Senior People Advisor - Fixed Term - Wellington

New Zealand Government; Wellington; On-site; NZD 117,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Fire and Emergency New Zealand, based at our National Headquarters in Wellington, seeks a Senior People Advisor to evaluate HR situations and provide timely, grounded advice to people leaders. You will collaborate with leaders across the organisation to promote people development and address complex HR matters and ER issues.

The role demands the ability to hit the ground running, experience in unionised environments, and autonomy with strong teamwork.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience providing high-quality HR advice.
• Have relevant qualifications or equivalent experience working in HR.
• Proven experience in employment relations, with the capability to operate at a senior advisory level and with well-developed problem-solving skills.
• Good knowledge of current New Zealand employment law and HR practices and how this relates to the organisational context.
• The ability to coach and mentor managers to enhance overall capability in people management.

Responsibilities

• Interpret and apply an employment agreement clause in collaboration with leaders.
• Contribute to solutions for complex ER issues across Wellington HQ.
• Participate on interview panels to hire new leaders.
• Support delivery of national people-based initiatives.

Skills

HR advice

Employment relations

Coaching managers

Problem solving

NZ employment law

Education

Relevant HR qualifications

Job description

Join an organisation dedicated to helping our communities.

• Gain exposure to a wide range of ER matters
• Salary range $117,415 - $130,461 (pro-rata) dependent on skills and experience

Bring your demonstrated experience providing high-quality HR and ER advice to people leaders in our National Headquarters.

Mō tēnei tūranga - about the role

Reporting to the People Business Partner, the Senior People Advisor is responsible for evaluating the current state of various HR situations, delivering timely, grounded advice and recommending solutions.

Collaborating with leaders across our Wellington based National Headquarters, you will promote a culture of people development and provide solutions to complex HR matters, challenges and complex ER issues.

No two days are the same. In this role you could find yourself :

• Supporting a manager to interpret and apply an employment agreement clause
• Working on a complex ER issue
• On an interview panel to hire a new leader
• Supporting the delivery of a national people-based initiative

Critical to this role will be your ability to hit the ground running. Ideally, you will also be familiar with working in a unionised environment and be equally comfortable working autonomously and mucking in with the team to solve a problem or share the workload.

This is a fixed term opportunity from ASAP – 30 June 2027.

What you'll bring to the role :

• Demonstrated experience providing high-quality HR advice
• Have relevant qualifications or equivalent experience working in HR
• Proven experience in employment relations, with the capability to operate at a senior advisory level and with well-developed problem-solving skills
• Good knowledge of current New Zealand employment law and HR practices and how this relates to the organisational context
• The ability to coach and mentor managers to enhance overall capability in people management

The salary range for this role is $117,415 – $130,461 (pro-rata) dependent on skills and experience relevant to the role.

Ko wai mātou - who are we?

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is a Crown Entity responsible for reducing unwanted fires, responding to structural and vegetation fires and other emergencies including motor vehicle crashes, medical emergencies, hazardous substance related incidents, natural disasters, and supporting increased community resilience.

Our vision is to build stronger communities and protect what matters most to the people within them.

We are proud to be recognised as New Zealand's most trusted public sector agency.

Our values reflect what our people believe is core to who we are and the organisation we aspire to be.

• We Do the Right Thing - Kia Tika
• We Serve and Support - Manaakitanga
• We Are Better Together - Whanaungatanga
• We Strive to Improve - Auahatanga

We value diversity as a strength and welcome applicants that can help bring a difference to our organisation.

Applications close Tuesday 17 November 2026

Eligibility to work in New Zealand is mandatory for this role.