Senior Policy Analyst

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI); Wellington; On-site; NZD 103,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Additional MPI leave days

Ability to purchase extra annual leave

Annual Wellness payment

Job summary

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in Wellington seeks a Senior Policy Analyst to lead policy work within the Cost Recovery Directorate, ensuring cost recovery settings are fair, effective and fit for purpose.

You will lead end‑to‑end policy processes, provide strategic advice, and collaborate across MPI to simplify frameworks, develop consultation proposals, and support regulatory changes. A strong public sector background and fee‑setting experience are highly valued.

Qualifications

• Sound knowledge and experience in government and regulatory policy processes.
• Economic or fee setting knowledge or experience.
• Strong critical thinking and analytical problem‑solving skills.
• Experience providing clear, practical, and well‑reasoned policy advice.
• Proven ability to use data and insights to guide decision making.

Responsibilities

• Lead regulatory changes for cost recovery reviews and initiatives.
• Provide strategic advice on cost recovery policy issues.
• Build trusted relationships across MPI and with stakeholders.
• Coach and mentor analysts, providing quality assurance.
• Develop guidance to support consistent cost recovery practice.
• Identify opportunities to simplify and improve frameworks.
• Apply critical thinking to solve complex policy challenges and drive improvement.

Skills

Regulatory policy

Data interpretation

Stakeholder engagement

Coaching/mentoring

Public sector experience

Job description

Job Description

Job Title: Senior Policy Analyst

Role Type: Permanent, full-time preferred

Location: Wellington City

Salary Band & range: D $102,953 to $132,401 depending on skills and experience

About the Role - Kōrero mō te Tūranga

As a Senior Policy Analyst in the Cost Recovery Directorate, you'll play a key role in ensuring MPI can sustainably deliver services that protect New Zealand and support thriving primary industries.

Working across MPI's diverse portfolio, you'll lead policy work that helps ensure cost recovery settings are fair, effective, and fit for purpose. This is a unique opportunity to work across a wide range of regulatory systems, including biosecurity, food safety and fisheries and contribute to new initiatives.

You'll lead end-to-end policy processes, providing strategic advice on both new initiatives and existing cost recovery settings. Working closely with business groups across MPI, you'll identify opportunities to simplify and improve frameworks, develop proposals for consultation, support regulatory change, and provide advice that helps ensure investment and policy decisions are underpinned by sound cost recovery principles. This role offers exposure to all stages of the policy cycle.

We're looking for an experienced policy professional with strong regulatory policy expertise and confidence working with financial information. While this is not a finance role, you'll be comfortable interpreting data, identifying trends or anomalies, and drawing financial and economic insights to inform policy decisions. You'll bring excellent stakeholder engagement skills, sound judgement, initiative, and the ability to develop innovative solutions in a collaborative environment. You'll also support the development of others through coaching, mentoring, and quality assurance.

In this role, you will:

• Lead regulatory changes for cost recovery reviews and initiatives
• Provide strategic advice on cost recovery policy issues
• Build trusted relationships across MPI and with stakeholders
• Coach and mentor analysts, providing quality assurance
• Develop guidance to support consistent cost recovery practice
• Identify opportunities to simplify and improve frameworks
• Apply critical thinking to solve complex policy challenges and drive improvement

About You - Mōu

You bring strong public sector experience and knowledge of regulatory policy processes, with the judgement and initiative required to lead complex work confidently. You are comfortable working with numbers and ideally bring fee and price‑setting experience.

You are a collaborative team member with excellent communication skills and a positive, can‑do attitude. You enjoy building and maintaining strong relationships across organisations, mentoring others, and contributing to a supportive team environment. You are confident operating in ambiguous settings, show good political awareness, and bring a strong interest in reviewing and improving regulatory cost recovery frameworks.

You will bring:

• Sound knowledge and experience in government and regulatory policy processes
• Economic or fee setting knowledge or experience
• Strong critical thinking and analytical problem‑solving skills
• Experience providing clear, practical, and well‑reasoned policy advice
• Proven ability to use data and insights to guide decision making
• Strong relationship‑building and stakeholder engagement skills
• Experience leading, coaching, or mentoring others to achieve outcomes

You do not need to meet all of the role requirements to apply. We offer a breadth of development and learning opportunities and will welcome an application if you think you could make a great fit.

About the Team - Mō tō mātou Rōpū

The Cost Recovery Policy and Performance team sits within MPI's Corporate Branch and is part of the wider Cost Recovery Directorate.

Our team of five, plus the manager, works alongside the Costing and Modelling team to provide high-quality cost recovery policy advice and oversee MPI's cost recovery settings.

We work across a wide range of business groups, building strong relationships and developing a broad understanding of MPI's operations to ensure charging frameworks remain fair, effective, and fit for purpose. As a small, collaborative team, we support one another, value knowledge sharing, and stay well connected with policy colleagues across MPI to deliver meaningful outcomes for New Zealand's primary industries.

About MPI - Mō Te Manatū Ahu Matua

We're a large organisation with massive scope from the frontline to policy development and beyond.

Benefits of working at MPI - Ngā hua o te mahi i te Manatū Ahu Matua

• Additional MPI leave days
• Ability to purchase extra annual leave
• Annual Wellness payment

Are you ready to make a difference? - Kua rite koe mō tēnei mahi whaitake?

We are committed to being a good partner under Te Tiriti o Waitangi which includes working closely with iwi, hapū, whānau and hāpori.

We aspire to reflect the diverse communities we serve, so we welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, and identities. As an organisation, we are committed to making Manatū Ahu Matua Ministry for Primary Industries a great place to work for all.

In your cover letter we'd like to know about you, your values; your interest and motivations for this role; the abilities, strengths, personal attributes, and diverse perspectives you will bring to the role and this organisation, which may have also been gained outside of the workforce.

Applications close at 11.59pm Tuesday 22 September 2026

If you have any questions about the role, please email [e-mail]

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