Manager Service Design | Transformation | Wellington

New Zealand Government; Wellington; On-site; NZD 143,000 - 178,000; Full time

Job summary

The Ministry of Social Development in Wellington is seeking a strategic leader to head the Service Design practice. You will set standards, grow capability and ensure the team delivers practical, customer‑centred change at scale.

In this role you will lead people and workforce planning, recruitment, and professional development, working with senior leaders to embed frameworks, Te Ao Māori and aligned priorities across MSD.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience leading a Service Design practice in a large and complex delivery environment at an enterprise level.
• Senior-level expertise in service design methodologies.
• Experience establishing consistent practice and embedding frameworks, methods, tools and standards across an organisation
• Strong workforce planning, resource allocation and capability development experience
• Proven people leadership experience, including coaching, performance management and developing high-performing teams
• Strong relationships with senior leaders, delivery teams and stakeholders, with the ability to work effectively in a matrix environment
• Experience in strategic planning, operational management, project management, financial management and performance monitoring
• A commitment to embedding Te Ao Māori, Te Reo Māori, tikanga, kawa and Te Tiriti o Waitangi into the way we work.

Responsibilities

• Lead a specialist Service Design team and establish consistent approaches and standards across MSD.
• Set the standards, grow capability, and ensure the practice provides the capacity to support MSD's priorities.
• Lead people, workforce planning, recruitment, resourcing and professional development.

Skills

Service design leadership

Enterprise delivery

Service design methodologies

Workforce planning

People leadership

Stakeholder management

Strategic planning

Financial management

Te ao Māori embedding

Job description

Date: 9 Oct 2026 Location: Wellington, NZ Company: Ministry of Social Development

About our team | Mō te tīma

Mō te tīma New Zealand is changing, and so are we. MSD is transforming to build a smarter, simpler, more responsive welfare system. This is a rare opportunity to help shape a once-in-a-generation transformation to deliver better outcomes for New Zealanders. Join a multidisciplinary team driving people-led, technology-enabled change at scale. Business Service Design sits within the Transformation Group but supports all of MSD. It helps turn MSD's future direction into clear, connected and practical designs. The team works across transformation and the wider organisation to bring together customer, service, process, workforce and technology perspectives, supporting decisions that are aligned, evidence informed and ready to move towards delivery.

About the role | Mō te tūnga

This is a rare opportunity to shape how MSD delivers services into the future. Supporting Services for the Future and wider strategic priorities, you'll lead a specialist team that brings together customer, workforce, process and technology perspectives to design services that work better for New Zealanders. You'll set the standards, grow capability, and establish a service design practice that helps turn complex change into practical outcomes. As Manager, Service Design, you will lead and develop the Service Design practice that sits within MSD Services for the Future. Your focus will be growing expertise, setting consistent approaches and ensuring the practice provides the capability and capacity needed to support MSD's strategic priorities. You'll also lead people, workforce planning, recruitment, resourcing and professional development. Working with senior leaders, delivery stakeholders and other practice managers, you will strengthen methods and standards, monitor practice performance and ensure specialist resources are available where they are needed.

What you bring | Ōu pūmanawatanga

• Demonstrated experience leading a Service Design practice in a large and complex delivery environment at an enterprise level.
• Senior-level expertise in service design methodologies.
• Experience establishing consistent practice and embedding frameworks, methods, tools and standards across an organisation
• Strong workforce planning, resource allocation and capability development experience
• Proven people leadership experience, including coaching, performance management and developing high-performing teams
• Strong relationships with senior leaders, delivery teams and stakeholders, with the ability to work effectively in a matrix environment
• Experience in strategic planning, operational management, project management, financial management and performance monitoring
• A commitment to embedding Te Ao Māori, Te Reo Māori, tikanga, kawa and Te Tiriti o Waitangi into the way we work.

What's in it for you | Nōu te rourou

You will lead a specialist practice that is central to MSD. You will have the mandate to build capability, improve professional pathways and shape how Service Design is delivered across complex work, while supporting a talented team to grow and succeed.

Salary

Utu-ā-tau: $142,874.00 - $177,798.00

Applications close

Ka kati ngā tono hei te: 11.59 pm, 25 October 2026

About us | Mō mātou

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is a people-centred organisation. We're in communities across the motu, working with partners to help New Zealanders be safe, strong and independent. We provide social policy advice to government, and assistance including income, employment and housing support to people of all ages, families, whānau and communities. As a Te Tiriti o Waitangi partner, we are committed to supporting and enabling Māori, whānau, hapū, Iwi and communities to realise their own potential and aspirations. Our people are as diverse as the communities we serve. We care about the wellbeing and success of our people and provide a supportive and inclusive working environment where people can thrive and be who they are.

Joining us | Ko te hono mai

Joining MSD means being part of a whānau that celebrates the diversity each individual represents. We show manaaki, we care about the wellbeing and success of people and want everyone to thrive and be who they are in a supportive and inclusive working environment. We work together to make a difference for communities while doing the right thing with integrity. You can find out more about our values here. If you have any support or accessibility requirements, we encourage you to tell us when you apply so we can assist you through the recruitment process.