‘TR4049: Market Validation’ module, which was part of NUS’s Entrepreneurship curriculum. My key achievements are as follows:
• Collaborated with 3 course instructors (2 from Silicon Valley, 1 from Singapore) to assess startup ideas and market validation techniques from 19 teams of 95 students.
• Managed administrative matters for 176 students and responded to questions on content taught, as the primary point of contact.
• Initiated and established Telegram as the primary communication channel, which was well-received by students enrolled in the module.
Project Intern, McKinsey-Enterprise Singapore Scale-up Program Oct 2020 - Dec 2020
McKinsey Company SingaporeI completed a part-time internship with McKinsey Company, where I was staffed on the McKinsey-Enterprise Singapore (ESG) Scale-Up Program to help local companies grow and scale.
I was attached to an end-to-end printing company that was keen to transform digitally. My key involvements as follows:
• Wrote a computational logic for the company to allocate and sort printing tasks based on the quality and the type of materials printed, as well as the urgency of the task.
• Automated workforce and machine management scheduling with another computational logic that I designed and wrote for the company.
Business Developer Intern Mar 2020 - Jun 2020
Avetics Global SingaporeAs part of the NUS Overseas Colleges programme, I completed a 4-month internship where I drove business development, marketing and digital activities in Avetics Global:
• Initiated and established a Google Ads Search Campaign for the company, which increased impressions by 200% and clicks by 63%.
• Managed marketing activities for DJI drones in Singapore, as DJI’s official channel partner. Organized 6 webinars with 100 enterprise attendees, which led to 2 5-figure deals for the company.
• Collaborated with the company’s software engineers to establish a drone data management platform.
• Revamped the company’s website for better online ranking and a smoother user journey.
• Implemented a chatbot for users to engage with the company, and enhanced both the website’s user interface and user experience (UI/UX).
• Created website design and copy for Avetics Global’s new subsidiary, ServeMyShip (servemyship.com).
Global Product Marketing Intern Aug 2019 - Feb 2020
Xiaomi SingaporeI completed a 6-month internship with Xiaomi’s Global Product Marketing Team in Beijing, as part of the NUS Overseas Colleges programme. My key achievements in Xiaomi are as follows:
• Conceptualized 100 names for Xiaomi’s smart products, including Mi Air Purifier 3H, 10000mAh Mi 18W Fast Charge Power Bank 3 and the Mi Home Induction Heating Rice Cooker.
• Managed the smooth rollout of 4 new Xiaomi smartphones (Mi 10, Mi 10 Pro, Mi Note 10 Lite, Redmi 8A Dual) in the market.
• Conducted technical analyses, product messaging, competitor analyses and landscape studies.
• Conducted 2 product trainings for 40 Xiaomi staff, to educate them on the features and benefits of new Xiaomi products.
Education
NUS Overseas College Program (Business Administration) Aug 2019 - Jun 2020
Tsinghua University ChinaI was selected for the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme in Beijing, where I had the opportunity to do a 6-month internship with Xiaomi Corporation (in Beijing) and enroll in classes at Tsinghua University.
My achievements in NOC are as follows:
• Awarded the Jacob Phang Memorial Scholarship, where I was 1 of 2 students selected from the Faculty of Engineering to receive a $3.5K scholarship.
• Received the Jane Sun and John Wu Sunshine Award, a $3K scholarship to cover my living expenses and entrepreneurial pursuits in Beijing.
• 1st Place (out of 25 participating teams) at the ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab China Hackathon: The Future of Urban Mobility.
• 2nd Place (out of 20 teams) at the StartupGrind Ideathon 2.0 Hackathon.
Bachelor Of Engineering (Honours) (Mechanical Engineering) Aug 2017 - May 2021
National University of Singapore SingaporeI immersed myself in campus life at Eusoff Hall, 1 of the 6 Halls of Residence at NUS. At Eusoff Hall, I took up leadership appointments and was active in serving the community:
• Head of Eusoff Benefactors Team (2020 – 2021), where I led a team of 12 to raise $65K in funds for Eusoff Hall. We organized 4 webinars to connect current students with alumni members, with 50 attendees at each webinar.
• Vice-Head of Eusoff Voluntary Corps (2018 – 2019). Led a team of 25 student volunteers to run a weekly peer tutoring programme with The Salvation Army.
• Vice-Captain of the Inter-Faculty Badminton Team for Engineering (2018 – 2019). Planned and ran training programmes for 12 players, and conducted selection trials with close to 50 team aspirants.
I was also a finalist (top 5 out of 20 participating teams) at the Sport Singapore ActiveSG YouthCreate Competition.
Other Skills
Careers Charles favourited
Charles Lee's Skill Profile
Global Product Marketing Intern @ Xiaomi
When I was working at Xiaomi (Aug 2019 - Feb 2020), I demonstrated the Cross-functional Team Leadership skill when I was in charge of Product Trainings. To improve the situation, I proactively ensured clear communication to convey product unique selling points to business units. As a result, I managed to achieve alignment across business units for the marketing direction.
Q&A with Charles Lee
What do you do to keep your skills fresh or keep yourself updated in your field?
In the technology industry, learning to learn is key. Im always looking to set aside time to build new projects or join courses that could come in handy in the future. It is important to be intrinsically motivated when upskilling too. I also pay more attention to courses which can be directly applied at work.
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What do you like most about your work?
Much of my work revolves around speaking to various individuals to ensure minimal changes during the software development process. I enjoy speaking to different stakeholders, teammates, and peer groups as it helps me to gain a better understanding of what they do. In doing so, I had been given exposure to various fields and a high-level overview and direction of how the product is developed.
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What are your interests and in what way does this career satisfy your interests?
My interest is in building products that impact the world positively. As a Business Analyst and Software Engineer with DBS PayLah, I have had the opportunity and privilege to help facilitate alongside build features to enhance the customer experience for PayLah. Given how widely used PayLah is in Singapore, it is fascinating to see how the changes affect the day to day use of the application.
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