Senior Adviser (System Improvement and Design) | Wellington City

Job Description

Senior Adviser (System Improvement and Design)

Role type: Fixed-term role ended 30 June 2028

Location: Wellington City

Salary band & range: General Salary Range D - $100,934 to $118,005 depending on skills and experience

About the Role - Kōrero mō te Tūranga

As Senior Adviser, Service Improvement and Design, you'll play a key role in helping Pacific partner countries strengthen their export assurance systems through the application of service design, user research, and facilitation, and prototyping expertise. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, you'll shape how user-centred approaches are embedded across the programme, working alongside biosecurity agencies to strengthen how their export assurance systems are understood, designed, and improved in practice. This includes building a shared understanding of how systems are experienced by those who use and work in them — from exporters and farmers to government workers responsible for regulatory processes.

You'll lead and support user research and service design activities, using insights to develop and iteratively refine practical improvements in real operating environments. This includes planning and facilitating workshops, working alongside technical experts and partner agencies to prototype and test changes in practice, and developing clear and effective design artefacts, that support understanding, decision making, and implementation. You'll bring together diverse perspectives to define problems clearly and support the development of solutions that are workable and sustainable in context, including resource constrained environments.

A key part of the role is leading iterative approaches to developing and improving systems in practice. You will guide the use of prototyping and real-world testing to refine solutions over time, working closely with partner agencies to ensure changes are practical and sustainable. Alongside this, you will build capability within the team and with in-country partners coaching others in how to apply user-centred and service design approaches in hands-on practical ways.

You'll work closely with senior officials and stakeholders across different cultural, organisational, and technical contexts, adapting your approach to support collaboration and achieve outcomes.

This is a highly collaborative and outward-facing role, requiring strong relationship management skills, cultural awareness, and the ability to work effectively across borders.

Your key responsibilities include:

• Lead work to understand how export assurance systems operate across agencies and users, and shape the overall approach to user research, system mapping, and problem definition
• Use insights to develop, prototype, and iterate practical improvements, working with partners to test, adapt, and refine solutions in real-world settings
• Lead approaches to interviews, workshops, and system mapping, working with subject matter experts, partner agencies, and stakeholders as appropriate
• Bring together different perspectives to define problems clearly
• Lead the design and iterative refinement of practical improvements that countries can apply and sustain
• Work with technical and regulatory experts to design systems and processes that are clear, usable, and better meet the needs of those who use them
• Build strong, culturally aware relationships with partner countries
• Support capability building within the team and with partners, coaching others to apply user research, prototyping, and iterative design approaches in practice

The role is Wellington-based, with regular office collaboration, virtual engagement with partner countries, and some travel to the Pacific.

About You - Mōu

To be successful in this role, you will bring a strong track record of applying human-centred approaches to improve services, particularly where multiple stakeholders, technical systems, and regulatory frameworks intersect. You are comfortable working alongside technical and scientific specialists, you can translate complex information into clear, practical insights and tools that support better decision-making.

You also have experience engaging with senior stakeholders and adapting your approach across different cultural and organisational contexts. Experience working in Pacific or similar settings would be an advantage but is not essential.

You will bring:

• Extensive experience leading or shaping service design and user research in complex public sector, regulatory, or technical environments
• Strong facilitation skills, including confidence leading workshops with mixed technical and non-technical audiences
• Proven ability to work with technical or scientific experts to shape how systems and services are designed, ensuring they are practical, user-centred, and workable in real-world contexts
• Experience applying user-centred approaches across systems involving multiple agencies, stakeholders, or jurisdictions
• Strong systems thinking and conceptual skills, with the ability to navigate ambiguity and competing perspectives
• Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication skills
• The ability to influence and work alongside senior advisers, technical specialists, and partner agencies as a peer
• High levels of autonomy, sound judgement, and professional credibility
• A relevant tertiary qualification or equivalent practical experience

In addition, you are collaborative, adaptable, and culturally aware, with a genuine commitment to respectful and inclusive ways of working. You build strong, trusted relationships and communicate with clarity and impact, tailoring your approach to diverse audiences and contexts. You demonstrate resilience and composure in complex or evolving environments, and you are motivated by delivering high-quality outcomes that make a meaningful difference for stakeholders and communities.

About the Team - Mō tō mātou Rōpū

The Pacific Partnership team delivers a programme funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade that works with Pacific countries to support safe trade in fresh produce. This work helps strengthen the livelihoods of Pacific farmers, exporters, and their communities, while also ensuring exports meet New Zealand's biosecurity requirements and protect Aotearoa New Zealand.

We work directly with biosecurity agencies in four partner countries to strengthen export systems in practice. Alongside this, we support the Pacific Plant Protection Organisation in its regional role to build plant health capability and coordination across the Pacific.

You'll join a team of subject matter experts, including two Senior Advisers and a Specialist Adviser with deep expertise in biosecurity and strong experience working across the Pacific. Alongside a new Adviser in system improvement and design, you'll lead how the team understands systems in practice and turns insights into clear problems and practical improvements.

About MPI - Mō te Manatū Ahu Matua

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) partners with New Zealand's food and fibre sector to be the world's most trusted provider of high-value food and fibre products.

To find out more about the Ministry and what we do please click here.

Benefits of working at MPI - Ngā hua o te mahi i te Manatū Ahu Matua

• Additional MPI leave days
• Annual Wellness payment
• Bi-annual paid eye test and contribution to the costs of corrective lenses/frames

Are you ready to make a difference? - Kua rite koe mō tēnei mahi whaitake?

We are committed to being a good partner under Te Tiriti o Waitangi which includes working closely with iwi, hapū, whānau and hāpori.

We aspire to reflect the diverse communities we serve, so we welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, and identities. As an organisation, we are committed to making Manatū Ahu Matua Ministry for Primary Industries a great place to work for all.

In your cover letter we'd like to know about you, your values; your interest and motivations for this role; the abilities, strengths, personal attributes, and diverse perspectives you will bring to the role and this organisation, which may have also been gained outside of the workforce.

To view the position description and/or apply online, please click “APPLY FOR THIS JOB” or visit the MPI Careers Site. To apply, you must hold the right to work in New Zealand or be eligible to obtain it – click here to find out more about work visa eligibility and options.

Applications close at 11:59pm on Wednesday 17 June 2026

If you have any questions about the role, please email Olivia.Murphy@mpi.govt.nz 

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