Senior Risk and Assurance Advisor

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Senior Risk and Assurance Advisor plays a key role in developing and maintaining risk, assurance and compliance frameworks and activities across MBIE’s two large corporate groups (Corporate and Digital Shared Services, and Strategy and Assurance).

MBIE’s two corporate groups are large and complex, spanning strategy to operations and delivery. The Groups are responsible for MBIE’s ICT, project and programme management, data, finance and workplace health and safety functions amongst others.

You’ll be part of a small, adaptable and proactive team working in a dynamic environment. Success in this role depends on strong collaboration with other functions performing complementary work and maintaining a robust network of subject matter experts to inform and guide assurance activities.

This role is central to providing assurance that the Ministry is meeting its legislative, regulatory, and policy obligations. You will apply your expertise in risk and compliance frameworks to develop pragmatic, fit-for-purpose approaches for assessing compliance across the Group’s diverse operational areas. Your work will help ensure risks and obligations are clearly understood, robustly assessed, and effectively managed.

You will lead and support assurance activities, including planning and coordinating assurance work, conducting and advising on fieldwork, and preparing reporting to senior leaders. You’ll also contribute to sound risk management practices that enable informed decision-making and continuous improvement.

To be successful, you’ll bring strong relationship management skills and deep knowledge of risk, compliance, and assurance frameworks, methodologies, tools, and techniques. You’ll work collaboratively across the Groups and the wider Ministry to foster a culture of accountability, transparency, and proactive risk management.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Strong understanding of and expertise in best practice risk, compliance and assurance frameworks, processes, methodologies, tools and techniques.
• Proven experience in providing high quality technical audit-related advice to managers and leadership teams.
• Demonstrated ability to quickly assimilate and interrogate new information or areas of work and come to an understanding of unfamiliar or complex concepts and environments.
• Proven ability to think independently and coordinate organisation-wide systems and processes.
• Proven ability to quickly establish and build strong working relationships, trust and credibility with managers and staff. This includes the ability to work with managers on contentious, difficult and urgent issues.
• Good communication skills including the ability to write quickly and with clarity and purpose.
• The ability to think critically about an issue and then assess, collate and analyse information to consider the impact on service delivery and/or safety and wellbeing and then contribute to the identification and development of possible solutions or interventions.

Qualifications

• Relevant qualification or equivalent experience.

Other

• Must have the legal right to live and work in New Zealand.
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a security clearance. For your application to be considered you must be a New Zealand citizen, OR a resident who has resided continuously in New Zealand for 10 years, OR a citizen of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom or the United States of America, and have resided continuously in one or more of these countries for the last 10 years.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Risk Management

• Support the application of MBIE’s Risk Management Framework, ensuring risks are clearly identified, assessed, and managed.
• Provide advice and tools to enable effective risk ownership and mitigation.
• Promote a proactive risk culture through engagement, training, and collaboration with stakeholders.

Assurance coordination

• In conjunction with other members of the Risk and Assurance Team, support the maintenance and delivery of the Assurance Work Plan (the Work Plan).
• Maintain a comprehensive register of activity to enable effective management of the assurance system.
• Provide advice on, or personally conduct, assurance reviews in line with the Work Plan, including determination of any corrective actions, and monitoring through to completion.
• Lead/project manage ad hoc assurance activities and specific reviews, projects or initiatives as required.
• Support the Manager Risk and Assurance to implement the MBIE Risk Management framework. This includes providing assurance to the General Managers and the Deputy Secretary’s on the effectiveness and efficiency of operating and control systems.
• Proactively identify opportunities for continuous improvement and lead/participate in branch and group assurance initiatives.
• Takes responsibility for own work and is a self-starter who knows when to seeks input and advice

Compliance Management

• With the Enterprise Risk, Compliance and Insurance Team, design and apply pragmatic, risk-based approaches to assess compliance with legislative, regulatory, and policy obligations. Ensure methodologies are fit-for-purpose, scalable, and aligned with MBIE’s broader assurance and governance frameworks
• Establish or enhance existing mechanisms to track, analyse, and report on compliance performance, trends, and emerging risks. Provide actionable insights and recommendations to senior leaders to support informed decision-making and continuous improvement in compliance practices

Relationship management

• Lead by example to create a good risk, compliance and assurance culture across the group.
• Establish and maintain key relationships with PRA colleagues, Risk and Compliance practitioners, Internal Assurance, and MBIE Policy owners to enable the three lines of Assurance model.
• Establish and maintain key relationships with Group and wider MBIE managers and staff as relevant.
• Participate as an active team member and share relevant knowledge and expertise needed to achieve Group and MBIE’s outcomes.

Wellbeing, Health & Safety

• Display commitment through actively supporting all safety and wellbeing initiatives
• Ensure own and others safety at all times.
• Comply with relevant safety and wellbeing policies, procedures, safe systems of work and event reporting.
• Report 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 Senior Risk and Assurance position reports into the Manager, Group Risk and Assurance within the Planning Risk and Assurance Team in the Corporate Shared Services branch. The branch is in the Corporate and Digital Shared Services 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