General Manager, System Stewardship and Partnerships

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The General Manager, System Stewardship and Partnerships is a senior leadership position in MBIE. This role supports the Deputy Secretary and the Immigration Leadership Team (ILT) with the strategic leadership, authorising environment and effective operations of Immigration New Zealand.

The General Manager is responsible for:

• sets the strategic direction for Immigration New Zealand’s international engagement and representation, including international liaison roles, and leads the delivery of a coordinated, customer-centred stakeholder engagement function across New Zealand and offshore;
• takes an active role on behalf of MBIE and INZ in all-of-government forums and initiatives, providing leadership and strategic oversight of matters requiring coordinated input across MBIE and other agencies.
• ownership of the mass arrival prevention strategy and response plan;
• maintaining and enhancing the trust and stewardship of the Immigration System;
• providing strategic leadership and oversight of official information and privacy requests, complaints and resolution services, and ministerial processes, ensuring these functions are delivered effectively, consistently and in accordance with legislative and public service requirements;
• embed cultural capability uplift programme and our commitments under Te Tiriti o Waitangi across Immigration New Zealand;
• ensuring quality, consistency and continuous improvement across advice, operational practice and decision-making;
• providing strategic leadership and oversight ensuring all services operate effectively and responsively; and
• acting as the Deputy Secretary, as required.

This role holds the primary relationship with the Associate Minister for Immigration and plays a key role in managing the public information affairs of Immigration New Zealand.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Proven senior leadership experience in a medium to large public sector or complex service delivery organisation, with a track record of leading strategic functions, building organisational capability and contributing to a “one organisation” approach.
• Demonstrated ability to lead significant change, including improvements to service delivery performance, risk management, operational processes, organisational culture and behavioural change.
• Strong strategic and systems thinking, with the ability to connect organisational priorities
• Demonstrated experience in developing and maintaining key networks and stakeholder relationships from cross agency right through to partnering with international stakeholders.
• Proven people leadership skills, including the ability to engage, motivate and develop staff, establish strong working relationships and create a high-performing, collaborative branch culture.
• Strong relationship management and influencing skills, including the ability to build trust and credibility with senior leaders, lead across organisational boundaries, influence decision-makers without direct authority, and engage effectively with Ministers, Ministers’ offices, central agencies, international stakeholders, government partners and external stakeholders.
• Sound financial, corporate and business management experience at senior executive level, including effective stewardship of resources, budgets and delegations.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to translate complex issues for different audiences and support clear, well-judged decision-making.
• Knowledge of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and proven ability to incorporate into mahi, including appropriately and consistently using Te Reo and Tikanga.
• Expert working knowledge and understanding of the machinery of government and processes that apply within the public sector.
• Must be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.
• Must consent to and satisfactorily complete a credit check as the role holds financial delegations.
• Must be able to gain and maintain a national security clearance to Top Secret level.

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.

Critical areas of success:

The General Manager, System Stewardship and Partnerships will be required to deliver results in the following areas:

• Proactively works with other leaders across the Immigration system to operationalise ‘Striking The Balance’ strategy to engage others in the vision, and position teams, organisations, and sectors to meet customer and form the future direction of the immigration system.
• Fosters a team that delivers consistently high-performing official information and privacy request, complaints and resolution, and ministerial services, demonstrated through timely, accurate and responsive outputs, achievement of agreed service standards, effective risk management, legislative compliance and continuous improvement informed by performance insights and customer feedback.
• Maintains effective relationship with the Ombudsman and implements any recommendations as required.
• Establishes a trusted-awareness framework that draws on stakeholder feedback, customer insights, complaints, media and other indicators to identify emerging shifts in confidence in the immigration system, understand their causes and enable timely, coordinated action to protect and strengthen trust.
• Provides enterprise-wide direction and oversight of INZ’s international activity, ensuring it is strategic, coordinated, affordable, well governed and aligned with domestic outcomes through.
• As Deputy Head of Delegation (DHoD), shapes and delivers a coherent and influential international immigration agenda, ensuring the Head of Delegation is well supported, commitments are met, intelligence informs decisions, risks are identified early, and international engagement delivers demonstrable value for INZ, the wider immigration system and New Zealand. The DHoD will engage with NZ working group representatives and ensuring there is a clear link between M5 strategic direction and the activities undertaken by the NZ Immigration system.
• Accountable for an integrated mass-arrivals system encompassing the Mass Arrival Prevention Strategy and Mass Arrival Response Plan, with clear ownership, aligned governance and shared intelligence to prevent ventures where possible and enable a lawful, humane and sustainable all-of-government response when required.
• Drives the development of robust and informed sector engagement strategies.
• Provides strategic leadership to the team that acts as the principal conduit between the Minister’s Office and INZ, and guarantee the provision of accurate, objective and timely information.
• Ownership of the Casey panel review for the restriction of freedom of movement for asylum seekers;
• Ensures effective management of sensitive issues and related assessment activity.
• Ensures close engagement with partner agencies (e.g. MFAT, DPMC, NZP, NZDF, NZ Police, NZ Customs. ODESC), if necessary through liaison officers in-situ.
• Provides strategic leadership and oversight of the Diversity and Inclusion, including lifting and embedding Te Ao Māori capability and ensuring genuine partnership with Māori so that INZ is strategically positioned to deliver on our partnership responsibilities with Māori under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
• Demonstrates leadership in Māori cultural capability, and is assessed as “comfortable” or “confident” in accordance with Whāinga Amorangi (MBIE’s Organisational Plan) and the Māori Crown relations capability framework for the public service.
• Fosters an environment of collaboration to ensure the leadership team and broader resources take a system approach prioritising resourcing based on a balanced view of priorities to ensure the best overall result for Immigration New Zealand.

