Principal Advisor Psychosocial Risk

Principal Advisor - Psychosocial Risk (Fixed-term until 25 June 2027)

Join the Ministry of Justice - Te Tāhū o te Ture at an exciting time as we strengthen our focus on workforce wellbeing and psychosocial risk management.

This is a genuine opportunity to shape how the management of psychosocial risk is understood and embedded across a large and complex public sector organisation, moving beyond simply applying pre-defined frameworks. You'll play a key role in building a proactive, system-wide approach that protects employee wellbeing and enables a productive and safe workforce.

Working within the People Experience team, you will lead meaningful, organisation-wide change that supports our people to thrive.

Te Haeata | The Opportunity

Are you an expert in psychosocial risk management, organisational wellbeing or designing and implementing organisation-wide frameworks?

As our Principal Advisor – Psychosocial Risk, you will lead the development and implementation of a Ministry-wide psychosocial risk management framework. You'll bring a strategic, evidence-based lens to how we identify, assess and manage psychosocial risks—helping to prevent harm and promote psychologically healthy work environments.

You will work across the Ministry, influencing senior leaders, shaping organisational approaches and embed capability to ensure psychosocial risk management becomes part of how we design work, lead people and make decisions.

This role operates with a high degree of influence and autonomy, requiring sound judgement, strong engagement skills and comfort working across a complex system.

In This Role You Will

• Lead the design and implementation of a Ministry-wide psychosocial risk management framework.
• Provide strategic thought leadership and expert advice to senior leaders and governance groups.
• Embed psychosocial risk management through collaboration, coaching and capability building across the organisation.
• Use workforce data and insights to inform targeted actions that improve employee experience and reduce risk.
• Ensure policies, processes and initiatives are designed to minimise harm and support psychologically safe and inclusive environments.
• Drive innovation in how psychosocial risks are identified, monitored and addressed.
• Build strong internal and external networks to stay aligned with emerging best practice.
• Deliver core operational priorities and outputs of the Wellbeing team.

Ō Pūkenga | Skills & Experience

To Be Successful In This Role, You Will Bring

• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing organisation-wide frameworks in complex environments.
• Deep expertise in psychosocial risk management, wellbeing, psychology or related disciplines.
• Strong strategic thinking and the ability to translate data and insights into clear action.
• Proven experience influencing senior leaders and presenting complex information clearly.
• Experience integrating wellbeing and risk considerations into organisational design, leadership practice and policy.
• Sound understanding of relevant legislative and regulatory context of psychosocial risk management.
• Strong relationship management and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience in the public sector or large, complex organisations is desirable.
• Understanding of te Tiriti o Waitangi and te ao Māori, and the ability to apply these perspectives in practice.

Mō Mātou/About Us

At Te Tāhū o te Ture - the Ministry of Justice, we're committed to strengthening people's trust in the law of Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The purpose of our People Experience team is to help the Ministry's people to have a great experience at work. This begins before they start with us and goes right though until they leave us. We build and operate the people-related practices that form the experience of the people who work here, in the areas of organisational development, learning, employment relations and human resources. We also advise and support our leaders and employees as they do their jobs day-to-day. We're a group of committed specialists who want to make a difference.

Joining Te Tāhū o te Ture means you will become part of an organisation that welcomes and supports people of all gender identities, ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, disabilities and religions.

Ngā painga o tēnei wāhi mahi/What's great about working here

Benefits

We offer you a range of benefits to support your wellbeing and help make the Ministry a great place to be. These include:

• 20 days holiday leave
• flexible work hours where possible
• an online professional development portal
• access to a variety of inclusive and proactive networks

See our full range of benefits here.

If you are passionate about shaping organisational approaches to wellbeing and psychosocial risk—and want to do work with real impact—we'd love to hear from you.

Utu ā-tau/Salary

The salary band for this role is $130,129 - $179,192 with the appointing salary for this role likely to be between $130,129 and $168,062, based on skills and experience.

Tono mai/Apply

To apply, click the Apply button below to be directed to our Careers Website. You can view a detailed position description here, as well as complete an online application form by attaching your CV and cover letter.

Applications close on 06 July 2026; however, we will be reviewing CVs as they come in and inviting successful candidates to interview before the close date.

If you have any questions, please contact ***email_hidden***

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