Senior Advisor

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Senior Advisor plays a critical role in supporting the delivery of the Government’s economic growth priorities within the Economic Growth Programmes team at MBIE. The team supports strategic projects and programmes across the Economic Growth portfolio – including the Government’s flagship Going for Growth programme, governance and secretariat functions, and strategic business engagement.

This role is primarily responsible for delivering high-quality secretariat support for key governance forums associated with the Government’s economic growth agenda, including Going for Growth and the Economic Chief Executives (CEs) forum. The role provides strategic coordination of inputs across MBIE and partner agencies, ensuring high-quality advice, alignment of materials, and effective support for senior official and Ministerial decision-making.

The Senior Advisor plays a key role in enabling well-functioning governance by proactively identifying risks, issues, and gaps across inputs, and ensuring these are addressed ahead of governance discussions. The role contributes to high-quality reporting and synthesises information to generate insights that support programme direction and leadership decision-making.

While the primary focus of this role is delivering high-quality secretariat support, the Senior Advisor is expected to operate flexibly across the programme to support priority workstreams, including strategic business engagement. This includes contributing to the end-to-end planning and delivery of Ministerial and senior leader engagements (such as business visits and roundtables), including undertaking targeted research, developing event and engagement briefings, and supporting delivery.

This role requires a high level of accuracy, sound judgement, political awareness, and the ability to deliver high-quality outputs at pace in a dynamic and sometimes ambiguous environment.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Strong attention to detail and proven planning skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and competing timelines concurrently
• Strong understanding of governance and secretariat functions, including experience supporting senior leaders and/or Ministerial processes
• Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear, concise, and high-quality advice for senior officials and Ministers
• Strong process orientation, with experience establishing and improving systems, tools, and workflows to support efficient and consistent delivery
• Ability to deliver high-quality work at pace in a dynamic and often ambiguous environment, with strong prioritisation skills
• Demonstrated sound judgement, including the ability to manage sensitive or confidential information and operate with political awareness
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build and maintain effective working relationships across MBIE, other agencies, and Ministerial offices
• Experience undertaking research and analysis to support briefings, decision-making, or engagement activity
• Self-motivated, proactive, and delivery-focused, with a strong sense of ownership and accountability
• A growth mindset and willingness to learn, adapt, and contribute across a range of work

Qualifications

• Tertiary qualification in a relevant field or equivalent experience

Prerequisites

• Must have the legal right to live and work in New Zealand

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Governance, Secretariat and Programme Delivery

• Provide high-quality, end-to-end secretariat support for key governance forums, including Going for Growth and the Economic CEs forum
• Coordinate and quality-assure inputs from across MBIE and other agencies to develop coherent, accurate, and decision-ready materials for senior officials and Ministers
• Proactively identify risks, gaps, inconsistencies, or emerging issues across inputs, and work with relevant parties to resolve these ahead of governance meetings
• Support the effective functioning of governance forums through agenda planning, forward work planning, and alignment with programme priorities
• Prepare and manage governance papers, briefings, meeting packs, and reporting outputs to a consistently high standard
• Support governance meetings as required, including facilitating logistics and capturing clear, accurate records
• Manage multiple workstreams and timelines to ensure timely delivery of high-quality outputs across the programme
• Contribute to centralised reporting processes, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and alignment
• Synthesise information from governance processes, cross-agency inputs, and stakeholder activity to generate actionable insights
• Support continuous improvement of reporting, templates, and programme coordination processes

Strategic Engagement and Stakeholder Support (as required)

• Undertake targeted desktop research and stakeholder analysis to inform engagement activity and briefing materials
• Contribute to the development of high-quality Ministerial and senior leader briefings, including event briefs, key messages, and background materials
• Support the coordination and delivery of business engagement activities, including visits, roundtables, and stakeholder meetings
• Engage effectively with internal and external stakeholders to support delivery of engagement programmes
• Capture and synthesise insights from engagement activity to inform reporting, continuous improvement, and future planning

Systems, Continuous Improvement and Relationships

• Lead and contribute to the continuous improvement of secretariat systems, templates, and processes
• Utilise and maintain tools and platforms that support collaboration, reporting, and efficient delivery
• Identify opportunities to improve workflow, coordination, and quality across the programme
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with senior officials, Ministerial offices, and cross-agency partners
• Work collaboratively across the Economic Growth Programmes team and wider MBIE to support shared objectives
• Demonstrate sound judgement, discretion, and political awareness in all interactions

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 position reports into the Programme Director, Economic Growth, within the Economic Growth Programmes Team. This team sits within the Economic Growth Branch, in the Labour, Science and Enterprise (LSE) 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 New Zealand for All.

To Grow New Zealand for All, we put people at the heart of our mahi (work). 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