Senior Advisor - Content

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Senior Advisor, Content develops strategies, products, and initiatives to drive behaviour change and educate customers about MBIE’s regulatory systems. This specialist role uses education, content development, and communication skills to design and implement bespoke programmes and projects.

You will lead projects and programmes alongside subject matter experts to clearly articulate regulatory requirements for customers and stakeholders interacting with MBIE. You will design and create plain English content across many channels to encourage positive engagement with a range of audiences.

The Senior Advisor will bring extensive experience and expertise in the following areas: content and product design and development, clear communication strategies, and behaviour change. You will be able to explain complex information in clear and understandable ways.

Use your knowledge and expertise to work in partnership with the manager, team, and internal stakeholders to deliver fit-for-purpose information and education products.

This position also involves mentoring and coaching advisors in the team’s kaitiakitanga role, embedding best practice in content design, strategic planning, and communication across the team.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Extensive knowledge of behaviour change best practices, including communication methods, design thinking, and product development.
• Excellent plain English writing, editing, and proofreading skills, with the ability to translate complex information into a range of customer-centric products.
• A sound understanding of the internet, email technologies, social media, multimedia, and related communication channels, and how these can be used effectively to educate customers and stakeholders.
• Experience creating a variety of multimedia products, including videos and presentations.
• Sound understanding of current communication standards, including NZ Government Web Standards, accessibility, user experience, and plain language requirements.
• Experience working within complex regulatory systems and fulfilling regulatory system responsibilities, such as delivering public campaigns (general and targeted), developing products, and managing social media and email communications to drive customer behaviour change.
• Ability to influence and negotiate with stakeholders to adopt content solutions at a senior level.
• Experience leading information and education projects from inception to delivery.
• A tertiary qualification or equivalent experience in education, communications, writing or a related discipline.
• Strong ability to think strategically about current and future issues to identify and mitigate risks.
• Experience working through ambiguity and change, being flexible when collaborating with business partners and responding to changing priorities and service delivery requests with a can-do attitude.
• Ability to self-manage and organise your work.
• Ability to demonstrate innovation, experimentation, problem-solving, and agile ways of working, to develop and inject a digital focus into engagement strategies and plans.
• Experience in thinking critically from a detailed to broader context, taking into account various perspectives and operational needs, including legislative and statutory requirements.
• Extensive engagement knowledge and experience with the ability to join diverse groups together to initiate change.
• Ability to simplify complex language and ideas with an advanced knowledge of language and grammar.
• Bring a curious mind and can challenge the status quo when required.
• Proven contribution to a culture of high-quality insightful solutions for customers through using day to day tikanga Māori in the team.
• Must have the legal right to work in New Zealand.

Desirable experience 

• Experience working with migrant communities.
• Design thinking and service design experience.
• Experience with marketing and website platforms.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Develop and manage information and education content for a range of channels

• Supports the implementation of MBIE’s channels and content strategies, roadmaps, guidelines and procedures to provide a consistent experience across our channels.
• Ensures MBIE processes are followed, including validation/approval of content and campaigns with relevant subject matter experts, legal teams, and other stakeholders.
• Review and implement strategic approaches to providing clear information and education products that explain regulatory rules and processes.
• Use evidence to identify, manage, and develop content for a range of print, digital, and multimedia channels, using the right tone of voice and clear, precise plain English tailored to user needs.
• Works with subject matter experts to create and edit content that meets customer needs and clearly and accurately explains the requirements they need to meet. Ensures it aligns with the content strategy, style guides, and meets NZ plain language requirements and web standards for accessibility and usability.
• Connects and collaborate closely across relevant teams, business partners, and delivery partners to create an integrated, end-to-end customer experience.
• Actively promote the skills available in the Content team and the wider Content and Marketing Unit, and lead cross-team groups to develop seamless engagement and education content.
• Map the behaviour drivers of key stakeholders in close collaboration with engagement partners.
• Research the needs of stakeholders and develop strategic approaches to support them within the system.
• Think outside the box to develop innovative and specialist products that meet the needs of diverse stakeholders.
• Actively identify opportunities to improve our products and services so they better meet customer needs and deliver greater productivity and compliance.
• Willingly share knowledge and expertise across MBIE to support staff and projects involved in providing or preparing information and education content for customers.
• Demonstrate flexibility, adaptability and strategic agility as the needs and priorities of our customers, influencers, and our business change.
• Proactively look for ways to engage with other branches to ensure the voice of the customer is at the heart of what we do.
• Champion visual identity and brand guidelines into product and service design.

Collective Leadership

• Participates collaboratively as a member of the Content and Marketing team to ensure the successful delivery of team, branch, and group priorities.
• Effectively contributes to the alignment of business plans, activities, and key messaging to our overarching strategies and frameworks.
• Works collaboratively with members of the Customer Service Delivery branch to support the achievement of MBIE’s outcomes and strategic priorities.
• Contributes beyond core functional area to enhance the overall effectiveness of information and education delivery.
• Works collectively to provide surge capacity across teams to support business needs.
• Supports the design, maintenance, and compliance with agreed processes and standards for triaging work requests and handling sensitive or embargoed content.
• Demonstrates a commitment to learning and continuous improvement in partnering with Māori and cross-cultural capability.

Personal Leadership

• Manages and balances a range of competing demands and project priorities while meeting tight deadlines and timeframes.
• Acts as a trusted advisor and sounding board for the Content and Marketing leadership teams and our people.
• Able to self-identify areas in personal approach and adapt and strengthen when required, to deliver results and model exemplary behaviour to set the example for others.
• Establish and maintain effective, healthy working relationships with colleagues, delivery partners and business partners—providing proactive support and communication with a “no surprises” approach.
• Models behaviours aligned to MBIE’s values.
• Contributes to a sense of vision, participates as a team member, and makes things happen.
• Fosters an open, collaborative environment that encourages quality, innovation, ongoing learning, and knowledge sharing.
• Sound judgement, integrity and discretion, particularly around work programme delivery.
• Self-motivation and persistence in challenging frameworks and pushing hard issues, but with good judgement in identifying when to pull back on issues or seek guidance.

Coaching and mentoring

• Coaches others in developing expertise and understanding of institutional practices.
• Identifies opportunities to develop the capability of others in the
• Seeks and explores opportunities to develop own professional capability and grow own self-awareness for the future.
• Excellent communication and coaching skills to embed a culture of excellence in the team.

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 Senior Advisor, Content position reports into the Manager, Content team within the Content and Marketing unit in the Customer Service Delivery branch. The branch sits within the Te Whakatairanga Service Delivery 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