H&S Business Partner, Hautapu

Fonterra; Hamilton; Hybrid; NZD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee recognition

Health & wellbeing programs

Work-life balance options

Job summary

Fonterra Hautapu site is seeking a Health & Safety Business Partner to strengthen leadership in safety and wellbeing. You will partner with leaders and frontline teams to translate safety expectations into practical action and use data to identify and mitigate risks in real-world operations.

You’ll coach leaders, lead incident reviews, and drive organisational learning across sites, balancing commercial needs with safety outcomes to protect workers and communities.

Qualifications

• NZISM Professional Accreditation or equivalent safety certification.
• Experience advising on health, safety and wellbeing in operations.
• Ability to translate safety expectations into practical actions.

Responsibilities

• Coach and support leaders to translate safety expectations into practical action.
• Use data, dashboards and observations to identify risks and improve controls.
• Lead incident reviews and workplace learning to drive lasting improvements.
• Partner with operational leaders to strengthen safety leadership across sites.
• Travel to support multiple sites and build stakeholder relationships.

Skills

Coaching leaders

Data interpretation

Risk management

Influencing without authority

Stakeholder management

Analytical thinking

Relationship building

Education

Tertiary health & safety qualification or pursuit

Job description

Health & Safety Business Partner, Hautapu

General Information

Date Published

05-Nov-2026

Advertising Ends

18-Nov-2026

ID#

17774

Role Type

Quality & Safety

Work Type

Permanent Full-Time

Workplace Type

On-site

Country

Location

Position Description

At Fonterra Te Mātāpuna, we want everyone to feel they can be themselves.

Whether you're early in your career or ready for your next step, Fonterra offers a unique opportunity to grow with a global dairy co-operative that values care, collaboration, and contribution.

Owned by New Zealand dairy farmers and supported by a dedicated team, we are all working together to create a better future. Imagine tomorrow with us, where your career can grow, and you can create positive change.

Our Hautapu site is in the heart of the Waikato and has been a leader in dairy manufacturing for more than 130 years. It's our headquarters for our protein and cheese technical teams and specialises in producing high value products such as casein, whey protein concentrate, hydrolysate, lactoferrin and milk protein concentrate as well as a wide range of cheeses including Organic, Colby, Edam, Gouda, Noble and Egmont.

About the Opportunity |Mō tēnei tūranga

At Fonterra, keeping our people safe goes beyond compliance. It's about building a culture where great decisions, strong leadership and effective risk management come together to create safer outcomes every day. As our Health & Safety Business Partner, you'll work at the heart of our operations, partnering with leaders and frontline teams to strengthen safety leadership, improve decision quality and ensure critical risks are effectively managed in real-world operating environments.

Based at our Hautapu site, this role offers the opportunity to work closely with operational leaders and teams across the business. Some travel will be required to support multiple sites, build strong stakeholder relationships and provide visible frontline Health & Safety leadership.

This is a highly influential role where you will coach, challenge and support leaders to translate Health, Safety and Wellbeing expectations into practical action. You'll use insights from data, dashboards and operational observations to identify emerging risks, strengthen critical controls and enable proactive decision-making before issues elevate.

You'll also play a key role in driving organisational learning by leading high-quality incident and learning review, helping teams understand what is happening in practice, and turning those insights into meaningful, lasting improvements. Working alongside leaders, workers and HSW specialists you'll create an environment where open conversations, continuous improvement and worker engagement thrive.

If you're passionate about influencing positive change, building leadership capability and making a genuine impact on the safety and wellbeing of people across our business, this is an opportunity to shape the future of safety at Fonterra.

You're a trusted advisor who combines strong technical Health & Safety expertise with the ability to influence, coach and challenge others in a constructive and practical way. You build credibility quickly, establish strong relationships across all levels of an organisation and are confident navigating complex risk discussions in operational environments.

You’ll bring:

• A relevant tertiary qualification in Health & Safety, Risk Management, Occupational Health, Engineering, Human Factors or a related discipline, or be actively working towards one.
• NZISM Professional Accreditation or an equivalent recognised Health & Safety certification.
• Experience providing Health, Safety and Wellbeing advice within operational or manufacturing environments.
• Proven success coaching leaders and influencing decision-making around critical risks and risk controls.
• Strong analytical capability with experience interpreting data, trends and operational signals to inform risk-based decisions.
• The ability to identify emerging risks, challenge thinking constructively and drive practical improvements that make a real difference.
• Excellent relationship-building skills and the confidence to influence without relying on formal authority.
• A learning mindset, sound judgement and the courage to have robust conversations when safety matters most.

You’ll thrive in this role if you're known for your ability to balance commercial realities with strong safety outcomes, build trusted partnerships and help leaders make better risk-based decisions every day. Most importantly, you'll be passionate about creating safer workplaces and enabling people and teams to perform at their best.

At Fonterra, our values of Good Together, Better Every Day, and Every Drop Counts, are for everyone – no matter your background, identify or experience. These values guide us in delivering exceptional outcomes for our farmers, customers, communities, and each other. Discover how your values align with ours by taking our Values Quiz

We care for our people globally. Our comprehensive benefits support your well-being, development, and work-life balance:

• Fair and equitable pay
• Health and well-being programs (medical, mental health support)
• Work-life balance options (flexible/hybrid working where possible)
• Employee recognition
• Support for community involvement and cultural connection

At Fonterra, we are inspired by purpose and guided by our principles and values. Together, we create goodness for generations and make a global impact at a local level. As part of our Co-operative, you are an everyday creator, imagining what Fonterra, dairy, and you can be here.

Together, we're shaping a future of inclusion |He Wāhi mō te Katoa

Inclusion is key to our Co-operative. We're building a team that reflects the diverse world we live in, believing it drives better decisions and innovation.

We welcome applications from all backgrounds (ethnicities, genders, identities, orientations, ages, abilities, neurotypes, cultures, religions).

Applications close at midnight on 18 November 2026