Principal Advisor, Innovation
Date: 4 Nov 2025
Location: Wellington, NZ
Company: Ministry of Social Development
- Shape innovative solutions that influence attitudes and behaviours
- Build and sustain cross-sector partnerships
- Apply human-centred design and facilitation expertise
Are you driven by innovation and passionate about creating meaningful change for Deaf and disabled people? Join our team as Principal Advisor, Innovation.
About the role | Mō te tūnga:
As Principal Advisor in the Innovation team, you’ll bring a strategic, creative, and collaborative mindset to innovation crafting compelling narratives and applying social marketing techniques to shift public attitudes and behaviours.
You’ll be skilled in building and sustaining partnerships across government, private sector, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), and the disability community to co-design impactful solutions.
You’ll have expertise in human-centred design, facilitation, and engagement, to identify opportunities for change—leveraging existing initiatives and scaling promising ideas.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead complex innovation work programmes and initiatives
- Provide expert advice to inform decisions and manage issues
- Influence collaboration and inclusive engagement with diverse communities and stakeholders
- Monitor progress and share insights for continuous improvement
- Craft clear, concise briefings and cohesive documentation
- Leverage opportunities to scale promising ideas and solutions
What you bring | Ōu pūmanawatanga:
To be successful in this role you will have:
- Proven expertise leading complex, strategic and high-impact work programmes
- Successful experience designing initiatives that influence attitudes and behaviours
- Confidence in applying human-centred and co-design approaches to create solutions
- Excellent at identifying connections and opportunities across systems and sectors
- Collaborative team player who builds trust and shared purpose with others
- Proven track record of providing trusted advice to senior leaders
- Analytical thinker who turns insights into practical actions
- Committed to equity and accessibility in all you do
To undertake this role successfully you will either be a disabled person or you will be able to establish credibility and trust with the disability community.
Position Description | He Whakaahuatanga Tūnga:
A copy of the postion description can be found here. Principal Advisor Innovation postion description.
Salary | Utu-ā-tau: $117,295 - $175,942
Mō mātou | About us:
At Whaikaha, we want an Aotearoa New Zealand where Deaf and disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori are thriving.
As a Ministry we are dedicated to this goal, working with government, businesses, and communities to drive real change.
We do this by investing in disability communities, providing strategic and policy advice across government, monitoring how well services are working, and identifying new, exciting opportunities to make a difference.
We care about the wellbeing and success of our people and provide a supportive and inclusive environment.
Ka Kati Ngā Tono hei te | Applications Close: Monday 17 November 2025.
Me pēhea te tuku tono | How to apply:
Click the 'Apply' button to complete the online form, or let’s kōrero about what you need to feel supported in your application. For example, you may prefer to use video instead of a traditional CV and cover letter, or you might want whānau or a friend to tell us about you.
Contact us about the best way for you to apply by emailing: PeopleandCulture@whaikaha.govt.nz.
If you work for Whaikaha please apply through the myHR portal so that your employee profile is visible as an internal candidate.
