Principal Advisor Regulatory Operations

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

This role is a subject domain leadership position in MBIE. The Principal Advisor will bring their legal and regulatory expertise to support and grow the statutory decisions and functions of the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system.

The Principal Advisor is responsible for:

• Partnering with managers to identify key risks associated with the statutory decisions and functions of the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system.
• Collaborating with others to identify and design changes that are needed to respond to the key risks.
• Providing authoritative advice to ensure that change is designed and implemented in a way that gives effect to all relevant law.
• Regular reviews of statutory decisions, business processes, internal and external guidance and other work to protect the statutory decisions and functions of the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system.
• Enhancing the overall capability of the team and branch through guiding and mentoring technical staff, senior advisors and advisors in their day-to-day work.

A key component of this role is to take responsibility to ensure the quality of statutory decisions and functions of the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system by collaboration with others.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Demonstrated ability to understand a wide range of complex legal issues relating to the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system.
• Significant expertise and expertise in public law, statutory decision making, and regulatory systems.
• Demonstrated understanding of current Government policy and community views on the Treaty of Waitangi and the implications for policy and service delivery groups.
• Ability to identify, analyse, assess and mitigate legal and regulatory risks.
• Ability to work with others to both design appropriate change, and to implement a programme of changes.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to quickly assimilate new information or areas of work, including complex technical and industry information.
• Ability to quickly establish and build strong working relationships with a diverse range of colleagues.
• Diligence and attention to detail.
• Proven ability to develop trust and credibility with managers and staff.
• Understands the strategic context, current regulatory agenda and priorities, and is able to see regulatory issues in the wider context and apply foresight and judgement to identify what is important for the area in the medium and long term.
• Has the intellectual capability to work with multiple complex ideas in parallel as well as being able to integrate multiple concepts and pathways and deal comfortably with ambiguity.

Qualifications

• Tertiary qualification in law or an equivalent discipline is strongly desired.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Identification and Management of Risks

• Understands the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system, all relevant legislation, current and potential future legal risks, and current and potential future operational challenges.
• Works with managers to identify, assess and prioritise key risks associated with the statutory decisions and functions of the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system.
• Collaborates with others to identify a range of potential options to mitigate key risks.
• Provides advice and takes the lead to ensure that solutions to mitigate key risks promote robust statutory decisions and good administration of the law.
• Takes the lead identifying, assessing, and communicating to policy teams potential changes needed to existing laws.

Relationship Management

• Build and maintain strong constructive working relationships with work colleagues to enhance understanding and use cooperation to achieve results.
• Engage constructively with other parts of MBIE and the Crown in order to share learnings and develop solutions that reflect a whole of Crown approach.
• Engage constructively and professionally with external stakeholders, representing whole of Ministry views and protecting its reputation in all external interactions.

Regulatory and Legal Awareness, Analysis, and Development

• Understands a range of complex regulatory issues, identifying and understanding legal risks and issues.
• Works with a range of operational and policy staff to understand how issues manifest, as well as the policy context and constraints.
• Partner with MBIE’s Legal team to manage legal risks.
• Lead the development of change and a range of business improvements in a way that addresses legal risks and issues, whilst being practical to implement.
• Applies advanced regulatory systems knowledge and tools to enhance the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system.
• Applies advanced system, strategic and critical thinking, clear and logical reasoning and sound judgement to analyse issues.

Capability Development

• Partner with managers within the ERM Leadership Team of ERM to identify and address key risks associated with the statutory decisions and functions of the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system.
• Support both the Petroleum & Minerals technical and regulatory operations staff to develop their understanding of, and ability to respond to, key risks associated with the statutory decisions and functions of the Petroleum & Minerals regulatory system.
• Take a forward looking and proactive strategic approach and seeks opportunities to collaborate with others and implement new ideas.

Work Management

• Uses project planning and management techniques to effectively carry out agreed work, within the resources available and provides timely reports on progress.
• Works will little guidance - identifies the overall policy objectives and seeks guidance where required and uses initiative to resolve conflicts, manage risks and coordinate work with others.
• Leads multiple pieces of work concurrently and actively and independently plans and manages work load.
• Takes a leadership role in cross-MBIE and cross-government policy projects.
• Chairs and contributes to meetings, including where matters are complex or sensitive, require negotiation or solutions.

