Project Manager, Funding Reviews and AI Enablement

About the team

The System Performance and Investment Advice (SPIA) group is responsible for delivering SIA’s central agency responsibilities and influencing the system to adopt social investment approaches. The group works closely with Ministers and agencies to provide advice on system design, investment opportunities, and how performance in one part of the system affects other parts.

The System Investment and Performance team within SPIA focuses on investment and performance advice, system performance insights, and system monitoring. We use data, evidence, qualitative and quantitative insights, and systems thinking to make credible, practical recommendations about how investment can improve outcomes across the social sector.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced Project Manager to lead a high-priority programme of work at the intersection of funding reviews, investment insight and AI enablement. This is an exciting opportunity to help shape how SIA improves visibility of social sector spending, supports better investment decisions, and tests new technology-enabled ways of working in a live policy and delivery environment.

Reporting to the Director System Investment and Performance, you will lead delivery planning and coordination for Funding Reviews and AI Enablement. The role will help bring structure, pace and delivery discipline to work that connects policy, data, digital, privacy, security, procurement, communications and partner agency input. You will help test what can be done safely and credibly now, and what foundations are needed to support an enduring capability over time.

What you will do

• Develop and lead a clear delivery plan for the discovery phase, including scope, milestones, governance, resourcing, dependencies, risks, investment requirements and decision points.
• Coordinate delivery across SIA, partner agencies and specialist contributors, ensuring the work is well-planned, well-governed and aligned.
• Support the application of contract analysis and AI-enabled methods in a live funding review context, ensuring outputs are practical, credible and appropriately assured.
• Work with policy, data, technology, privacy, security, legal, procurement, communications and relationship management specialists to identify what is needed to deliver the work safely and effectively.
• Help build SIA’s internal delivery, analytical and AI capability by creating repeatable approaches, tools, practices and learning that can support future work.
• Provide high-quality reporting, advice and escalation to senior leaders, including clear updates on progress, risks, decisions and trade-offs.
• Contribute to a test-and-learn approach that supports stronger system visibility, investment insight and future shared social investment capability.

What you will bring

• Strong project management experience in complex, ambiguous or cross-agency environments, with the ability to turn strategic intent into practical delivery.
• Experience leading discovery, design, implementation or change activity where there are multiple stakeholders, dependencies and decision points.
• Excellent planning, coordination, risk management and reporting skills, with a strong focus on delivery discipline and quality.
• Confidence working with policy, data, digital, analytical or technology-enabled initiatives, including an understanding of how to manage uncertainty, assurance and governance.
• Sound judgement, curiosity and comfort working with emerging approaches such as AI-enabled analysis, including awareness of privacy, security, ethical and assurance considerations.
• Strong relationship management and communication skills, including the ability to work across disciplines and bring people together around a shared delivery pathway.
• A collaborative, pragmatic and learning-oriented approach, with the confidence to raise issues early, navigate trade-offs and keep momentum in a fast-moving environment.

Why join us?

This is a rare opportunity to work on a programme that matters — helping government make smarter decisions about social sector investment and supporting better outcomes from social sector spending. You will be joining a group with a strong sense of purpose, a broad system mandate, and a willingness to test new approaches while staying grounded in public sector stewardship, trust and accountability.

If you enjoy bringing structure to complexity, working across disciplines, and helping create something new and useful for the system, we would like to hear from you.

Utu-ā-tau | Salary: $153,344.00 - $216,485.00