Health & Safey Manager

Fonterra Co-operative Group; Taranaki; Hybrid; NZD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fair and equitable pay

Health and well-being programs

Work-life balance options

Employee recognition

Community involvement support

Job summary

Fonterra Te Mātāpuna seeks an experienced Health & Safety Manager to lead H&S business partnering across major manufacturing sites in Taranaki. You will guide a team of H&S professionals, promote standard adoption, and translate risk and performance data into practical actions for leaders and workers.

The role requires strong strategic thinking, stakeholder engagement, and the ability to balance safety with operational needs. Flexible/hybrid working arrangements may apply where possible.

Qualifications

• Experience leading H&S enabling or business partnering across multiple sites or portfolio.
• Strong knowledge of risk management and control effectiveness.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills with frontline employees and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to translate complex information into actionable recommendations.
• Ability to coach and develop H&S professionals.

Responsibilities

• Lead and strengthen health, safety and wellbeing business partnering across multiple manufacturing operations in Taranaki.
• Provide leadership to a team of H&S Business Partners and ensure resources are focused where most impact.
• Drive adoption of H&S standards, dashboards, and digital workflows.
• Identify risks, drift and control weaknesses and provide governance-ready insights.
• Support leaders to understand work as performed and strengthen learning from incidents.
• Balance operational realities with risk reduction and capability-building objectives.

Job 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.

About the Opportunity | Mō tēnei tūranga

As our Health & Safety Manager, you'll lead and strengthen health, safety and wellbeing business partnering across some of New Zealand's largest and most complex manufacturing operations here in Taranaki. Reporting to the Regional Manager H&S, you'll provide leadership to a team of H&S Business Partners, building their capability and ensuring resources are focused where they can make the greatest difference.

Working closely with site and operational leadership teams, you'll help leaders confidently own their H&S accountabilities, make informed decisions and effectively manage critical risks and controls. You'll bring constructive challenge and independent oversight, identifying emerging risks, control weaknesses and early signs of drift before they develop into more significant issues.

Drawing on risk, assurance, performance and operational insights, you'll translate complex information into clear priorities, practical recommendations and governance-ready insights. You'll also drive the consistent adoption of H&S standards, dashboards, self-service tools and digital workflows across the area you support.

This role supports a diverse portfolio of manufacturing operations, including one of New Zealand's largest dairy manufacturing sites and a Major Hazard Facility (MHF). Knowledge of, or experience in, high-hazard industries, process safety, major accident hazards, emergency management or Major Hazard Facility environments would be beneficial but is not essential.

Alongside this, you'll:

• Coach and develop H&S Business Partners, strengthening professional judgement and consistency of practice.
• Prioritise and deploy business partnering capability based on risk, demand, maturity and business need.
• Lead high-quality assurance and learning reviews that support practical, sustainable improvement. Apply Human & Organisational Performance (HoP) principles to help leaders understand work as performed in operational environments, identify system opportunities, and strengthen learning from adverse events. Ensure trends, themes and insights are shared across sites and leadership teams to drive organisational learning and prevent recurrence.
• Promote the practical application of Human & Organisational Performance (HoP) principles, helping leaders better understand operational reality, strengthen systems and controls, and create sustainable improvement.
• Strengthen leader capability in critical risk management, control effectiveness and operational decision-making.
• Support leaders to understand the relationship between work as imagined and work as done, enabling more effective risk management, learning and operational performance.
• Maintain clear boundaries between leader accountability, H&S enablement and independent assurance.
• Build trusted relationships and provide credible, constructive challenge when performance or control integrity may be at risk.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of H&S across Fonterra's Taranaki manufacturing operations, leading a capable team while partnering with leaders to drive meaningful improvements in risk management, operational performance and workforce wellbeing.

You're an experienced health and safety leader who can confidently operate across complex, multi-site or portfolio environments. You bring sound professional judgement, strong operational awareness and the ability to balance competing priorities while maintaining professional credibility and independence.

You're a trusted coach, people leader and business partner who builds strong relationships quickly and naturally connects with people at all levels of the organisation. You know how to influence without authority, navigate competing priorities, and provide support and challenge in equal measure. You create an environment where people can learn, develop and perform at their best while maintaining professional credibility and independence.

Comfortable working with risk, assurance and performance information, you can recognise weak signals, detect control drift and turn complex insights into clear, practical action.

To be successful in this role, you'll bring:

• Experience leading H&S enabling or business partnering practice across multiple sites, a district, portfolio or business unit.
• Demonstrated experience coaching, mentoring and developing H&S Business Partners or equivalent professionals.
• Strong knowledge of critical risk management and critical control effectiveness.
• The ability to integrate operational insights, assurance findings and dashboard data into decision-ready advice.
• Experience driving the adoption of standards, digital workflows, dashboards and self-service tools.
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the ability to engage authentically with frontline employees, contractors, leaders and senior stakeholders.
• A passion for people and demonstrated ability to build trust, credibility and engagement across diverse operational environments.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, understand business priorities, and balance short-term operational demands with longer-term risk reduction and capability-building objectives.
• Sound judgement when working through complex or ambiguous issues.
• An understanding of operational or manufacturing environments, including production, contractors and automation.

Professional accreditation through NZISM, IOSH or an equivalent professional body is highly desirable. Candidates actively working towards professional accreditation are encouraged to apply.

You'll bring a relevant qualification, professional experience, or a combination of both in Health and Safety, Risk Management, Engineering, Human Factors, Operational Leadership, Occupational Health, Manufacturing, Emergency Management or a related discipline. Equivalent practical experience in complex operational environments will be highly regarded.

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.

Does this sound good to you? Come join our whānau - bring your whole self, and let's solve for better together.

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).

Even if you don't meet every requirement listed, we encourage you to apply; we value your potential and growth.

If you face accessibility issues or need accommodations during the process, please contact your recruiter. We ensure fair participation, allowing you to be at your best. Tātou, tātou.

Applications close at midnight on Sunday 11th October 2026