National Planning Team Lead – Conservation & Policy

Department of Conservation (DOC); Wellington; Hybrid; NZD 94,000 - 127,000; Full time

Job summary

Department of Conservation (DOC) is seeking a Team Lead based in Christchurch (with other locations considered) to manage the national management planning programme and lead a geographically dispersed team.

You will balance people leadership, strategic delivery, and trusted advice in a dynamic conservation and regulatory environment, working closely with your counterpart and policy, regulatory, and operational teams to achieve planning outcomes that support conservation across Aotearoa.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong programme, planning or project leadership experience.
• Ability to understand broad organisational, regulatory and political contexts and provide sound judgement.
• Experience building trusted relationships and influencing across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex information into practical advice.
• Experience working within government, local government, natural resource management, planning, regulatory or policy environments.
• A continuous improvement mindset with experience improving systems, processes or ways of working.
• Understanding or willingness to learn Māori tikanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi and how it relates to your work.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of national management planning programmes and priorities.
• Enable your team to work effectively with Treaty partners to promote Māori engagement and involvement with our work.
• Support the team to build strong relationships with iwi, stakeholders, Conservation Boards, government agencies and internal partners.
• Provide strategic advice and navigate complex conservation, policy and regulatory issues.
• Drive continuous improvement through better systems, planning tools, AI-enabled approaches and efficient business processes.
• Managing risk, competing priorities and programme delivery across multiple workstreams.

Skills

People leadership

Programme leadership

Strategic delivery

Stakeholder engagement

Regulatory awareness

Job description

Department of Conservation (DOC) is seeking a Team Lead based in Christchurch (with other locations considered) to manage the national management planning programme and lead a geographically dispersed team.

You will balance people leadership, strategic delivery, and trusted advice in a dynamic conservation and regulatory environment, working closely with your counterpart and policy, regulatory, and operational teams to achieve planning outcomes that support conservation across Aotearoa.