Senior Policy Advisor

Discover a career with purpose at MBIE
Discover a career with purpose at MBIE
- Lead advice on the immigration settings that will help shape New Zealand’s economy and society now and in the future
- Work constructively with passionate people, sector representatives, and communities
- Permanent full-time role | Wellington Central
- Salary: $110,098 - $138,028 + Kiwi Saver & Wellness Benefits Tēnei tūranga - About the Role:
We have a Senior Policy Advisor vacancy in the Immigration Policy - Skills and Residence team.
Our Senior Policy Advisors play a leading role advising how immigration settings can support New Zealand’s economic, labour market and societal goals. This includes supporting attraction of the skills New Zealand wants and enabling families to settle in New Zealand.
You will work closely with your team to support a high performing branch that is also a great place to work. This role involves leading advice, developing team members, and working constructively with community, industry and government stakeholders.
You will be joining a collaborative and supportive team in a busy and high-profile policy area. Some of our people work part-time and/or work flexibly, and we are open to those options.
About the team
The Immigration Policy Skills and Residence team provides advice on the immigration rules about who can live in New Zealand temporarily or permanently. This includes the settings for work, partnership and residence visas.
**Our work programme includes projects such as**:

- Reviewing the settings for the main temporary work visa - the Accredited Employer Work Visa
- Review skilled residence pathways, including the Skilled Migrant Category and the Green List, to ensure they are attracting the skills that New Zealand needs
- Advice on key Government commitments including immigration settings for parents
- Supporting Immigration New Zealand in refining its regulatory and processing methods
- Contributing to strategic and regulatory stewardship work to provide a cohesive view of the immigration system.

The Skills and Residence team works alongside two other Immigration Policy teams (Border and Funding, International and Humanitarian) and the three teams regularly come together to share ideas and discuss key topics. All team members have opportunities to engage with Ministers, industry, and communities.
The team also works closely with Immigration New Zealand so that operational and user experience considerations are part of policy analysis, and there is policy involvement in how settings are implemented.
About the branch
The Employment Skills and Immigration Policy branch leads the government’s advice on labour market issues. We work with a range of government and non-Government stakeholders to facilitate good labour market outcomes from a set of regulatory and non-regulatory systems.
You’ll be part of a team filled with smart and committed policy professionals with excellent policy skills and domain knowledge. We have a positive and engaging work environment in which you can thrive while addressing some of the tricky policy issues that impact New Zealand’s businesses and workers.
Given the unique nature of our systems, you will enjoy working collaboratively. You’ll be up for delivering a full and interesting work programme that attracts significant attention.
We are focused on developing our people and with the wide variety of work across the branch there are often opportunities to work with other teams on projects that will help you grow and build your experience and achieve your career goals.
The branch sits within the Labour, Science and Enterprise Group at MBIE where connections are made to how immigration settings can align with and support labour market, skill development, economic and industry policy.
About our Senior Policy Advisors
Our Senior Policy Advisors work across different levels to share their own knowledge with others. With the wide variety of work across the different policy areas, there are numerous development opportunities to grow and build their careers within MBIE.
Ngā pukenga me ngā wheako e hiahiatia ana - Skills and Experience Required: We are looking for motivated people with experience in solving complex problems and formulating high-quality policy advice for a range of stakeholders and projects.
**Ideally you will**:

- have experience leading complex policy projects within central government
- understand Te Tiriti o Waitangi and have applied it in public policy
- have wide ranging knowledge of policy development disciplines and processes
- build strong stakeholder relationships, using influencing and engagement skills to gain the cooperation and commitment of others
- have demonstrated capability in working with Ministers, senior public service officials, internal and external stakeholders
- have a passion for leading and coaching others to develop their policy craft and take their careers to the next level
- be able to work through ambiguity and d