- Lead and shape WorkSafe’s growing business design capability
- Improve how services, processes and ways of working are designed
- Permanent role, Wellington preferred; other locations may be considered
About Us
He aha te mea nui o tēnei ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
Hello, Kia ora, Noa’ia, Talofa lava, Mauri, Mālō e lelei, Tālofa, Ni Sa Bula Vinaka, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Mālō ni, Kia orana, nǐ hǎo, Kamusta.
WorkSafe New Zealand | Mahi Haumaru Aotearoa is the primary workplace health and safety regulator. Our vision is that everyone who goes to mahi comes home healthy and safe. We live by our values:
- Whakakotahi – we are united in a strong purpose
- Kōrero mai – we engage meaningfully
- Tiakina mai – we are entrusted with a duty of care
About your team / Ko te tīma
Enterprise Planning and Implementation is a new group established at WorkSafe to strengthen planning, coordination, and implementation across the organisation, particularly to improve how work is prioritised, sequenced, and supported through to delivery.
Business Design Services sits within the Enterprise Planning and Implementation group. The team works alongside planning, change, digital and operational functions to ensure business design strengthens implementation readiness without duplicating delivery or technology solution design roles.
You will lead a developing business design capability and four direct reports, bringing together business design, business analysis and user-focused thinking to support organisational priorities. This is an opportunity to build internal capability and shape how the service develops, rather than inherit a fully established model.
About the role / Ō te tūranga
As Manager, Business Design Services, you will lead WorkSafe’s business design capability to support effective implementation, change and improvement across the organisation.
You will establish and steward flexible business design approaches, methods, tools and capability, ensuring services, processes and ways of working are practical, coherent and fit for purpose within WorkSafe’s operating context. You will help teams understand the broader business context before solutions are developed and ensure business design input is integrated across organisational activity.
This role provides the opportunity to strengthen WorkSafe’s internal business design and architecture capability, apply systems and design thinking to complex organisational challenges, and translate conceptual thinking into practical outcomes.
What You’ll Do / Ko tōu ake mahi
- Lead and develop WorkSafe’s business design capability
- Establish practical business design methods, tools and standards
- Strengthen the design of services, processes and ways of working
- Integrate design across planning, change, digital and operations
- Build business design capability through guidance and support
- Lead, coach and develop a team of business design professionals
- Drive practical and sustainable improvements across WorkSafe
What You’ll Bring / Ko ngā pukenga ōu
- Significant experience in business, service or process design
- Experience establishing and embedding design methods and practices
- Strong systems thinking and business architecture understanding
- Experience working across complex, multidisciplinary environments
- Proven ability to influence leaders without relying on formal authority
- Strong people leadership, coaching and capability-building skills
Experience within a regulatory, public sector or system-focused environment is desirable, as is a relevant tertiary qualification or equivalent experience in business design, service design, organisational design or process improvement.
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.
Salary range / Awhe utu
The expected appointment base salary for this role is $168,932. KiwiSaver or SSRSS employer contributions are additional.
From 1 April 2026, our KiwiSaver employer contribution increased to 3.5%.
We offer a range of benefits including:
- Free life insurance for the duration of your employment
- Health insurance and eyecare discounts
- $400 home workstation contribution
- Five weeks’ annual leave
- 15 days’ sick leave
- A Reward and Recognition Framework that celebrates the impact our kaimahi make
- Professional development opportunities
- Employee-led networks supporting our diverse communities
Location
Wellington is preferred, reflecting where much of the organisation’s planning, implementation and business design activity is based. Other locations would be considered for a suitable candidate who is comfortable with regular travel and investing time in building relationships across the organisation.
How to apply / Me pēhea te tono
Click Apply and upload your CV and cover letter.
AI can be a helpful tool when preparing your application, but what matters most to us is you. Please ensure your CV, cover letter and responses reflect your own skills, experiences and perspective. We want to hear your real story, your passion, your personality and what makes you unique. Don’t let AI do all the talking. Let it support you, not replace you.
WorkSafe Mahi Haumaru is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and actively welcome applicants from all backgrounds, including people with disabilities and those who are neurodivergent.
We believe different perspectives strengthen our mahi and help create an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.
If you encounter accessibility barriers in completing the application or require adjustments or support to ensure the recruitment process is accessible to you, contact worksafe@inside.co.nz for a confidential kōrero.
This vacancy has been established as part of changes to WorkSafe's organisational structure after a review of WorkSafe's operating model identified opportunities to improve role clarity, ways of working and organisational effectiveness. As part of these changes, WorkSafe has established a number of new roles to ensure we are well placed to meet expectations now and in the future.
Applications close: 5pm, 17th September, 2026.
