Principal Investment Analyst - Planning, Funding and Outcomes at Te Whatu Ora, All Locations

Mō tēnei tūranga mahi | About this role

• All locations | Full time Permanent
• Provide trusted, evidence-based advice to leaders, commissioners and decision-makers
• Mentor analysts, lift analytical capability and shape best practice across a national analytics function

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is the country's largest employer, delivering universal public healthcare to 5 million New Zealanders.

We provide essential hospital, specialist, and community health services across 80+ locations — from large urban centres to rural towns and remote communities.

Our goal is to improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders by delivering equitable, accessible and innovative care.

About the Role

As a Principal Analyst, you will sit at the forefront of Health New Zealand's commissioning and investment decision-making, providing expert analytical leadership that shapes how health services are planned, funded and improved nationwide. Working as part of a senior and principal analyst cohort, you will deliver high-impact health insights and investment analysis that directly influence service design, system performance and equitable health outcomes.

You will partner closely with commissioning teams from the earliest stages of service and programme development, ensuring analytical requirements are embedded upfront and translated into actionable, evidence-based advice. Your work will span investment planning, cost modelling, performance monitoring and health insights, with a strong and explicit focus on Māori health equity and outcomes for priority populations.

As a senior leader within the national analytical function, you will also play a key mentorship role—lifting capability, growing talent and supporting a connected, high-performing “team of teams” across Health Analytics.

About you

You are a seasoned analytical leader who thrives at the intersection of data, strategy and system impact. You bring a strong track record of delivering complex, high-stakes analysis and translating it into clear, credible advice that informs investment, commissioning and service design decisions at a senior level.

You are comfortable operating in ambiguity and influencing across complex, multi-stakeholder environments. You know how to challenge constructively, ask the right questions, and ensure analytical thinking is embedded early in decision-making processes rather than added as an afterthought. You bring a strong equity lens to your work and understand the role robust analysis plays in improving outcomes for Māori and other priority populations.

You're also a natural mentor and capability builder, committed to lifting analytical maturity across teams. You value collaboration, take a systems view, and are motivated by the opportunity to contribute to a fairer, more effective health system for Aotearoa.

You will bring:

• A relevant tertiary qualification (e.g. statistics, economics, health sciences, data analytics or similar)
• Significant experience delivering complex analytical work in health, policy, investment or public sector environments
• Advanced technical capability in quantitative analysis, modelling and data interpretation
• Strong hands-on experience with analytical and BI tools such as Power BI, SQL, Excel, R or Python
• Experience supporting commissioning, investment planning, business cases or service design
• Proven ability to present complex insights clearly to senior leaders and decision-makers
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills across diverse audiences
• Demonstrated commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, equity-focused analysis and improving Māori health outcomes
• Experience coaching and mentoring analysts and contributing to analytical standards and best practice

Working at Health New Zealand 

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is dedicated to ensuring excellent healthcare for the people of New Zealand. We embrace a workforce that is diverse and inclusive so that we are better positioned to understand and service our community. We welcome applications from our diverse Māori, Pacific, disabled, and rainbow communities.   

How to Apply 

To apply, please click “apply now.”  All applications must be submitted through our online careers portal by 11:59PM Sunday 25 January 2026. For further information, please contact Jenita Spencer on Jenita.Spencer@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz.

Whilst Health New Zealand is undergoing change, affected kaimahi will be given preference and priority for this position.

We will review applications as received and may proceed with the recruitment process before the closing date of this advert.