Senior Curator Mātauranga Māori

AMaGA Emerging Professionals

Remote

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Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

We're looking for an experienced curator to lead a team of experts in Matauranga Maori and contribute to the development and enhancement of curatorial practice.

Purpose of the position

The position leads a team of four curators and is responsible for leading, overseeing and continuously improving curatorial practice across the team. The position works closely with other Senior Curators to shape curatorial practice across Te Papa, and with our Audience and Experience teams to champion curatorial presence in the delivery of exhibitions and other audience experiences. The position also has responsibility for developing, supervising and undertaking research projects.

What success looks like

After your first year, people will describe you as someone who has approached the role methodically and invested time getting to know each individual in the team. You have reviewed activities and understand how the team functions and are developing ways to create efficiencies in how we operate and increase the impact the team can have on collection acquisition, management, research, scholarship and sharing knowledge with communities.

Key responsibilities

Reporting to and supporting the Head of Matauranga Maori and Humanities, you will:

lead the Matauranga Maori team, creating an environment that fosters growth, engagement and high performance
provide technical leadership and direction, overseeing and supporting the work of curators and developing and enhancing curatorial practice
develop, supervise, and undertake research projects aligned with Te Papa's cross-curatorial strategy, Mana Taonga framework, and audience engagement priorities
lead contributions to exhibitions, visitor experiences and promotions in collaboration with the Audience and Experience directorate
develop operation plans for the Matauranga Maori team, ensuring that they are innovative, future focussed and customer centric.

Who we're looking for

We're Looking For Someone Who Brings

experience leading people, with the ability to inspire and develop high performance, and manage the team's operational delivery
acknowledged expertise in their field of Matauranga Maori along with deep research and curatorial skills and ideally a PhD or equivalent experience and skills in Matauranga Maori
Te Reo Maori at a level sufficient for social conversational and formal protocol to build and maintain relationships with iwi and hapu representatives and Maori organisations
experience embedding Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Mana Taonga in their work, and capability to implement tikanga-led practices, te reo Maori and Maori values in leadership practice
significant experience in collection development with demonstrable success in building and shaping collections to support organisational strategies/ priorities
ability to work collaboratively as a manager across an organisation, building relationships and leveraging interdependencies to achieve organisational outcomes
strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate technical concepts to a variety of audiences and develop business cases and other written communications
experience in exhibition or experience development within a museum, cultural, or creative context.

What we offer

A supportive, values-driven team environment
Comprehensive benefits including onsite Kindergarten, subsidised parking, café and store discounts, and free entry to paid exhibitions

This is a full-time permanent position, 40 hours per week, based at Te Papa Tongarewa, 55 Cable Street, Wellington.

Applications close: Sunday, 23 August 2026.

Applicants must have the ability to obtain and maintain the legal right to work in New Zealand.

23/08/2026

Paul Diamond

***email_hidden***

Full Time

Wellington, New Zealand

Overseas

$111,510 - $132,418