Personal Management

• Leads project teams and understands and utilises the capability of team members to deliver high quality project outputs.
• Provides leadership that engages and motivates others to succeed and develop, and proactively share knowledge and ideas.
• Provides intellectual leadership by bringing new ideas and knowledge to policy discussions and leads strategic conversations in the policy area.
• Provide supervision, guidance, coaching and mentoring and on-the-job training to team members.
• Contributes to the performance of the team through providing peer review and quality control including projects and tasks that they are not leading.

Wellbeing, health & safety

• Displays commitment through actively supporting all safety and wellbeing initiatives.
• Ensures own and others safety at all times.
• Complies with relevant safety and wellbeing policies, procedures, safe systems of work and event reporting.
• Reports all incidents/accidents, including near misses in a timely fashion.
• Is involved in health and safety through participation and consultation.

Tō tūranga i roto i te Manatū – Your place in the Ministry

The Principal Advisor position reports into the National Manager Petroleum & Minerals within the Energy and Resource Markets branch. The branch sits within the Building Resources and Markets group.

More information about MBIE’s structure

To mātou aronga – What we do for Aotearoa New Zealand

Hīkina Whakatutuki is the te reo Māori name for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Hīkina means to uplift. Whakatutuki means to move forward, to make successful. Our name speaks to our purpose, Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All.

To Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All, we put people at the heart of our mahi. Based on the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi, we are committed to upholding authentic partnerships with Māori.

As agile public service leaders, we use our breadth and experience to navigate the ever-changing world. We are service providers, policy makers, investors and regulators. We engage with diverse communities, businesses and regions. Our work touches on the daily lives of New Zealanders. We grow opportunities (Puāwai), guard and protect (Kaihāpai) and innovate and navigate towards a better future (Auaha).

Ngā matatau – Our competencies

Cultivates innovation We create new and better ways for the organisation to be successful by challenging the status quo generating new and creative ideas and translating them into workable solutions.

Nimble learning We are curious and actively learn through experimentation when tackling new problems by learning as we go when facing new situations and challenges.

Customer focus We build strong customer relationships and deliver customer-centric solutions by listening and gaining insights into the needs of the communities we serve and actively seeking and responding to feedback.

Decision quality We make quality and timely decisions that shape the future for our communities and keep the organisation moving forward by relying on an appropriate mix of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgement to make valid and reliable decisions.

Action oriented We step up, taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with purpose, urgency and discipline by taking responsibility, ownership and action on challenges, and being accountable for the results.

Collaborates We connect, working together to build partnerships with our communities, working collaboratively to meet shared objectives by gaining trust and support of others; actively seeking the views, experiences, and opinions of others and by working co-operatively with others across MBIE, the public sector and external stakeholder groups.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

As an agency of the public service, MBIE has a responsibility to contribute to the Crown meeting its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti). Meeting our commitment to Te Tiriti will contribute towards us realising the overall aims of Te Ara Amiorangi – Our Path, Our Direction, and achieve the outcome of Growing New Zealand for All. The principles of Te Tiriti - including partnership, good faith, and active protection – are at the core of our work. MBIE is committed to delivering on our obligations as a Treaty partner with authenticity and integrity and to enable Māori interests. We are committed to ensuring that MBIE is well placed to meet our obligations under the Public Service Act 2020 (Te Ao Tūmatanui) to support the Crown in strengthening the Māori/Crown Relationship under the Treaty and to build MBIE’s capability, capacity and cultural intelligence to deliver this.

Mahi i roto i te Ratonga Tūmatanui – Working in the public service

Ka mahitahi mātou o te ratonga tūmatanui kia hei painga mō ngā tāngata o Aotearoa i āianei, ā, hei ngā rā ki tua hoki. He kawenga tino whaitake tā mātou hei tautoko i te Karauna i runga i āna hononga ki a ngāi Māori i raro i te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ka tautoko mātou i te kāwanatanga manapori. Ka whakakotahingia mātou e te wairua whakarato ki ō mātou hapori, ā, e arahina ana mātou e ngā mātāpono me ngā tikanga matua o te ratonga tūmatanui i roto i ā mātou mahi.

In the public service we work collectively to make a meaningful difference for New Zealanders now and in the future. We have an important role in supporting the Crown in its relationships with Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi. We support democratic government. We are unified by a spirit of service to our communities and guided by the core principles and values of the public service in our work.

What does it mean to work in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Public Service?(external link) — Te Kawa Mataaho The Public Service Commission