Senior Advisor - Strategic Engagement

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Senior Advisor (Strategic Engagement) role sits within the Economic Growth Programmes team at MBIE. The team supports the delivery of strategic projects and programmes across the Economic Growth portfolio – including the Government’s flagship Going for Growth Programme, secretariat support, and strategic business engagement.

This role plays a key part in translating strategic engagement direction into high-quality delivery. The Senior Advisor works within the engagement workstream to plan, coordinate and deliver business and stakeholder engagement for Ministers and senior leaders, ensuring interactions are well-targeted, insight-driven and aligned to broader programme objectives. The role focuses on implementation and end-to-end delivery of engagement activity, while contributing insights and on-the-ground intelligence to inform continuous improvement and future engagement planning.

The successful candidate will bring demonstrated experience working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, a strong understanding of how government operates, and ideally experience working with Ministerial Offices. They will apply sound judgement, communicate effectively, and bring a proactive, positive and delivery-focused approach to their work.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• 5+ years of experience in a public sector or engagement role.
• Experience in managing stakeholder engagement and external relationships and the ability to quickly establish and build strong working relationships.
• Proven experience developing written materials, such as briefings, communications material, and letters, for ministerial, chief executive or other senior leader consumption.
• Proven planning and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple pieces of work concurrently.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build credibility and work effectively with divers stakeholders.
• Experience working to senior leaders/executives/Minister’s Offices, particularly in government, and a demonstrated understanding of meeting their requirements at the strategic level is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated political awareness and understanding of government priories, process and protocols.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Working understanding of public sector agencies.
• Ability to deliver high-quality work at pace in a dynamic and at time ambiguous environment, with a proactive attitude and a high level of initiative.
• Experience responding to Official Information Act requests and Ministerial Correspondence would be beneficial.
• Having a growth mindset and eager to learn, improve and positively contribute to the team.

Qualifications and Other Requirements

• A tertiary qualification or a professional qualification in a relevant field is desirable.
• Must be a NZ Citizen or hold a permanent residence class visa.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Responsibilities of this position are expected to change over time as the Ministry responds to changing needs. The incumbent will need the flexibility to adapt and develop as the environment evolves. This includes performing any other reasonable duties across the Economic Growth branch as required.

Business Engagement

• Works collaboratively with Ministers Offices, senior leaders offices and key stakeholders to support delivery of various business engagement programmes.
• Undertakes targeted research and analysis to inform recommendations on high-value business engagements.
• Engages confidently with new stakeholders, business, key contacts across MBIE, other government agencies, non-government organisations, and Ministerial Offices.
• Contributes to and maintains stakeholder management approaches and tools to support a coordinated programme-wide approach.
• Produce high quality Ministerial Briefings to support events, engagements and business visits; including providing supporting communications material as required.
• Coordinates end-to-end delivery of engagement activity, including planning, logistics and execution to ensure a seamless and high-quality experience.
• Captures and synthesises insights from engagements to inform reporting, continues improvement and future engagement planning.
• Supports the development and maintenance of core written materials including summary briefings, correspondence, presentations and key messages.
• Draft responses to Official Information Act request and Ministerial correspondence.
• Follows project management disciplines, with support from the Project Coordinator.
• Applies sound judgement to identify emerging risks, issues and opportunities, and escalates or informs senior leaders as appropriate.
• Contributes to other cross-programme work as required – this may include contributing to updates of the Going For Growth Programme and at time include supporting the secretariat and governance functions.

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 (Strategic Engagement) position reports to the Engagement Lead, Economic Growth Programmes within the Economic Growth branch. The branch sits within the Labour, Science and Enterprise

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