Adviser, Imported Food Standards at Ministry for Primary Industries, Wellington City

Mō tēnei tūranga mahi | About this role

Adviser, Imported Food Standards

Role Type: Full time, Permanent

Location: Wellington City

Salary range & band: General Salary Range (Band F): $76,463 to $89,215 depending on skills and experience

About the Role - Kōrero mō te tūranga 

As an Adviser in the Imported Food Standards team within the Food Risk Management Directorate of New Zealand Food Safety, you'll play a key role in shaping and improving the systems and services that ensure food safety and suitability standards. This is a dynamic and evolving area of regulation, moving away from rigid rules toward enabling businesses to find their own ways to meet easy to understand food safety and suitability outcomes.

In this role, you will:

• Contribute to the development, review, and implementation of food safety standards, risk-based measures, and practical tools for both businesses and regulators.
• Partner with stakeholders to find innovative approaches that reduce compliance costs, enable growth, and maintain food safety and suitability.
• Provide technical advice on standards and programmes and contribute to international alignment and incident management.
• Address recommendations made in the Auditor-General's report, Monitoring importers of specified high-risk foods.

You will encounter exciting opportunities, providing you the platform to interact with food businesses, industry representatives, and other agencies in the regulatory system, as you contribute to this vital work to enhance our imported foods system. You may also work across other work programmes in the directorate as relevant to your skills and experience.

About You - Mōu 

You are a motivated and adaptable food science professional who enjoys working across disciplines and contributing to work that supports safe, trusted, and resilient food systems. You bring strong technical foundations, communicate clearly with a wide range of audiences, and are comfortable translating complex data into practical, fit‑for‑purpose information.

You will bring:

• A qualification in food technology, food science or another relevant technical qualification, with experience in food manufacturing, research, or other relevant roles
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across teams and organisations
• Proven ability to gather, analyse, and interpret data, and clearly summarise and report findings
• Flexibility and adaptability to respond to evolving challenges in national and international food supply chains

Desirable (but not essential) experience includes knowledge of regulatory frameworks, trans‑Tasman and international food systems (including WTO and Codex), HACCP and familiarity with trade agreements such as the TTMRA.

You do not need to meet all of the role requirements to apply. We offer a breadth of development and learning opportunities and will welcome an application if you think you could make a great fit.

About the Team – Mō tō mātou Rōpu

The Food Risk Management directorate of New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) is responsible for setting standards for food production, processing, importing, and exporting; identifying emerging food safety risks; and delivering an agile and evolving food compliance and response system. 

The work we do strongly contributes to our country's public health, economic, and wellbeing outcomes. We ensure that food is safe and suitable, consumers globally can trust food produced in New Zealand, food businesses can thrive and innovate within a fit-for-purpose regulatory framework.

About MPI - Mō te Manatū Ahu Matua

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) partners with New Zealand's food and fibre sector to be the world's most trusted provider of high-value food and fibre products.

Benefits of working at MPI - Ngā hua o te mahi i te Manatū Ahu Matua

• Career development and internal opportunities across the branch and organisation 
• Bi-annual paid eye test and contribution to the costs of corrective lenses/frames 
• Ability to purchase extra annual leave 

Are you ready to make a difference? - Kua rite koe mō tēnei mahi whaitake?
We are committed to being a good partner under Te Tiriti o Waitangi which includes working closely with iwi, hapū, whānau 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 Ministry for Primary Industries 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 FOR THIS JOB” or visit the MPI Careers Site. To apply, you must hold the right to work in New Zealand or be eligible to obtain it – click here to find out more about work visa eligibility and options.

Applications close at 11.59pm on Thursday 21st May 2026.

If you have any questions about the role, please email Abby.Walker@mpi.govt.nz

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