Farm Manager - Wharekopae Farm

JobSpace; Gisborne; On-site; NZD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and life insurance

Enhanced parental leave benefits

KiwiSaver matching (up to 4%)

Extra day of leave over Christmas

Ongoing training and development

Warm, modern three-bedroom home

Job summary

Pāmu Landcorp Farming Limited is seeking an experienced Farm Manager for Wharekōpae Station, a high-performing East Coast operation near Gisborne. You will lead a team, drive performance, and work with HR, finance, sustainability and safety teams to sustain excellence.

The role requires broad livestock expertise, strong leadership, planning capability, and a passion for continuous improvement in a busy farming system.

Qualifications

• Broad livestock experience with large-scale sheep and beef farming.
• Proven leadership with ability to coach and develop people.
• Strong commercial judgement and planning capability.
• Experience coordinating contractors, planning works and managing costs.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day operation of Wharekōpae Station and maintain high performance.
• Collaborate with Business Manager and specialist teams across HR, finance and health & safety.
• Guide long-term planning, infrastructure, and farm systems improvements.
• Monitor performance data and budgets, and drive continuous improvement.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Contractors coordination

Budgeting & forecasting

Planning & scheduling

Animal welfare & safety

Data-driven decision making

Clear communication

Job description

Lead one of Pāmu's highest-performing farms: a large-scale East Coast hill country operation within reach of Gisborne and everything the region has to offer.

As Farm Manager at Pāmu's Wharekōpae Station, you'll take the lead of one of Pāmu's highest-performing farms—a large-scale East Coast hill country operation with a strong track record and an established team and farming system.

This is an opportunity to build on proven performance rather than start from scratch. You'll bring fresh thinking and collaborative leadership to maintain the standards already in place, strengthen the team, and identify the next opportunities across livestock performance, farm systems, infrastructure, and long-term planning.

You'll work closely with an experienced Business Manager and have access to Pāmu's wider specialist teams across HR, finance, communications, sustainability, and health and safety. You'll have practical expertise around you, while retaining the trust and autonomy to lead the day-to-day operation and make decisions that keep the farm performing at a high level.

This role could suit an experienced Farm Manager looking to lead a complex, high-performing operation, or someone ready to take the next step in their farming career. You'll understand what drives sustained performance and be motivated by the opportunity to build on the farm's success and help shape its next chapter.

About You

You may already be managing a large-scale sheep and beef farm and be looking for the opportunity to lead a proven, high-performing operation. You'll bring broad livestock experience, sound commercial judgement, and the confidence to lead people, plan ahead, and maintain high standards across a busy and complex farming system.

Running a property like Wharekōpae takes more than day-to-day stock work. You'll be comfortable working on steep hill country, using horses and dogs where needed, and staying across the people, planning, contractors, logistics, budgets, performance data, and follow-through that sit behind a consistently successful farm.

You'll bring:

• Experience in intensive cattle finishing systems and large-scale sheep and beef farming
• A practical leadership style, with a genuine interest in coaching, developing, and bringing people together
• Experience coordinating contractors, including planning work, making phone calls, managing logistics, and keeping costs on track
• Good budgeting, forecasting, and planning skills, or the readiness to keep growing in this area
• A continuous-improvement mindset, with the ability to protect what is working well while identifying the next gains across livestock, pasture, infrastructure, and farm systems
• A clear commitment to animal welfare, health and safety, and caring for the environment
• The ability to communicate clearly and work well with a wide range of people
• Confidence using farm systems, reporting tools, and data to understand performance and make good decisions

We're proud to have a supportive and inclusive culture at Pāmu, and we encourage applications from people who share our values – even if you don't tick every box.

Wharekōpae Station is one of Pāmu's highest-performing livestock farms, carrying approximately 22,000 stock units across 2,120 effective hectares. The operation breeds and finishes both sheep and cattle, including stock transferred from nearby Pāmu properties.

Operating across two separate properties of around 1,000 hectares each, Wharekōpae combines genuine scale and varied East Coast hill country with an established record of strong operational performance. It offers an experienced Farm Manager the opportunity to lead a successful farming system, maintain its high standards, and shape the next stage of improvement.

Wharekōpae is around 50 minutes from Gisborne, giving you the space and quiet of rural living while keeping the city within easy reach. Tairāwhiti is known for its sunshine, beaches, surf, fishing, cycling, walking tracks, local food and wine, and strong sense of community. With Rere Falls and the Rere Rockslide also nearby, it is an appealing base for anyone who enjoys the outdoors and wants a relaxed East Coast lifestyle alongside a rewarding farming career.

Pāmu Landcorp Farming Limited is a State-Owned Enterprise with over 110 farms across New Zealand. Our purpose is to lead the delivery of innovative and sustainable agriculture solutions for future generations.

We care about your wellbeing - that's why we offer

• health and life insurance
• enhanced parental leave benefits
• up to 4% KiwiSaver matching

as part of a competitive salary package. You'll also receive

• extra day of leave over Christmas
• ongoing training and development

to help you thrive.

A warm, modern three-bedroom home is provided.

Applications close midnight Sunday 20 September 2026. We will be interviewing applicants as they apply.

For a chat about the role, please contact Bart Cheetham, Business Manager on: *********@landcorp.co.nz or [phone].