Harm Prevention Lead Readiness and Response

Mo m tou | About Us

Our Vision: Preventing Harm. Saving Lives. Securing our Future

We play a key role in the guardianship of New Zealand waterways. Were bringing together our aroha, work and skills to achieve our outcomes of sustainable supply chains and sectors, safe people and operations, secure ports and ships, and clean seas and waterways.

Our values are about who we are as individuals and the behaviours we expect from each other at Maritime NZ.

Care | Kia Tika - We care for each other and do the right thing

Connect | Kotahitanga - We unite in a common purpose

Courage | Kia M ia - We are brave, capable and confident

Mo to m tou Ropu - About the team

The Chief Executive (CE) Office, Strategy and People Group brings together strategy, governance, performance and organisational capability to support how Maritime NZ delivers on its priorities.

Within this, the External Strategy and Programmes function plays a key role in translating strategy into coordinated action-ensuring programmes are aligned, well-sequenced and delivering meaningful outcomes across the maritime system.

Te tunga | The role

Maritime NZ is undergoing a period of change to strengthen its sustainability and future focus.

Following an organisational redesign, we are recruiting into a number of newly shaped roles that support our shift toward more efficient, digitally enabled ways of working, helping position us for the future.

This strategic role is focused on leading a key harm prevention programme - supporting how Maritime NZ strengthens readiness and response across the maritime system. Youll take the lead in shaping and delivering a multi-year programme of work, bringing together strategy, insight and intervention to reduce risk and improve system performance, working collaboratively across the business and with sector stakeholders.

Key areas of focus include:

• Leading the design and delivery of the Maritime Incident Readiness and Response Harm Prevention Programme
• Ensuring alignment with organisational strategy, regulatory approach and harm prevention frameworks
• Developing and implementing targeted strategies and interventions to address risk
• Establishing strong governance and supporting effective programme decision-making
• Applying evidence, insight and lessons learned to strengthen continuous improvement
• Working across teams to ensure joined-up, system-wide delivery
• Building and maintaining strong partnerships with internal and external stakeholders

This role is central to ensuring Maritime NZ is not only prepared to respond to incidents but is also actively reducing the likelihood and impact of harm over time. This role will work closely with functions in the Response Security and Safety Services Group (the RSSS Group), in particular those parts of the Group supporting Maritime NZ to deliver the following outcomes: New Zealands readiness, response, rescue coordination and recovery capability supports incidents to be effectively managed and lives saved.

Maritime NZ plays an important role in saving lives and successfully managing the impacts of maritime incidents through its readiness, response, rescue coordination, and recovery capabilities. Maritime NZ is one of the few agencies that has explicit regulatory roles in the national emergency management system, including acting as a lead agency at the national level for a major SAR incident, a major maritime incident or a major (Tier 3) marine oil pollution incident.

Nou te rourou | What you bring

Youre a strategic programme leader who can operate across complexity and ambiguity. With strong systems thinking, youll have the ability to translate strategy into practical, high-impact action.

You will bring:

• Experience leading or delivering complex programmes, ideally in harm prevention, safety, or emergency management contexts
• Strong systems thinking and ability to work across organisational and sector boundaries
• Experience designing and implementing strategic interventions
• Ability to influence and build relationships across diverse stakeholders
• Experience supporting governance and decision-making processes
• Strong analytical skills, using evidence and insight to inform decisions
• Excellent communication and advisory capability
• A collaborative, partnership-oriented approach

Mou | For you

Maritime NZ recognises and respects te Tiriti o Waitangi and we are committed to working with M ori to build strong, meaningful and enduring relationships to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

We aim to be a workplace where everyone feels valued, supported with a sense of belonging. We encourage our people to actively contribute to our workplace culture where we all thrive and authentically live our MNZ values.

Upon joining us youll receive a full range of benefits including Income Protection & Life Insurance. Check out our full range on our careers page to find out more about why we love working here.

Salary range

$140,735 - $156,312 depending on skills and experience depending on skills and experience + superannuation.

Me pehea te tuku tono | How to apply

We are unable to accept applications via email. Please click the apply button to submit your application.

We're committed to ensuring our application process is accessible to everyone. Please reach out to our recruitment team below if there is any support we can provide to ensure the process is accessible to you.

Applications for this role close 26 June 2026. Please also note that you must have the legal right to live and work in New Zealand to be considered for this role.

If you have any questions please e-mail ***email_hidden***