H&S Business Partner

Our Co-operative

Ata whakaarohia tō āpōpō | Imagine Tomorrow with Us

At Te Mātāpuna Fonterra, we want everyone to feel they can be themselves.

Whether you're early in your career or ready for your next step, Fonterra offers a unique opportunity to grow with a global dairy co-operative that values care, collaboration, and contribution.

Owned by New Zealand dairy farmers and supported by a dedicated team, we are all working together to create a better future. Imagine tomorrow with us, where your career can grow, and you can create positive change.

Mō tēnei tūranga | About the Opportunity

Curious. Line led. Learning focused. Monitoring what matters.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Health & Safety Business Partner to join our Whareroa site in South Taranaki. Reporting to our site Health and Safety Manager, you will play a key role, partnering with site and operations team members to champion a proactive, high-performing safety culture. Whareroa is one of our largest and most complex operating environments, with a seven-hectare distribution centre, 1,000 employees, and 11 manufacturing plants supporting a peak capacity of 14 million litres of milk per day. This is a unique leadership opportunity to make a significant and lasting impact on the safety performance and culture at scale.

We're looking for a Health & Safety professional who's driven by curiosity and learning, partners closely with line leaders, and supports safe, reliable operations. Building relationships through a variety of work you'll work shoulder to shoulder with our Operations teams and contractors to understand work as done, strengthen controls, and regularly monitor the effectiveness of our critical systems—so people can do their best work safely, every day.

Key responsibilities

Support, Monitor, Learn, Change, Anticipate and Plan, Set and Design.

• Partner for improvement: Collaborate with stakeholders and line leaders to spot opportunities, test ideas, and recommend practical changes that lift H&S performance and embed best practice.

• Learn from work: Facilitate and coach risk assessment alongside frontline workers, using operational learning to close the gap between work as imagined and work as done.

• Facilitate learning from events: Coach line led learning reviews that focus on context, curiosity, and preventing recurrence—capturing insights we can share across teams.

• Strengthen permits to work: Support improvements to the permit to work process and champion consistent use across the site.

• Monitor & verify: Run trend analysis, site assessments, and verification activities that test whether critical controls are in place and effective—then follow through on what the data tells us.

• Keep systems current: Maintain H&S management systems and ensure regulatory changes are understood, implemented, and sustained.

How we work

We follow Human & Organisational Performance principles and a line led, HSW partnered approach—focusing on learning, care, and curiosity, and regularly monitoring critical controls to ensure safe, stable operations. We succeed together by cooperating closely with Operations teams, enabling leaders to lead safety and verifying what matters most.

Mōu | About You

You combine strong technical H&S expertise with a learning mindset and the ability to guide and influence others. You build trust across diverse teams, ask thoughtful questions, and help leaders own safety as part of everyday operations.

To make an impact in this role, you'll bring:

• Proven technical H&S experience, ideally in manufacturing or other high risk environments; exposure to process safety.

• Knowledge of MHF Regulations

• The confidence to instil trust, coach line leaders, and build meaningful relationships with stakeholders.

• A relevant H&S certificate or diploma (e.g., NEBOSH or equivalent).

• Agility to operate in fast paced settings and adapt to change and ambiguity.

• Familiarity with hazardous substances management and legislation (desirable).

• Experience with hazardous risk assessments and HS event plans.

• Demonstrated ability to build strong, trusting relationships across diverse teams, including in challenging situations.

Ngā Aura | Our Values

At Fonterra, our values of Good Together, Better Every Day, and Every Drop Counts, are for everyone – no matter your background, identify or experience. These values guide us in delivering exceptional outcomes for our farmers, customers, communities, and each other. Discover how your values align with ours by taking our Values Quiz

Tā mātou oati | Our Commitment to You

We care for our people globally. Our comprehensive benefits support your well-being, development, and work-life balance:

• Fair and equitable pay
• Health and well-being programs (medical, mental health support)
• Professional development opportunities
• Career growth support
• Work-life balance options (flexible/hybrid working where possible)
• Employee recognition
• Support for community involvement and cultural connection

To learn more, visit Fonterra Careers

Ngā Mahi | A Career of Opportunities

At Te Mātāpuna Fonterra, we are inspired by purpose and guided by our principles and values. Together, we create goodness for generations and make a global impact at a local level. As part of our Co-operative, you are an everyday creator, imagining what Fonterra, dairy, and you can be here.

Tātou Tātou | Join Us

Does this sound good to you? Come join our whānau - bring your whole self, and let's solve for better together.

You, me, us together, Tātou, tātou.

He Wāhi mō te Katoa | Together, we're shaping a future of inclusion.

Inclusion is key to our Co-operative. We're building a team that reflects the diverse world we live in, believing it drives better decisions and innovation.

We welcome applications from all backgrounds (ethnicities, genders, identities, orientations, ages, abilities, neurotypes, cultures, religions).

Even if you don't meet every requirement listed, we encourage you to apply; we value your potential and growth.

If you face accessibility issues or need accommodations during the process, please contact your recruiter. We ensure fair participation, allowing you to be at your best. Tātou, tātou.

Applications close at midnight on Friday 16th January 2026