Principal Policy Advisor I Financial Markets

Discover a career with purpose at MBIE

• Influence the policy and regulatory settings that support financial markets in New Zealand
• Make a difference to New Zealander’s financial wellbeing 
• Permanent, Wellington CBD location
• $132,417 - $160,472 plus KiwiSaver and wellness benefit.
   

Tēnei tūranga - About the Role:

The Financial Markets team provides advice to Ministers to promote fair, efficient and transparent financial markets in New Zealand. Our vision is that all New Zealand consumers and businesses have access to the money they need to thrive.

Our role includes advising on the regulation of financial services like banks and insurers, insurance contract law, KiwiSaver and other managed funds, and wider investment settings and how to grow our capital markets. In an environment where many New Zealanders are worried about their finances, and New Zealand faces a range of long-term economic and social challenges, financial products and services are critical to help businesses and individuals save and invest for the future, manage their risks, and grow our collective wellbeing.

The Financial Markets team sits in the Commerce, Consumer and Business Policy branch, the Government’s lead advisor on the commercial environment in which all New Zealand businesses and consumers operate. We look after the laws, institutions and systems that underpin how businesses and consumers interact with each other including: competition, consumer affairs, market performance, financial conduct, corporate governance and intellectual property, small business and manufacturing. Our teams cooperate and work flexibly to provide strategic and timely advice for Ministers.

It is an exciting time to join our team. We are currently working on a range of high priority and challenging issues, including exploring opportunities to improve the effectiveness of our capital markets settings to support access to capital for New Zealand businesses, and reviewing conduct obligations on financial institutions such as banks and insurers.

The Principal Policy Advisor is responsible for:

• Partnering with the policy manager to drive the strategic policy agenda and set the direction for the team’s policy domain
• Providing authoritative policy advice and leading programmes of work and project teams on complex and sensitive areas
• Effectively influencing on domain topics through engagement and communication with senior stakeholders
• Enhancing the overall capability of the team through guiding and mentoring senior advisors and advisors 

Ngā pukenga me ngā wheako e hiahiatia ana -

Skills and Experience Required
 

For the role of Principal Policy Advisor, you will have advanced policy skills and ideally you will:

• Be able to understand the strategic context, current policy agenda and priorities; is able to see policy issues in the wider context and applies foresight and judgement to identify what is important for the policy area in the medium and long term.  
• Build requisite knowledge for different policy issues quickly. 
• Draw on expert knowledge of the policy area as well as broad knowledge from other policy domains to critically assess information from a wide variety of sources and identify implications for policy analysis and advice. 
• Have or want to improve your cultural capability and knowledge of te ao Māori, te reo Māori and how Te Tiriti o Waitangi informs our work 
• Have the intellectual capability to work with multiple complex ideas in parallel as well as being able to integrate multiple concepts and pathways and deal comfortably with ambiguity. 
• Have the ability to maneuver comfortably through complex policy advisory processes and Cabinet requirements to achieve the desired outcomes for complex, sensitive or risky policy issues. 
• Be an expert user of policy project management processes, have skills and experience to manage policy conflicts and understand how to assess risk and develop risk mitigation strategies. 
• Be skilled at drawing on experience, evidence, wisdom, judgement and expertise to build policy capability of staff.

Come join us and make a difference to New Zealanders.

Ētahi kōrero mō MBIE - About MBIE:

MBIE's goal is to create a resilient and high-performing economy that delivers real and ongoing quality of life for all New Zealanders.

We do this by working with others to create an environment that supports businesses to be more productive and internationally competitive, enables all New Zealanders to participate in the economy through improved job opportunities and by working to ensure quality housing is more affordable.

People are at the heart of our mahi, our way of working is guided by our values which shape our behaviours.

• Mahi Tahi – Better Together
• Māia – Bold and brave
• Pae Kahurangi – Build our Future
• Pono Me Te Tika – Own It

Our aspirations are echoed in our Māori identity – Hīkina Whakatutuki – which broadly means ‘lifting to make successful'.

MBIE recognises the partnership founded under Te Tiriti o Waitangi between Māori and the Crown and is committed to giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We will do this through enduring, meaningful and effective partnerships with iwi, Māori, other Māori groups/organisations and the Crown, as this is critical to enable economic and social development, both for Māori and for wider Aotearoa New Zealand. We are committed to continuing to partner with iwi in order to find new sustainable solutions to address long standing systemic and cross-cutting issues facing Māori and wider Aotearoa New Zealand and we are also committed to identifying opportunities for iwi to lead and creating an enabling environment for iwi to leverage these opportunities.

E mōhio ana a Hīkina Whakatutuki i puea ake te kōtuinga I waenganui i a ngāi Māori me te Karauna i Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ā, kei te whai ia ki te whakaū ake i Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Mā te whai kiko o ngā kōtuinga ahungaroa o ngāi wi, o ngāi Māori, me ētahi atu rōpū Māori ki te Karauna, katutuki tēnei. He āhuatanga nui tēnei e āhei ai ngā mahi whanaketanga ā-ohanga, ā-pāpori hoki ki a ngāi Māori me Aotearoa whānui. E whai tonu ana mātou ki te kōtui atu ki ngā iwi mō te rapu huarahi hou ki te whakaara i ngā kaupapakua roa nei e tāmi ana i a ngāi Māori me Aotearoa whānui, ā, e whai ana hoki ki te tautohu i ngā āheinga kōkiritanga mā ngā iwi, me te tautoko i ngā iwi kia whai mana ake ai ēnei āheinga.

Me pēhea te tono - How to Apply:

Click here to view a position description. All applications must be submitted via our online process and include a Cover Letter and CV outlining your interest and suitability for the role. 

Email Demi Matheson at demi.matheson@mbie.govt.nz quoting ref MBIE/15471 if you have any further questions.

Applications close on Sunday 03 November (midnight)