Senior Advisor - Strategic Planning and Assurance

A unique opportunity has become available for an experienced Senior Advisor to join a high-performing strategic planning and assurance function within the public sector. This role sits at the centre of organisational planning, performance, risk, assurance, and governance activities, providing senior leaders with the insights and confidence needed to make informed decisions.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys working across complex programmes, connecting strategic priorities with delivery outcomes, and strengthening organisational assurance practices. The role is offered on a fixed-term contract through to 30 June 2027.

The Opportunity

Working closely with senior stakeholders, you will contribute to organisation-wide planning, prioritisation, performance reporting, risk management, and assurance activities. You will bring together information from multiple sources to provide a clear view of delivery confidence, emerging risks, resource pressures, and strategic priorities.

Key responsibilities include:

• Supporting strategic and operational planning processes.
• Providing assurance and risk analysis to support senior leadership decision-making.
• Identifying and escalating emerging delivery risks, issues, and dependencies.
• Developing high-quality governance and performance reporting.
• Contributing to continuous improvement of assurance, reporting, and planning frameworks.
• Building strong relationships across a diverse stakeholder environment.
• Supporting work involving complex and sensitive matters, including inquiries and system-level priorities.

About You

To be successful in this role, you'll bring proven experience operating in a planning, assurance, governance, risk, or performance environment. Most importantly, you'll have a strong understanding of assurance frameworks, risk management practices, and delivery confidence reporting, with the ability to translate complex information into clear and actionable advice for senior leaders.

You'll also demonstrate:

• Strong assurance, risk, governance, or organisational performance experience.
• Experience producing high-quality reporting and insights for executive audiences.
• The ability to analyse complex information and identify key risks and trends.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship management skills.
• Experience working within complex organisations and navigating competing priorities.
• A continuous improvement mindset and the ability to enhance systems, processes, and reporting frameworks.
• Knowledge of government processes, planning cycles, budgeting, or public sector operating environments would be advantageous.
• An understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori-Crown relationships, or a willingness to further develop capability in this area.

What's on Offer

• Fixed-term opportunity through to 30 June 2027.
• Broad, enterprise-wide exposure across planning, assurance, governance, and performance.
• The opportunity to influence strategic decision-making at a senior level.
• A collaborative and purpose-driven environment.
• Meaningful work that contributes to long-term organisational and system outcomes.

If you're an experienced assurance or governance professional looking to step into a highly visible advisory role where your insights will directly support organisational performance and delivery confidence, we'd love to hear from you.

To apply click below or for a confidential conversation please contact johnny.gowland@robertwalters.co.nz 0273689333

Robert Walters endeavours to review all applications in a maximum of five working days. If you have not received correspondence in this timeframe please do not hesitate to contact Johnny Gowland on +64 4 471 9784.