Senior Adviser (Privacy)

Mō tēnei tūranga mahi | About this role

Senior Adviser (Privacy)

Role Type: Fixed-term until end May 2025

Location: Wellington

Salary Band: General Salary Range D: $98,955 to $115,691 depending on skills and experience

Are you someone who values your privacy and has an interest in helping MPI protect the privacy interests of our stakeholders and staff?

Are you looking for a change, a challenge, or a new professional development opportunity?

Are you interested in helping design and deliver tools and guidance to help build MPI's institutional capabilities and increase the effectiveness, efficiency and consistency of our processes and practices?

Are you eager to help champion Privacy-by-Design across MPI so we can best meet our responsibilities as trusted public sector data stewards?

Then this is the opportunity for you.

Kōrero mō te Tūranga - About the Role

We are currently looking to fill this fixed-term position (to May 2025) to provide strategic and operational support for MPI's Privacy Team while our Specialist Senior Adviser is on leave.

Reporting to the Director Security & Privacy (Chief Privacy Officer) you'll be supported and mentored by the Principal Adviser Privacy (Deputy Privacy Officer), working closely with others within the Directorate and across the wider Ministry to help support and grow MPI's privacy maturity.

While we'd prefer someone who can work full time based in Wellington, we are open to considering part-time for the right person with the right skills and attitude.

Mōu - About You

You don't have to be a privacy specialist to take up this opportunity, but a good working knowledge of the objectives of New Zealand's Privacy Act and the underpinning privacy principles would be an advantage, as would a strong desire to become more knowledgeable and skilled in this area.

Ideally, you'll have a tertiary qualification or equivalent, and/or 2 – 5 years technical/professional experience in a relevant related discipline (this could include e.g. risk management or assurance, information security or technology, information management, project management, learning and development etc, or law or operational compliance).

You'll have a proactive, enthusiastic, and energetic approach to daily tasks and an eagerness to learn new skills and support process improvements, with a high degree of curiosity, initiative, and perseverance to follow through a project or issue to successful completion or resolution.

You'll be motivated and able to work effectively and collaboratively within a team as well as independently when required.

You'll have a strong sense of personal and professional ethics and be able to maintain confidentiality and privacy and exercise sound judgment when confronted with important or sensitive issues.

Key skills and attributes we are looking for are:

• A good understanding of the public sector environment and of MPI's business environment, including an understanding of policy and legislative processes.
• A desire to contribute to continual improvement in MPI's privacy maturity, and interest in awareness raising and helping develop new resources, internal guidelines, and policies.
• Good plain English writing and communication skills, and the ability to translate technical information into appropriate and fit-for-purpose guidance for varying audiences.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with an ability to analyse qualitative and quantitative data, and to identify patterns and trends to develop data-driven insights to help drive our decision-making and inform prioritisation of our privacy work programme.
• Experience in quality improvement approaches including scoping, planning, development and delivery, and a proven ability to produce written reports and presentation material.
• A sound understanding of risk management principles and a desire to facilitate collaboration and safe information sharing within MPI and between MPI and external parties.

This is an ideal opportunity for someone who is keen to further develop these skills while building their knowledge and expertise in privacy practice. 

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of tasks, but to act as guide as to the main duties and responsibilities of the position. Other focussed work areas can be agreed depending on the skills, experience and interests of the successful secondee/s.

Mō tō mātou Rōpū - About the Team

The Privacy team is part of the Security & Privacy Directorate whose role is to provide advice and assurance over the safety and security of MPI's people, places, and information.

The Privacy team's role is to encourage and ensure MPI complies with the Privacy Act 2020. Our aim is to help teams across MPI meet their goals while understanding the privacy interests of the people we work for and with by respecting and protecting the personal information they entrust to us.

We operate in a dynamic, high trust environment with a focus on identifying, reducing, and managing the potential risks arising from our use of personal information, so that we can protect the integrity and effectiveness of everything MPI does.

By joining our team you'll help us develop practical fit-for-purpose processes and guidance so we can help teams across MPI safely use and efficiently manage the personal information we rely on to efficiently manage the personal information we rely on to do our work/mahi.

Kua rite koe mō tēnei mahi whaitake? - Are you ready to make a difference?

We are committed to being a good partner under Te Tiriti o Waitangi which includes working closely with iwi, hapū, whanau and hāpori. 

We aspire to reflect the diverse communities we serve, so we welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, and identities. As an organisation, we are committed to making Manatū Ahu Matua a great place to work for all. 

In your cover letter we'd like to know about you, your values; your interest and motivations for this role; the abilities, strengths, personal attributes, and diverse perspectives you will bring to the role and this organisation, which may have also been gained outside of the workforce.

To view the position description and/or apply online, please click “Apply”. To apply, you must hold the right to work in New Zealand or be eligible to obtain it – click immigration.govt.nz to find out more about work visa eligibility and options.

Applications close at 11.59pm on Sunday, 1 December.

Please contact Sarah Adams-Linton by email at privacy@mpi.govt.nz for more information