Strategic Initiatives and Implementation Lead

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Strategic Initiatives and Implementation Lead is a key leadership position working closely with the General Manager (GM) of the Customer Service Delivery branch. The role leads strategic initiatives, drives governance, helps to manage risk, and ensures oversight and alignment with government priorities and MBIE strategy. The position takes ownership of governance frameworks across the branch, ensuring effective operational delivery and acting as a critical partner to the GM in shaping the branch’s strategic direction.

This role is vital in providing leadership capacity to coordinate initiatives, manage risks, and oversee governance functions across the branch and support the GM.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Proven strategic thinker with a focus on anticipating future needs, a can-do attitude and experience delivering strategic outcomes and work programmes, and able to make the connections between various aspects of regulatory systems as well as within the organisation.
• Proven experience operating in a service delivery environment with the ability to engage with other parts of MBIE and beyond.
• Experience of leading strategic governance design and delivery.
• Experience building strong cross-ministry and cross agency connections resulting in enhanced outcomes that align with organisational goals
• Experience of building organisational strategies that translate into delivery.
• Demonstrated understanding of MBIE services and the regulatory functions and services the organisation delivers
• Demonstrated understanding of system thinking and ability to apply systems thinking into outputs for the strategic approach within the branch.
• Proven ability to develop trust and credibility with senior managers and influence decision-making at the highest levels.
• Experience in leading and implementing change initiatives within complex environments, working with SMEs to ensure successful implementation
• Ability to quickly build and grow effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• Displays a deep understanding of New Zealand’s machinery of government and regulatory environments in terms of overall structures, local and central government agency roles and interrelationships
• Understanding of Government decision-making and operating procedures
• Strong communication skills, both written and oral, to a variety of different people and audiences
• Experience of or exposure to project management skills are desirable
• Must have the legal right to live and work in New Zealand
• Tertiary qualification in a relevant field or extensive and comparable experience.
• Credit check required not required
• Not required to drive
• Police vetting not required

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Strategic and Governance Leadership

Shapes and drives strategic direction; decides/approves advice; builds branch capability; manages authorising environment

• Develop and monitor the branch business plan: with branch leadership to build a comprehensive business plan, ensuring alignment with group and branch objectives, addressing delivery gaps, and identifying potential risks.
• Governance leadership: support the governance responsibilities held by the GM, including tracking deliverables, managing change processes, and realising benefits. Develop strategic governance frameworks for the branch LT to work across multiple regulatory systems to ensure effective oversight.
• Ensure the branch’s work programme is aligned with MBIE and TWSD priorities, government objectives.
• Lead the development and maintenance of the strategic approach for the branch, ensuring coherence across branch activity in line with the strategic framework.
• Oversight of the government programme: lead the branch’s contributions to government priorities, ensuring that deadlines are met and contributions are aligned with policy objectives.

Operational and Programme Oversight

• Branch-wide coordination: ensure seamless branch-wide coordination of risks, issues, and strategic programmes, driving cross-functional collaboration.
• Management of correspondence and queries: manage high-level correspondence, queries, and responses coming to the GM from other parts of MBIE and external partners, ensuring strategic handling of all communications.
• Programme delivery and tracking: ensure all key programmes and actions are delivered on time and within scope, tracking milestones and reporting progress to the GM and relevant governance bodies. Work with key individuals or stakeholders on specific work strands that are critical to the delivery of the branch strategic intent, to support delivery and provide assurance to the GM.
• GM engagement plan: develop and implement a comprehensive engagement plan for the GM to strengthen governance accountabilities and support informed decision-making at an enterprise level and connection across the branch.

Risk and Issues Management

• Risk leadership: lead the identification, management, and mitigation of risks affecting the branch’s strategic objectives, ensuring that appropriate actions are taken to resolve issues swiftly.
• Proactive risk management: work with leadership team to regularly monitor potential risks and advise the GM on the best course of action, providing solutions for risk mitigation and change management where necessary.
• Issues management: Work closely with the GM to address key issues impacting branch performance, identifying root causes and recommending strategic interventions.

Stakeholder and Enterprise Relationship Management

• Enterprise relationship framework: design and lead the implementation of an enterprise relationship framework to facilitate effective collaboration with both internal MBIE teams and external stakeholders.
• Engagement with stakeholders: develop and manage the GM’s engagement with key stakeholders, ensuring clear, consistent, and strategic communications with internal and external partners, including government agencies and external business partners.
• Cross-branch collaboration: act as a liaison across the branch, MBIE, and other regulatory systems to identify areas needing attention and initiate appropriate actions. This includes looking for synergies across the branch, TWSD Group, and MBIE.

Change Leadership and Project Management

• Lead change initiatives: Spearhead the planning and delivery of change initiatives within the branch, ensuring that the branch adapts effectively to shifting priorities and operational demands.
• Strategic partnership with the GM: Partner closely with the GM to drive forward key projects, ensuring alignment with the strategic objectives of MBIE, TWSD, and E&E.
• Programme and project oversight: On behalf of the GM, work with the branch leadership team to lead the initiation and successful completion of multifaceted, cross-functional projects. This includes coordinating efforts across various teams, anticipating challenges, and ensuring solutions are implemented efficiently.
• Thought leadership: provide strategic advice and thought leadership on complex and ambiguous issues, particularly those involving high sensitivity and risk, ensuring that the branch remains responsive to evolving challenges.

General Leadership

• Operational effectiveness: support the GM in ensuring operational effectiveness and alignment of the branch’s activities, leveraging advisory groups and governance structures to facilitate timely decision-making.
• Building branch capability: assist the GM in building and maintaining a fit-for-purpose branch structure, ensuring that the team has the capability required to achieve both strategic goals and operational efficiencies.
• Progress monitoring: regularly measure and report on the progress of projects and initiatives, ensuring that objectives are being met and that adjustments are made when necessary.
• Leadership behaviours: model exemplary leadership behaviours, fostering a collaborative and innovative environment where learning and knowledge sharing are encouraged. This includes supporting the GM in promoting a functional, engaged branch where risks and issues are addressed proactively.
• Alignment: provide mentoring and guidance to Principal Advisors reporting T4 leaders to ensure alignment with strategy and sharing of information and support.

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 Strategic Initiatives and Implementation Lead position reports into the General Manager within 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