Principal Advisor - People Experience

Help shape how MSD supports its people – and the services we deliver across the motu.

At the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), our people are at the heart of everything we do. As we continue to evolve and improve how we work, we’re looking for a Principal Advisor – People Experience to join a supportive, enthusiastic, and highly collaborative team within the People Group.

In this role, you’ll work across a broad portfolio of people experience and organisational development initiatives, partnering with others across MSD to design and deliver changes that genuinely make a difference for our workforce. Your work will help enable our people to do their best work every day – ultimately strengthening the services we deliver to clients and communities across Aotearoa.

This is a role for someone who enjoys variety, influence, and working across complex systems – turning strategy into practical, people centred improvements.

What you’ll be doing | Ko te mahi

• Lead and contribute to a wide range of people experience and organisational development initiatives, supporting MSD’s current and future direction.
• Work across the employee lifecycle, improving experiences from recruitment and induction through to development, progression, and exit.
• Partner with colleagues across the People Group, service delivery, and corporate teams to deliver joined up, system level solutions.
• Embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into people experience design and delivery.
• Shape and support capability frameworks, development pathways, talent, mentoring, and progression initiatives.
• Use employee insights, feedback, and data to inform action and continuous improvement.
• Coach and mentor senior advisors and project team members, lifting collective capability and shared practice.
• Build trusted relationships across MSD and, where required, the wider public sector.
• Translate strategy into clear, practical, human centred outcomes for our people.

What you will bring | Ōu pūmanawatanga

• Extensive experience in organisational development, organisational change, or people experience related roles.
• Strong understanding of capability development, employee experience, DEI, and experience supporting workforce or organisational planning.
• The ability to work across ambiguity, multiple initiatives, and competing priorities.
• Excellent relationship building and influencing skills, with confidence working across different levels of the organisation.
• Experience collaborating across functions and leading or contributing to complex projects or programmes.
• A demonstrated ability to turn strategy into practical, workable solutions.
• A genuine passion for supporting others, building shared learning, and continuous improvement.

What’s in it for you | Nōu te rourou

• The opportunity to work in a supportive, enthusiastic, and highly engaged team that values collaboration and shared success.
• Exposure to a wide variety of meaningful initiatives and projects that shape the experience of thousands of MSD kaimahi.
• The ability to see your work make a real, tangible difference – strengthening how our people are supported to deliver for clients across the motu.
• Strong professional development opportunities, including the chance to deepen your system level OD and people experience capability.
• The scope to influence at scale, while still staying connected to practical, frontline realities.
• A values driven organisation that puts people, inclusion, and purpose at the centre of its work.

Position Description | He Whakaahuatanga Tūnga

A copy of the position description can be found here. Principal Advisor People Experience, position description

Salary | Utu-ā-tau: $142,874.00 - $177,798.00