Collective leadership

Work collaboratively with other members of the Immigration Leadership Team to support achievement of Immigration New Zealand outcomes

• Takes collective responsibility for the cohesion and performance of Immigration New Zealand as a whole and provides peer support to other senior managers.
• Works as part of the Immigration Leadership Team to define the outcomes and outputs expected from the Group to deliver on the Ministry’s and Immigration New Zealand’s strategic direction.
• Contributes beyond core functional area to enhance overall effectiveness of the group.
• Ensures consistency and alignment between different teams in Immigration New Zealand and across the Ministry and promotes solution-seeking where there are legitimate differences.
• Represents collective Immigration Leadership Team views and decisions to staff.

Personal leadership

Provide leadership that engages and motivates others to succeed and develop, and proactively share experiences, knowledge, and ideas

• Models’ exemplary management and leadership behaviours, MBIE values and State sector ethics and values.
• Creates a sense of vision, engages, and motivates people to participate, and makes things happen.
• Fosters an open, collaborative environment that encourages quality, innovation, ongoing learning and knowledge sharing.

General management

Apply sound general management practices so that the Branch operates effectively and efficiently, and delivers agreed output to support achievement of agreed outcomes

• Demonstrates continuous improvement capability through having a growth mindset, being agile, a focus on innovation, and creating a learning culture.
• Develops strategies, work programmes and performance targets, with supporting measurement, monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
• Monitors and adjusts work programmes through the agreed processes to enable adaptation to changing circumstances.
• Regularly monitors and reports on progress towards achievement of plans and strategies.
• Manages expenditure and resources in line with approved guidelines, budget, deadlines and reporting requirements, with a focus on driving cost effectiveness.
• Effectively and consistently identifies and manages risk.

Team Leadership

Build and maintain a high-performing team that is capable of developing and delivering innovative advice, products and services to support strategic direction.

• Establishes clear accountabilities, expectations and performance standards with direct reports and ensures regular performance management and development occurs.
• Monitors individual, team, and business unit performance to ensure that performance targets are met.
• Anticipates future capability needs across the Branch, identifies gaps in capability and addresses these gaps through targeted recruitment and development or other actions.
• Coaches, mentors, and develops staff to meet the needs of the organisation now and in the future.
• Identifies and develops talent for key roles.

Relationship Management

Manage constructive working relationships with work colleagues and external stakeholder to enhance understanding and cooperation needed to achieve desired results

• Participates as an active team member and contributes knowledge and expertise needed to achieve desired outcomes.
• Develops effective working relationships with other managers and staff to transfer knowledge and learning to the wider organisation.
• Builds strategic alliances with key government and non-government representatives to ensure MBIE’s views are influential in their decision-making.
• Builds and maintains effective relationships and partnerships with national and international organisations to identify and share best practice information and to promote the Ministry.
• Tests the effectiveness of stakeholder relationships using a range of appropriate measures and processes (including stakeholder feedback).

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 General Manager, System Stewardship and Partnerships reports into the Deputy Secretary, Immigration New Zealand. The branch sits within the Immigration New Zealand group.

More information about MBIE's structure

Ngā Kawenga Ārahitanga – Leadership Expectations

At MBIE our leadership expectations provide consistent language for how we expect our leaders to lead at MBIE. They are supported by our values, and the Public Sector leadership capabilities as described in the Leadership Success Profile (LSP).

Leadership Expectations - Ngā Kawenga Ārahitanga (MBIE)

Lead by example - Whakatinana hei tauira
Enable our people - Whakaāhei ō tātou tangata
Deliver what matters - Whakatutuki ngā manako

Matatautanga – Competencies (Leadership Success Profile)

The Leadership Success Profile (LSP) is a leadership capability framework, developed by the New Zealand public sector for the New Zealand public sector. It creates a common language for leadership and establishes what great leadership looks like. You can look at the twelve underpinning capabilities and four leadership characters here: Leadership Success Profile | Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission(external link)

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. 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).

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