Manager Planning

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Manager Planning is accountable for developing Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) annual business plan, ensuring it aligns to the strategy. This includes engaging with MBIEs Policy, Finance, People & Culture and Strategy functions, as well as INZ branches and the Immigration Leadership Team (ILT).

This role is both Strategic and Operational in focus, with specific responsibility for operational planning including the methods by which INZ plans. This may include undertaking, or directing, planning for large scale activities, business recovery operations, or policy changes.

The Manager Planning is also responsible for logic-based prioritisation of activities. This involves evaluation of both quantitative and qualitive information that needs to be distilled in a succinct way to provide advice to the ILT to inform effective decision making. This includes maintaining, and utilisation of, INZs investment prioritisation framework and internal budget bid processes.

A key part of this role is the ability to build strong relationships internally and externally, using a consultative approach, having a strategic eye to challenge the status quo, and seen as a trusted advisor across the organisation. 

The Manager Planning role operates flexibly, leveraging capability and capacity across the branch when responding to large incidents.

The role also leads ongoing maintenance and status reporting against the INZ business plan.

Key relationships

• Members of the Immigration Leadership team and Extended Leadership team.
• Relevant leaders in other interrelated public and private sector organisations.
• Key MBIE functions such as Strategy, Immigration Policy, Finance, People & Culture, Portfolio Management and INZ Business Support Managers.
• INZ Manager System Action and Tasking, and Manager Incident Response.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

• Demonstrated ability to analyse quantitative and qualitative information to succinctly ‘tell a story’ based on the available data.
• Experience leading and driving cross organisational planning and prioritisation activity across a segmented business.
• The ability to effectively direct and coordinate planning in a timely way, sometimes with incomplete information, using assumption-based planning where required and presenting suitable options and contingencies at an executive level.
• Experience leading small, targeted teams to achieve organisational outcomes.
• Proven ability to manage internal and external relationships and use negotiation and influence to deliver outcomes.
• Ability to verbally influence others, including upwards, and crystalise complex issues into key planning and organisation objectives that are time bound.
• The ability to lead across groups and influence decision makers where there is no direct reporting relationship.
• Able to negotiate to align disparate perspectives.
• An understanding of project management and change management frameworks, tools, software, and techniques.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically across a range of issues and think laterally about current and future issues, risks, and opportunities.
• Demonstrates excellence in written and verbal communication including the ability to translate complex issues from one level to another – including production of infographics.
• The ability to gain and maintain a national security clearance as required.
• Must be an NZ citizen or hold a residence class visa.
• Credit check required.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Prioritisation Leadership  

• Maintain the INZ investment prioritisation framework.
• Develop and maintain an operational planning prioritisation process.
• Develop and maintain INZ strategic priorities for ILT approval (also known as focus areas or collective areas of focus).
• Develop and maintain a list of operational priorities as required (including overseeing and supporting System Action and Tasking with INZ Our Top 3 processes).
• Leads the scoping and analysis of strategic and improvement opportunities including projected benefits, costs, impacts, trade-offs, and interdependencies via the INZ investment bid process.
• Leads prioritisation discussions maintaining an updated rolling view of existing, committed, paused and emerging opportunities via quarterly memorandums and presentations to the Immigration Leadership Team and biannual reports to the ICDC (Investment and Change Delivery Committee).
• Provides expert advice leveraging analysis from the team and operational information to inform and guide prioritisation decisions.
• Works with System Action and Tasking and Enablement to understand business as usual activity and change mandated from outside INZ, ensuring this view informs prioritisation decisions.
• Ensures an ongoing view of risks and constraints, resolving or escalating these as appropriate, along with options and recommendations.

Planning Leadership

• Lead the translation of the endorsed INZ strategy into executable tactical roadmaps, assessing priority focus areas and operational resource allocation.
• Monitor and report on the execution of business plans, and cross INZ integration, and provide assurance about achievement to ILT.
• Contribute to the leadership of a high-performing team that delivers innovative advice, which supports a contemporary INZ and in turn MBIE’s strategic direction.
• Lead the development and maintenance of high-quality artefacts that help drive success of strategic and operational plans and bring cohesion and direction to business plans, unplanned events, or policy changes.
• Develop sound, research-based strategic ‘think pieces’ for ILT.

Personal Leadership

• 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

• 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

• Establishes clear accountabilities, expectations and performance standards with direct reports and ensures regular performance management and development occurs.
• Builds high-performing, cohesive team.
• 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

• 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 in order 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 Manager Planning position reports into the National Manager Business Operations within the Operations, Tasking and Improvement branch. The branch sits within the Immigration New Zealand group.

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 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).

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