The Food & Beverage group within New Zealand Food Safety are responsible for leading improvements to New Zealand's Food Act System.  The group comprise of 18 staff with a range of skills and experience including food science, general science, food service, auditing, management, service design and visual design.  They are committed to delivering a system that understands its customers, including their challenges and pain points, experiences, needs, desires and behaviours.  They work hard create accessible, useable, and desirable products and services assisting operators to comply with complex legislative requirements.

The group are looking for a Project Manager who is passionate about sustainability and making complex legislation easy to understand; to join the crew to design and deliver new products and services. In return, you'll gain a wealth of knowledge and experience participating in the Parliamentary process for developing legislation, and seeing regulations come to life as you develop tools to support our growers, producers, manufacturers and exporters.

The Project Manager will be responsible for scoping, planning, coordinating, and delivering all parts of the Organics Project, to a high-standard, on-time and within budget.

The Organic Products Bill is a new piece of legislation that aims to increase consumer confidence in purchasing organic products, increase certainty for businesses making claims that their products are organic, and facilitate international trade in organic products.

The project deliverables are:

• Enactment of the Organics Bill.
• Development and implementation of Organic Regulations.
• Development and implementation of a National Organic Standard.
• Implementation of the new legislative regime for production, sale, import and export of organic products.

It is essential for the Project Manager to employ a customer centric approach to co-designing the project deliverables with the sector.

Mōu - About You

To be successful for this role you will:

• 5+ years project management experience.
• Proven experience in leading and managing large scale, complex and high-profile projects.
• Experience using customer-centric methodology to work with stakeholders to develop legislative instruments and tools.
• Experience drafting project plans, developing budgets, and managing a project team.
• Significant technical expertise and experience in developing and implementing projects involving significant change for internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and effectively (both orally and in writing) with a wide range of people in different situations to explain, persuade, convince and influence others.
• An understanding of the Parliamentary process for drafting and enacting legislation.
• Experience working in challenging, demanding, high-pressure situations.

Ahurea - Culture

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture. We are fair in our behaviour and our policies promote equal opportunity for all. We provide numerous training programmes and opportunities for people to continuously improve their skill sets and keep up to date with global best practices. MPI has a focus on career pathways so this is the first step in your career with us and we will help you grow.

To join a diverse and interesting organisation that offers a wide range of career opportunities click on our link below.

Me pēhea te tuku tono - How to Apply

To view the position description and/or apply for the role please click “APPLY FOR THIS JOB” or visit the MPI Careers Site. For tracking and reporting purposes, all applications must be submitted through our online careers portal.

To apply for this role you must hold the right to work in New Zealand or be eligible to obtain it – click here to find out more about work visa eligibility and options.

The closing date is 8th February 2022.

Please note: if you are applying for an internal secondment, please make sure that your manager is aware and supports your application.

If you have any questions about the role, please email fitz.gessler@mpi.govt.nz 

The Ministry for Primary Industries is committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values inclusion and diversity. Your unique talents and experience will help us deliver exceptional services to our communities in Aotearoa. In return you'll enjoy an inclusive and flexible working environment in a diverse team of people while you're growing your career here in NZ and internationally. We actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to tell us when you apply so that we can assist you through the recruitment process.