Ministerial Adviser

Job title: Ministerial Adviser

Role type: Full time, fixed term through to July 2027

Location: Wellington

Salary band & range: GSR F $76,463 to $89,215 depending on skills and experience

About the Role - Kōrero mō te Tūranga

This is a fixed-term opportunity to cover parental leave within the Government Services Directorate, working in a fast-paced and supportive environment. As a Ministerial Adviser, you are at the heart of our Government Services directorate, providing high quality, impartial advice, and support across both MPI and our Ministers' offices. This team delivers ministerial correspondence and advice, ministerial responses, answers to written and oral parliamentary questions, event briefings for ministerial visits, and upholds MPI's processes and procedures.

You will contribute to key ministerial servicing processes, identify opportunities to strengthen capability, and promote continuous improvement. The role also involves building and maintaining strong relationships across the Ministry, and supporting engagement with Ministers' offices to ensure timely, accurate, and consistent delivery of services.

Key responsibilities include:

• Fostering essential relationships at all levels across the Ministry
• Managing competing priorities across many ministerial and stakeholder requests, while ensuring compliance with MPI's policies and standards
• Facilitating and advising on correspondence to Ministers' offices, staying accountable for deadlines and the quality of advice
• Assessing trends and issues, and engaging with others to seek solutions to continually improve the performance of the Ministry

About You - Mōu

You bring strong analytical and problem-solving skills, enabling you to navigate ambiguity and provide clear, pragmatic advice in complex and fast-paced environments. You are highly organised and adaptable, and you can manage competing priorities under pressure while maintaining a consistent focus on quality and accuracy.

You are an excellent communicator and relationship builder, confident working across all levels of an organisation, including advisers, senior leaders, and Ministers' offices. Your writing is clear, concise, and technically sound, and you bring a collaborative approach that supports effective engagement and delivery.

You will also demonstrate:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an eye for accuracy, detail, and quality
• Understanding of the machinery of government and ministerial processes, with sound political nous and judgement.
• Proven relationship management skills, with the ability to build and maintain trusted partnerships
• A collaborative, team-oriented approach with sound negotiation skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver under tight timeframes
• Confidence navigating ambiguity and applying structured problem-solving approaches
• An ability to self-manage your time and remain calm, flexible, and focused to deliver to tight timeframes as needed
• An ability to react quickly and thrive in rapidly changing environments as the Ministerial team frequently manage sudden surges in volume

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

Our Ministerial Services team is Wellington-based and operates in a high-trust, fast-paced environment with a flat, collaborative structure. You will work closely with the Manager and Director Government Services, contributing to complex work, escalating issues appropriately, and partnering to ensure the timely delivery of high-quality advice to Ministers.

We are a hardworking, highly motivated, and supportive team that consistently performs at a high level. Strong teamwork underpins our success, with advisers holding each other to high standards while also stepping in to support one another when workloads increase. This creates a cohesive and positive environment where collaboration enables us to navigate challenging work and maintain a strong, high-performing culture.

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
• Career development and internal opportunities across the branch and organisation

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.

To view the position description and/or apply online, please click “APPLY FOR THIS JOB” or visit the MPI Careers Site. To apply, you must hold the right to work in New Zealand or be eligible to obtain it – click here to find out more about work visa eligibility and options.

Applications close at 11.59pm on Thursday 18 June 2026

If you have any questions about the role, please email [email protected]