Team Manager Exporter Help

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI); Wellington; On-site; NZD 122,000 - 142,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Additional MPI leave days

Ability to purchase extra annual leave

Eye test and contribution to lenses/gl

Eye test and glasses contribution

Job summary

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is seeking a capable Team Manager for Exporter Help in Wellington. You will lead and develop a team of export advisers, build strong relationships with exporters and partners, and drive improvements to make regulatory support clearer and more user-friendly.

This role requires agile delivery, strategic leadership, and excellent stakeholder management to navigate the complex regulatory landscape and support New Zealand's food and fibre exporters.

Qualifications

• Experience leading, coaching, and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong stakeholder management and ability to build trusted relationships.
• Experience delivering customer-centric improvements, projects or business change.
• Confidence using agile approaches to plan, prioritise, and deliver outcomes.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving in complex issues.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of export advisers to deliver outcomes.
• Build relationships with exporters, industry groups, and MPI partners.
• Drive customer-centric improvements that simplify regulatory support.
• Use agile delivery to prioritise work, manage projects, and support innovation.
• Provide strategic leadership to identify opportunities and improve service performance.
• Oversee workflows, monitor delivery, and support continuous improvement.
• Champion collaboration across MPI to connect services with customer needs.

Skills

People leadership

Stakeholder management

Agile delivery

Project management

Critical thinking

Customer service knowledge

Job description

Job Description

Team Manager Exporter Help

Role type

Permanent

Location

Wellington

Salary band & range

$121,764 to $142,494 depending on skills and experience

About the Role - Kōrero mō te Tūranga

Are you passionate about the growth of New Zealand and the contribution to be made by our food and fibre businesses?

The Regulatory Advice Service is a key function within MPI that communicates on a day‑to‑day basis with businesses around New Zealand to support their growth and a thriving New Zealand economy.

We support business by providing advice on the regulations that underpin New Zealand's food and fibre exports and food imports. We do this by providing guidance, webinars and online tools, and through email queries and phone calls.

This role combines people leadership, service improvement, stakeholder engagement, and strategic thinking to deliver a modern, customer‑focused advisory service for New Zealand exporters. Drawing on agile ways of working and service design principles, you'll help shape tools, resources, and services that improve customer experiences and reduce barriers to trade.

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of export advisers to deliver exceptional customer outcomes.
• Build strong relationships with exporters, industry groups, and partners across MPI.
• Drive customer‑centric improvements that simplify regulatory support and services.
• Use agile delivery approaches to prioritise work, manage projects, and support innovation.
• Provide strategic leadership to identify opportunities, solve complex problems, and improve service performance.
• Oversee team workflows, monitor delivery outcomes, and support continuous improvement.
• Champion collaboration across MPI to ensure services are connected, informed, and responsive to customer needs.

About You - Mōu

You’re an experienced people leader who enjoys developing capability, creating a positive team culture, and helping people achieve their best. You bring a customer‑focused mindset and can balance operational delivery with continuous improvement, while building strong relationships across a complex stakeholder environment.

Ideally, you'll bring:

• Previous experience leading, coaching, and developing high‑performing teams.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to build trusted relationships across a range of organisations and sectors.
• Experience delivering customer‑centric improvements, service enhancements, project management or business change initiatives.
• Confidence using agile ways of working to plan, prioritise, and deliver successful outcomes.
• Strong critical thinking and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to navigate complex issues and identify practical solutions.
• Experience working within customer service, advisory, regulatory, primary sector, or export‑focused.

You may currently be leading a customer‑focused team and be looking for an opportunity to apply your leadership skills in a role that supports New Zealand exporters and contributes to the success of our food and fibre sector.

You do not need to meet every requirement to apply. If you're excited by the opportunity and believe you can bring value to the role, we'd love to hear from you.

About the Team

The Regulatory Advice Service – Exporter Help team supports New Zealand exporters by making it easier to understand MPI's requirements to export. We are a collaborative and interactive team that enjoys working together to provide a customer‑centric approach to their work.

Learn more about how the team has helped support a journey to exporting: here

About MPI - Mō Te Manatū Ahu Matua

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) partners with New Zealand's food and fibre sector to be the world's most trusted provider of high‑value food and fibre products.

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
• Bi‑annual paid eye test and contribution to the costs of corrective lenses/frames

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 midnight on Sunday 4 October 2026.

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