- Make a direct and lasting impact across the region’s environment and communities
- Lead strategic direction and delivery to achieve quantifiable outcomes across land, water, biodiversity, climate and people
- Join, and contribute to, a dynamic and aligned Executive Leadership Team
As Group Manager, Environment Group, your leadership will help shape a future where the Greater Wellington region’s natural assets are protected, enhanced, and sustained for generations to come. Sitting at the heart of the region’s environmental system, this role has genuine scale, complexity and impact.
You will lead the region’s environmental agency through ongoing legislative reform, climate and biodiversity pressures, and increasing expectations from communities and partners. Balancing science, policy, delivery and partnerships, you will ensure Greater Wellington is focused on outcomes that matter.
As a member of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering organisational strategy, culture and performance, contributing to collective leadership across Greater Wellington.
About the role:
Reporting to the Chief Executive, the Group Manager, Environment provides overall leadership of a large, multidisciplinary group responsible for environmental policy, science, planning, regulation and delivery across the region.
Key areas of responsibility include:
- Strategic leadership and direction across the environmental system
- Leading people, financial, asset and risk management at scale
- Proactively leading ongoing organisational and system change
- Delivering high-quality, evidence-based advice to Council
- Championing Te Tiriti o Waitangi and partnering effectively with mana whenua
- Building strong relationships with central and local government, sector agencies and communities
Skills and experience required:
We are seeking a senior and credible leader who brings:
- Significant leadership experience in complex, politically aware organisations
- Tangible experience in effectively leading large multidisciplinary teams and programmes
- Strong strategic judgement and systems thinking in conditions of ambiguity
- Demonstrated change leadership skills
- Experience building strong relationships with elected members, senior officials and stakeholders
- Strong experience in environmental management and regional/local government.
- A deep understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, te ao Māori and partnership-based approaches
- Well-developed general management capability across people, finance and assets
What we offer:
- We’ll encourage you to grow and prosper with a range of learning and development opportunities, internal secondments and career progression.
- Your wellbeing is our priority – we’ll provide medical and trauma insurance, support through our employee assistance programme or Manawa Ora providers, generous annual and sick leave provisions
- Social clubs, staff networks and a friendly and inclusive culture.
- Great working environments across our beautiful region.
Come help treasure and grow our rohe together
Our rohe and its lands, waterways, animals, plants and people can only grow stronger if they are nurtured.
To join our team is to step up and commit to playing an active part in this important mahi. That means restoring nature, connecting people and places, reducing environmental impacts, and helping this rohe and its people prosper.
We are committed to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and support mana whenua as Kaitiaki. We’re also part of a collective movement alongside our community members whose hopes for the future of this region are just as high as your own.
Our efforts across environmental management, public transport, flood protection, regional parks and water supply are interconnected and integral to treasuring our rohe and growing our future.
How to apply:
Greater Wellington is proud to be a member of Diversity Works. We value diversity and are committed to an inclusive, flexible and supportive workplace. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds and welcome the unique experience you will bring to our team.
We are passionate about ensuring our recruitment processes are fair and equitable. Please let us know if you have any accessibility needs or adjustments that need to be made so we can offer a recruitment process that is more accessible to you
This recruitment is being managed by our partners at SWR Group on Greater Wellington’s behalf. To apply for this role, please send your CV and covering letter to tony@swr.nz or graeme@swr.nz or quoting reference no. 4025600. Alternatively, to find out more contact Tony Walsh on 029 271 1101 or Graeme Sandri on 029 248 8502. Should you wish to apply directly via our website, please do so via this link https://swr.nz/jobs/
Applications close: 15th May 2026. However, we will be shortlisting applications as they come in and will interview as soon as possible to secure the right person.
Please note, we are only able to accept applications for this role from those candidates holding an existing right to work in New Zealand.