Senior Service Development Manager at Te Whatu Ora, All Locations

Mō tēnei tūranga mahi | About this role

• Permanent Full-time role based anywhere across Aotearoa 
• Influence the future design of family violence and child protection services across Aotearoa.

• Be part of an organisation committed to equity, innovation, continuous improvement, and delivering better health outcomes for all New Zealanders.

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 Senior Service Development Manager, you'll play a pivotal role in leading the design, development, implementation, and continuous improvement of family violence and child protection services across Health New Zealand.

Working within Planning, Funding and Outcomes, you'll partner with Hauora Māori, Pacific teams, clinicians, operational leaders, providers, government agencies, and community organisations to develop nationally consistent, culturally responsive, and sustainable service models that improve outcomes for whānau.

You'll bridge strategy and operations—ensuring national priorities are translated into practical solutions that can be successfully implemented across diverse local settings.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading service development, redesign, and quality improvement initiatives across family violence and child protection services.
• Designing practical, evidence-informed service models, pathways, guidance, and implementation approaches.
• Providing strategic advice on service planning, commissioning, funding, and continuous improvement.
• Developing practice guidelines, tools, training resources, and workforce capability initiatives.
• Embedding Te Tiriti o Waitangi, equity, cultural safety, trauma-informed practice, and whānau voice into service design.
• Building trusted relationships with clinicians, providers, government agencies, Hauora Māori, Pacific teams, and community partners.
• Supporting procurement, contracting, and service agreement processes.
• Leading service reviews, business cases, investment advice, and ministerial briefings.
• Using data, evidence, and evaluation to identify opportunities for service improvement and inform future investment decisions.

About you

You're an experienced service development leader who enjoys working across complex systems and influencing meaningful change. You combine strategic thinking with practical implementation skills and are confident engaging with senior leaders, clinicians, providers, and government partners.

You'll bring:

• A relevant tertiary qualification or equivalent professional experience.
• Significant experience in family violence, child protection, health, or a related sector.
• Proven expertise in service development, system design, service improvement, or commissioning.
• Experience developing evidence-based service models, guidance, policies, or capability-building resources.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data, identify risks, and develop practical solutions.
• Exceptional communication, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience working successfully across multidisciplinary, cross-agency, and complex stakeholder environments.
• Demonstrated commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and achieving equitable outcomes for Māori.
• Strong conceptual thinking with the ability to provide strategic advice to senior leaders, executives, Boards, and Ministers.
• Experience working within government or other highly regulated environments.

Desirable experience includes:

• Large-scale service transformation or national programmes.
• Human-centred design or process improvement methodologies.
• Monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
• Multi-district or cross-agency system improvement.
• Project or programme management.

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 9 August 2026. For further information, please contact Lynda Francis on Lynda.Francis@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz

We will be interviewing for this role throughout the advertising process so apply now!

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.