Deputy Secretary – Immigration New Zealand

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Deputy Secretary Immigration is an integral part of the Ministry’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and supports the Chief Executive by working collaboratively with other members of the team in being collectively accountable for the delivery of MBIE’s strategic objectives.

The Deputy Secretary is accountable for achieving the long-term direction of the Ministry through Immigration and ensuring its viability as a significant influencer of the labour market economy.

The Deputy Secretary will lead transformational change of an inclusive and diverse workforce across all areas of Immigration to lift the efficiency, consistency, and quality of decision making and provide assurance to New Zealanders that their Immigration service is fit for the future.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Demonstrates deep understanding of the principles and conventions of government and the constitutional, legal, and whole-of-government basis on which the New Zealand State Service operates.
• Has comprehensive knowledge of current New Zealand Labour market issues and a commitment to contribute to New Zealand’s economic development.
• Has significant and demonstrable skills in leading a complex and highly visible service delivery function and delivers results.
• Has sound financial and business management experience and skills at the senior executive level.
• Political nous and a proven track record of building and maintaining the trust and confidence of Ministers and senior officials.
• Has demonstrated experience in leading major change across a distributed business to achieve a measurable lift in service delivery.
• Is regarded as a skilled and personable leader with judgement and discretion.
• Possesses resilience and perseverance to achieve excellent results on behalf of New Zealanders.
• Has demonstrated the ability to learn in situations of high stress and ambiguity.
• Is easily able to gain the trust and respect of others even when dealing with difficult or contentious issues.
• Has the courage to make the difficult calls and takes personal accountability for the outcomes.
• Responsibilities of this position are expected to change over time as the Ministry responds to changing needs.
• It is a requirement of all Tier 2 positions that you may be rotated to similar level positions within different business groups or specialty areas from time to time, to encourage cross MBIE collaboration. Any such rotation will be managed in consultation with you (but will be decided by MBIE).

Proven success in a senior management position (ideally at SLT level):

• Working collaboratively as a member of a leadership team with a shared organisational vision and goals.
• Strategic leadership and management.
• People leadership and management.

Qualifications

• Has post graduate qualifications in a relevant field or equivalent skills and experience.

Prerequisites

• Warranted Immigration Officer Status will need to be conferred.
• The ability to gain and maintain a national security clearance as required.
• To be considered for this position you must have a legal right to live and work in New Zealand.
• Must consent to and satisfactorily complete a credit check as the position holds financial delegations.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Strategic Leadership

• Contributes to the governance of the whole Ministry as a member of the Strategic Leadership Team and supports the Chief Executive in their leadership of the Ministry.
• Influences innovation management by supporting strategic thinking and consideration of initial high-level design of key strategic programmes, initiatives and issue management approaches that will be planned and realized over longer horizons.
• Personal leadership drives and influences the setting of overall business direction, articulation of SOI and clear targets, objectives and outcomes.
• Maintains oversight of the effective financial management of Vote Immigration and Vote Employment through the advocacy and prioritisation of change programmes, management of change and implementation of relevant review recommendations and insights.
• Drives prioritisation and improvements that optimise the Ministry’s services and programmes whilst appropriately managing risk and protects the Ministry’s integrity and reputation.
• Clarifies the line of sight between the Ministry’s and Immigration's directions that are aligned to SOI, work programmes and initiatives agreed with government.
• Leading and guiding the Ministry’s senior leaders and governance bodies to consider and account for economic and social change impacts and the priorities of the government.

Strategically leads, shapes, and guides the visioning of the long-term direction for the Immigration function in the Ministry while assuring that environmental impacts are considered and understood.

• Brings an outward looking vision of global immigration trends and understanding of New Zealand’s presence and polices in the world.
• Creates visibility of linkages between global trends and New Zealand’s environment and the Ministry’s current and future strategic direction.
• Enables the Ministry to account for ongoing changes of both the Government’s and customer expectations of the public sector.

Functional leadership

• Supports the Chief Executive’s responsibilities for the stewardship of the Ministry, including its sustainability, organisational health, capability, and capacity to offer free and frank advice to successive Governments.
• Works with the Chief Executive to manage the relationship with Ministers and the Government by providing timely and relevant briefings to Government on Immigration policy and issues of the day.
• Leads the development of Immigration group’s work programme to align with and support MBIE’s strategic direction and adopting a business-like and customer centric culture.
• Fosters the readiness of Immigration staff to understand and implement change through attitudinal and behavioural flexibility supported by increased capability that enables continued delivery of Ministry outcomes.
• Leads a senior management team that can deliver customer-focused and innovative Immigration New Zealand Service Delivery products and services.
• Ensures that the systems and processes underpinning the operation of the Immigration group are business-like, user friendly, efficient, cost effective and exploit the use of technology where possible.
• Contributes to the development and implementation of MBIE's operating model in order that it is embedded as a core component of MBIE’s culture.
• Takes a senior advisory role in relationships with political representatives and playing a significant leadership role in the wider public service.
• Provides a commercial focus and acumen to guide MBIE’s resource allocation and to support delivery of its objectives.
• Supports and enables the delivery of priority business outcomes across all business units.
• Exemplifies and leads the embedding of a ‘one organisation’ view by creating lines of sight to organisational objectives based on interdependencies and connectedness while modelling professional, collaborative and collegial behaviours.
• Works with, and inputs into, the work of the Deputy Secretary Corporate and Digital Shared Services and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), in order to support SLT to turn strategy into financial decision making and drive organisation performance.
• Represents whole-of-Ministry views and protects its reputation in external interactions.
• Influences and works collaboratively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to ensure the success of organisational and sector strategic initiatives.
• Develops effective working relationships with other MBIE managers and staff in order to transfer knowledge and learning from the group to the wider organisation.
• Hold direct reports to account for delivering the required results and the appropriate behaviour.
• Provides development opportunities for direct reports that challenge and stretch their capability.
• Models behaviours that encourage cross-departmental collaboration and delivery coordinated services.
• Builds a ‘risk aware’ culture where issues are identified early and handed at the appropriate level.
• Builds the capability of direct reports to make hard decisions and choices between different pathways and recognise and manage the trade-off between short- and long-term benefits.
• Builds strategic alliances with key Government and non-Government representatives to ensure MBIE’s views are influential in their decision-making and vice versa.
• Builds and maintains effective relationships and partnerships with national and international organisations to identify and share best practice information and to promote the Ministry, its products and services.
• Leads and represents the Ministry internationally and nationally while managing relationships across key stakeholders and with industry groups.
• Promotes a positive public image and customer experience by modelling professional behaviour and reinforcing a focus on customer service that utilises or responds to customer insight or feedback.
• Leadership and influence on people and business group capability is evidenced by support and implementation of leadership, management, and staff development frameworks across the Ministry.
• The sharing of knowledge and collaboration between business groups enhances the design and delivery of emerging practices/issues.
• The focus placed on strategic leadership development results in increased employee capability.
• Training implemented within the Ministry and Immigration Group grows and enhances the depth of skills and knowledge of service delivery staff.

Wellbeing, health and 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 Deputy Secretary Immigration reports to the Chief Executive.

More information about MBIE's structure

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