Senior People And Culture Advisor

New Zealand Government; Wellington; On-site; NZD 110,000 - 156,000; Full time

Job summary

The Social Investment Agency in Wellington is seeking a seasoned Senior People & Culture Advisor for fixed-term parental leave cover. This broad generalist role partners with agency leaders to provide practical, trusted advice across the employee lifecycle, including recruitment, performance, remuneration, learning and development, and policy.

You will work closely with the People & Culture Manager to shape workforce planning, policy development and continuous improvement, and you will

Qualifications

• Senior P&C/HR experience across the employee lifecycle.
• Ability to coach and advise leaders on people matters.
• Good judgement with clear, pragmatic advice.
• Knowledge of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and te ao Māori.

Responsibilities

• Provide trusted advice across recruitment, performance and ER.
• Support remuneration, L&D and policy development.
• Lead workforce planning and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with leaders to shape people initiatives.

Skills

Senior HR generalist

Leadership coaching

Relationship skills

Prioritization

Te Tiriti knowledge

Job description

Fixed-term parental leave cover | Wellington

• Bring your senior generalist P&C experience to a role with genuine breadth and variety.
• Work closely with leaders across SIA, providing practical, trusted advice across the full employee lifecycle.
• Join a collaborative People & Culture team where you can make a real contribution to how we work and support our people.
• Fixed term until November 2027.

It's an exciting time to join us as we lead change across the public service to implement social investment and support Government to achieve better outcomes from social sector spending.

Kōrero mo te tūrangā | About the role

We're looking for an experienced Senior People & Culture Advisor to join our team on a fixed-term basis to provide parental leave cover. This is a broad generalist role with plenty of variety.

You'll work closely with leaders across SIA, providing trusted, pragmatic advice and support across the employee lifecycle, including recruitment, performance, employee relations, remuneration, learning and development, change, and employment policy.

Working alongside the People & Culture Manager and wider team, you'll contribute to people initiatives, workforce planning, policy development and continuous improvement.

As a relatively small agency, you'll have the opportunity to work across the full breadth of the people function, build trusted relationships with leaders, and contribute to work that has organisational impact.

You'll enjoy a high level of variety, be close to decision-making, and have the opportunity to help shape how we support and enable our people.

You'll join a collaborative team that values curiosity, agility and continuous learning, while contributing to work that helps improve outcomes for New Zealanders.

He kōrero moš | About you

You'll be a credible and experienced P&C practitioner who enjoys partnering with leaders and working through the practical realities of people matters.

You're comfortable navigating complexity and the occasional grey area, and you know when to coach, when to challenge, and when to get alongside someone and help find a way forward.

• Strong senior-level generalist P&C/HR experience and sound knowledge across the employee lifecycle.
• Confidence coaching and advising leaders on a range of people and employment matters.
• Good judgement, with the ability to provide clear, pragmatic and well-considered advice.
• Strong relationship and influencing skills and a genuinely collaborative way of working.
• The ability to manage competing priorities and adapt when things change.
• Experience contributing to people policies, initiatives and continuous improvement.
• A working knowledge of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and te ao Māori, and an ability to apply this in your work.

Utu ā-tau | Salary

The salary range for this role is $110,497 to $155,995.

Starting salaries reflect skills and experience relevant to the role, with offers generally made between $110,497 and $129,996.

Ko wai mātou | About us

The Social Investment Agency is a central agency, set up to lead the social investment approach to improve people's lives and to support the Government to achieve better outcomes from social service expenditure.

Social investment involves using data to understand people's needs and the best prevention points, implementing evidence-based approaches to improving outcomes, and testing that they've been successful.

The Agency has a particular focus on cross-sector work to address the most pervasive social sector challenges.

We are committed to having a safe and inclusive workplace and we value the diversity everyone brings. We welcome applications from everyone, regardless of gender identity, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or religion. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to tell us when you apply so we can assist you through the recruitment process.

Applications close at 11.59pm on Wednesday 4 November 2026; however, we will review applications as they come in and may invite people to interview before the close date. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if an ideal person is found before the close date.

If you have any questions, please email [e-mail].