After leaving the navy, Tay served as the chief executive officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) between 2007 and 2013, and the National Environment Agency between 2013 and 2018.

[2] He was awarded the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1982 and graduated from the University of Oxford in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in engineering science.

He was awarded the Singapore Armed Forces Postgraduate Scholarship in 1996 and went on to obtain a Master of Science in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997.

[1][4] After leaving the military, Tay served as the chief executive officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore from November 2007 to June 2013.

Tay also sits on the boards or councils of various institutions, including: DSO National Laboratories; Integrated Health Information Systems; Infocomm Investments; IDA International; Media Development Authority; IT Committee, Singapore Health Services; Science and Engineering Research Council, Agency for Science, Technology and Research; National Institute of Education; Honorary Advisory Council, Singapore Computer Society; School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University.