Principal Advisor Performance & Improvement

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora; Wellington; On-site; NZD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is seeking a Principal Advisor Performance & Improvement to lead regional performance initiatives in the Central Wellington region. You will partner with district clinical, operational and executive leaders to identify performance challenges, design evidence-based interventions and oversee their delivery and evaluation.

You will drive diagnostic reviews, translate findings into practical recommendations, and build capability across districts.

Qualifications

• Experience leading regional performance improvement or transformation initiatives.
• Ability to diagnose performance challenges and design evidence-based interventions.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement across clinical and operational leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, delivery and evaluation of regional performance improvement initiatives.
• Partner with district leaders to identify challenges and opportunities.
• Lead diagnostic reviews and assessments of priority services and patient pathways.
• Identify root causes and develop practical recommendations and action plans.
• Monitor progress, risks and benefits and adjust actions as needed.
• Build improvement capability through coaching and knowledge sharing.
• Provide strategic advice to senior leaders and governance groups.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Diagnostic reviews

Stakeholder engagement

Analytical thinking

Change management

Public sector experience

Education

Graduate or postgraduate qualification in health management / public policy

Job description

Principal Advisor Performance & Improvement

• Provide strategic leadership for regional performance improvement initiatives.
• Lead diagnostic reviews and develop practical solutions to complex challenges.
• Influence better patient outcomes, access and service delivery across the region.

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is the country's largest employer, delivering universal public healthcare to more than 5 million people.

We provide essential hospital, specialist and community health services across more than 80 locations. Our goal is to improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders by delivering equitable, accessible and innovative care.

About the role

Based in the Central Region, the Principal Advisor, Performance Improvement reports to the Director Performance & Improvement and provides senior leadership for the design, delivery and evaluation of regional performance improvement initiatives.

Working alongside district clinical, operational and executive leaders, you'll help identify performance challenges, understand their underlying causes and develop evidence-based interventions to improve patient outcomes, access and service delivery. You'll lead diagnostic reviews and deep-dives into priority services and patient pathways, translating complex information into practical recommendations and sustainable improvements.

You'll also lead targeted improvement programmes across planned care, acute flow and other regional priorities, while supporting cross-district collaboration and building improvement capability. As a trusted advisor to regional and district leaders, you'll provide strategic advice, influence decision-making and help ensure improvement efforts are aligned with organisational priorities, the Integrated Performance Framework and equity objectives.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading the design, implementation and evaluation of regional performance improvement initiatives.
• Partnering with district clinical and operational leaders to identify performance challenges and improvement opportunities.
• Leading diagnostic reviews, deep-dives and assessments of priority services and areas of under-performance.
• Identifying root causes, system constraints and performance drivers through structured analysis and stakeholder engagement.
• Developing practical recommendations, action plans and targeted interventions to improve service delivery and patient outcomes.
• Leading improvement programmes across planned care, acute flow and other regional priorities.
• Supporting districts to translate recommendations into implementation plans and measurable actions.
• Monitoring progress, risks and benefits, providing advice on corrective actions where needed.
• Building improvement capability through coaching, facilitation, mentoring and knowledge sharing.
• Providing strategic advice, briefings and recommendations to senior leaders and governance groups.
• Facilitating cross-district collaboration and sharing successful improvement practices across the region.

About you

You're an experienced performance improvement or transformation professional who can work confidently across complex organisations and navigate challenging performance issues. You bring strong analytical and systems-thinking skills, with the ability to understand the root causes of problems and turn insights into practical, evidence-based solutions.

You're comfortable working with senior clinical and operational leaders, influencing through relationships rather than direct authority, and leading collaborative improvement initiatives. You can balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery and enjoy helping teams build their capability to achieve sustainable change.

What you'll bring to the role

• A relevant graduate or postgraduate qualification in health management, business, public policy, organisational improvement or a related discipline.
• At least 5 years' experience leading or supporting complex performance improvement, service redesign, transformation or operational improvement initiatives within a large organisation.
• Experience undertaking diagnostic reviews, performance deep-dives, business case development and improvement planning.
• A proven ability to identify root causes of performance challenges and develop practical, evidence-based solutions.
• Experience designing and delivering improvement initiatives with clinical, operational and senior leadership stakeholders.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills, including leading workshops and collaborative planning processes.
• The ability to influence senior leaders and achieve outcomes through collaboration rather than direct authority.
• Experience preparing high-quality reports, briefings, recommendations and advice for executive and governance audiences.
• Strong analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, including the ability to interpret complex qualitative and quantitative information.
• Public sector and/or health sector experience.
• An understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and experience applying its principles meaningfully in service planning, delivery and decision-making.

Experience with recognised improvement methodologies such as Lean, Improvement Science, Model for Improvement or PDSA would be an advantage. Knowledge of healthcare performance frameworks, planned care, acute flow, hospital operations or health service delivery would also be beneficial.

This is an opportunity to influence meaningful performance improvement across the Central Region. You'll work alongside clinical, operational and executive leaders to address complex challenges, strengthen improvement capability and help deliver better access, more effective services and equitable health outcomes for communities.

Working for Health New Zealand

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is committed to delivering excellent healthcare for all New Zealanders. We embrace diversity and inclusion so that our workforce reflects the communities we serve. We welcome applications from our diverse Māori, Pacific, disabled and rainbow communities.

We're also committed to creating an environment where people can bring their ideas, challenge the way things are done and continuously improve how we work.

North Island - Wellington - Wellington Central