About our team | Mō te tīma:

The Disability Support Services (DSS) Group is responsible for providing essential support to disabled people, their family and whanau. Our role is to be the effective commissioner, funder and steward of high-quality services that are responsive to disabled people’s needs.

The work we do is incredibly important and we take that responsibility extremely seriously.

We work with providers, stakeholders and the community to ensure that disabled people get the support and services they need.

It's an exciting time to be involved at DSS, as a result of the DSS Review programme and recommendations, we are investing in stabilising and strengthening the system. This involves putting in place the appropriate systems and processes to ensure we deliver fair, consistent, transparent and sustainable services now and into the future.

About the role | Mō te tūnga:

As Director – Business Support, you’ll provide strategic and operational leadership of our business support functions including communications, ministerial servicing, planning, reporting, risk management, and administrative services.

You’ll play a critical role in enabling the wider DSS group to deliver on its commitments, while fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability and provide strategic advice to leaders across the group.

You’ll work with key sector groups and government agency partners and ensure proactive and effective management of high-risk and sensitive issues across communications, and issues management.

This is a unique senior leadership opportunity to lead a high-performing team, drive continuous improvement, and manage high-risk, sensitive communications while ensuring our support functions are strategically aligned with organisational goals and sector best practice.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading and managing the Business Support function to deliver high-quality services aligned with organisational priorities.
• Overseeing communications, ministerial servicing, planning, reporting, and risk management across DSS.
• Building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including sector partners and government agencies.
• Providing expert advice to senior leaders on strategic business support matters and cross-DSS initiatives.
• Championing continuous improvement, capability uplift, and a high-performing, values-driven culture.
• Ensuring compliance with legislation, policy, and public sector standards.

We value diversity and welcome applications from disabled people and those with lived experience as whānau or members of the disability community.

Please let us know if there is any support, we can provide to ensure the recruitment process is accessible to you.

What you bring | Ōu pūmanawatanga:

• In-depth understanding of communications, ministerial services, planning, reporting, risk management, and administrative best practice.
• Proven strategic leadership experience, with the ability to drive change and deliver on organisational priorities.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement skills, with proven experience influencing Ministers, senior leaders, and external partners.
• Extensive experience in the public sector or service/community organisations.
• Proven leadership skills with the ability to manage people, performance, and organisational resources.
• Knowledge of disability issues and the ability to build trust and credibility with the disability sector.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary teams in dynamic, high-accountability environments.

Position Description | He Whakaahuatanga Tūnga:

A copy of the position description can be found here. Director Business Support position description.

Salary range | Utu-ā-tau: $198,140.00 - $262,278.00