Principal Advisor Readiness and Response

Maritime New Zealand; Wellington; On-site; NZD 156,000 - 172,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Income Protection

Life Insurance

Job summary

Maritime NZ is seeking a Principal Advisor Readiness and Response to lead key initiatives within the Readiness and Response Harm Prevention Programme and support the SAR Coordination Work Programme. You will deliver strategy-informed policy advice to decision-makers, preparing briefs, business cases and Cabinet papers for senior officials.

You will collaborate with senior leaders, governance groups and cross-agency partners to navigate complexity, translate strategy into practical outcomes and

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience providing strategic policy advice to senior executives and governance bodies.
• Experience leading complex cross-agency programmes or system-level initiatives.
• Strong systems thinking and analytical capability.
• Experience developing business cases, investment proposals and governance papers.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement and influencing skills.
• Sound judgement, credibility and professionalism.
• Ability to translate strategy into practical, achievable outcomes.
• Experience within search and rescue, emergency management or similar complex environments is highly regarded.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex strategic programmes and initiatives across the SAR system.
• Provide high-quality policy advice to senior leaders and governance groups.
• Develop business cases, investment proposals and funding recommendations.
• Support Maritime NZ's commitments to the NZ Search and Rescue Council work programme.
• Identify emerging risks, opportunities and future capability needs.
• Build strong partnerships across government, emergency management and operational response organisations.
• Apply evidence and lessons learned to improve system performance and outcomes.

Skills

Strategic policy advice

Programme leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Analytical thinking

Systems thinking

Job description

Principal Advisor Readiness and Response

Our Vision: Preventing Harm. Saving Lives. Securing our Future

We play a key role in the guardianship of New Zealand waterways. We’re bringing together our aroha, work and skills to achieve our outcomes of sustainable supply chains and sectors, safe people and operations, secure ports and ships, and clean seas and waterways.

Our values are about who we are as individuals and the behaviours we expect from each other at Maritime NZ.

Care | Kia Tika - We care for each other and do the right thing

Courage | Kia Māia - We are brave, capable and confident

The Chief Executive (CE) Office, Strategy and People Group brings together strategy, governance, performance and organisational capability to support how Maritime NZ delivers on its priorities.

Within this, the External Strategy and Programmes function plays a key role in translating strategy into coordinated action - ensuring programmes are aligned, well‑sequenced and delivering meaningful outcomes across the maritime system.

Te tūnga | The role

Reporting to the Manager External Strategy and Programmes, you'll partner closely with senior leaders to lead key initiatives within Maritime NZ's Readiness and Response Harm Prevention Programme and support delivery of the National Search and Rescue (SAR) Coordination Work Programme.

You’ll work to deliver strategic policy advice to decision-makers to enable them to make evidence-informed choices and manage trade-offs and priorities across the SAR work programme. Responsibilities will include the preparation of written and verbal advice, such as policy briefings, business cases and Cabinet papers for senior decision-makers.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading complex strategic programmes and initiatives across the SAR system
• Providing high-quality policy advice to senior leaders and governance groups
• Developing business cases, investment proposals and funding recommendations
• Supporting Maritime NZ's commitments to the New Zealand Search and Rescue Council work programme
• Identifying emerging risks, opportunities and future capability needs
• Building strong partnerships across government, emergency management and operational response organisations
• Applying evidence, insights and lessons learned to improve system performance and outcomes.

You’ll be an accomplished principal-level advisor with a reputation for navigating complexity, influencing across organisational boundaries and delivering outcomes through collaboration.

To be successful, you’ll bring:

• Demonstrated experience providing strategic policy advice to senior executives and governance bodies
• Experience leading complex cross-agency programmes or system-level initiatives
• Strong systems thinking and analytical capability
• Experience developing business cases, investment proposals and governance papers
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement and influencing skills
• Sound judgement, credibility and professionalism
• The ability to translate strategy into practical, achievable outcomes

Experience within search and rescue, emergency management, response, resilience or similarly complex operational environments will be highly regarded.

We aim to be a workplace where everyone feels valued, supported with a sense of belonging. We encourage our people to actively contribute to our workplace culture where we all thrive and authentically live our MNZ values.

Upon joining us you’ll receive a full range of benefits including Income Protection & Life Insurance. Check out our full range on our careers page to find out more about why we love working here.

Salary range $156,314 - $171,946 depending on skills and experience + superannuation.

We’re committed to ensuring our application process is accessible to everyone. Please reach out to our recruitment team below if there is any support we can provide to ensure the process is accessible to you.

Applications for this role close midnight 27 September 2026. Please also note that you must have the legal right to live and work in New Zealand to be considered for this role.

If you have any questions please e-mail *******@maritimenz.govt.nz