Manager Strategic Production - Planning, Funding and Outcomes at Te Whatu Ora, All Locations

Mō tēnei tūranga mahi | About this role

• Permanent full-time | Work from where you are, with national engagement across districts and regions
• Lead a high-performing analytical function shaping hospital funding, production planning, and performance insights
• Be part of a forward-looking organisation investing, helping shape a multi-year transformation in hospital funding intelligence, advanced analytics, and modern planning and productivity approaches

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 Manager Strategic Production, you will lead the strategic production and funding intelligence capability that helps shape how hospital services are planned, funded, and improved across New Zealand.

This is a senior, system-facing leadership role within the Hospital Funding Intelligence team. You will guide the development of the activity, cost, capacity, and productivity intelligence used to inform funding allocation, production planning, performance insight, and service improvement across Hospital and Specialist Services.

You will contribute to a multi-year programme of work to strengthen national production planning, improve funding intelligence, reduce unwarranted variation, and enable more equitable and sustainable service delivery across districts and regions.

About the Team and Location

You will sit within the Hospital Funding Intelligence function, within Planning, Funding and Outcomes, working closely with national, regional, and district teams across Hospital and Specialist Services. The team plays a central role in shaping funding models, production planning and performance insight across the hospital system.

This is a highly collaborative environment. You will work closely with senior operational leaders, finance, costing, clinical leadership, national health analytics, local improvement and productivity teams, and national planning functions to ensure data and intelligence are consistently translated into practical decisions and delivery action. The team also engages with external peers and international comparators to support continuous improvement and innovation in funding and performance analytics.

About you

As a senior leader in health analytics and system intelligence, you operate at the intersection of data, strategy, and operational delivery. You are comfortable shaping complex systems, influencing senior stakeholders, and building analytical capability that drives real-world change at scale.

You bring a strategic mindset focused on how data informs funding design, service configuration, and long-term system sustainability. You understand not just how to analyse health system data, but how to use it to reshape behaviour, improve productivity, and lift equity outcomes.

You will bring:

• Extensive senior leadership experience (10+ years) in analytics, data, intelligence, or health system performance roles
• Proven ability to operate at system level, influence senior leaders across national, regional, and district settings, shaping funding models, performance frameworks, or national analytical programmes
• Deep expertise in health system data environments, including national datasets, hospital activity, costing, and operational flows
• Strong strategic production planning capability, including demand forecasting, capacity modelling, interpretation of productivity opportunities and service optimisation
• Experience shaping funding models, performance frameworks, or large-scale analytical work programmes in complex public sector or health environments
• Advanced understanding of activity-based funding, costing systems, and value-based funding approaches
• Demonstrated experience leading large, multidisciplinary analytical teams and building high-performance cultures
• Strong executive-level influencing skills, with the ability to translate complex analytics into clear strategic choices and practical action
• Advanced technical fluency in SQL, Power BI, Qlik, Excel, and modern data and AI-enabled analytics platforms
• Demonstrated commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and applying its principles in system design and decision-making
• A strong equity lens, with evidence of driving improvements in Māori and Pacific health outcomes through data and insight

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 Wednesday, 10 June 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.