Executive National Director, Hauora Māori Service

Job Description

• Significant Executive Leadership Team appointment reporting directly to the Chief Executive.
• Lead the national Hauora Māori Service across Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.
• Influence system-wide delivery, investment, cultural capability, and Māori health outcomes.
• Based in either Auckland or Wellington. 

Greetings to all applicants for this position.We invite you to come forward and consider this unique and meaningful opportunity, you may be the right person to step into the role of National Manager, Māori Health Services. This is a significant leadership position and an important pathway, so we encourage you to submit your application.May God watch over you and your whānau, in all things and in all places. Warm greetings to you all, and wellbeing to us all.

Tēnā koutou e ngā kaitono mō tēnei tūranga mahi. Whakapiri mai, whakatata mai ki tēnei o ngā whakaritenga motuhake, tērā pea ko koe te tangata tika ki te tū hei Kaiwhakahaere o te Motu mō ngā Ratonga Hauora Māori. He tūranga nui, he huarahi whakahirahira, nō reira tukua mai tō tono akuanei. Mā te Atua koutou me ō koutou whānau e manaaki, huri noa, huri noa, tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou katoa.

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is responsible for delivering health services to communities, patients and whānau across Aotearoa, with a clear mandate to strengthen access, timeliness, quality and value across the health system. Within this national delivery environment, the Hauora Māori Service holds a critical system leadership role as Health NZ’s specialist lead advisor and centre of expertise for hauora Māori, mātauranga Māori, tikanga, cultural capability, whānau-centred approaches, Māori workforce development and responsiveness to Māori. 
 
Its work is central to ensuring Health NZ gives meaningful effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, delivers for whānau, strengthens accountability for hauora Māori outcomes, and supports sustainable, equitable resourcing across the system.
 
The opportunity | Te āhua o te tūranga 

This is one of the most significant Māori health leadership opportunities in the public sector. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive and sitting as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, the Executive National Director, Hauora Māori Service will provide strategic, system-wide leadership across a large, complex, and highly scrutinised national health environment. The role carries responsibility for 10 direct reports, approximately 263 FTE, and an operating budget of $808M. 

You will lead a service with national reach, significant public investment, and the ability to influence how Health NZ delivers for Māori, whānau, hapū, iwi, and communities. This is a role for a leader who can hold the kaupapa with integrity, lead with manaakitanga and accountability, and bring people with them through complexity, change, and challenge.

The Executive National Director will lead through a horizontal “whāriki” operating model, working across Health NZ and the wider health system to ensure hauora Māori priorities are coherently embedded across service design, delivery, investment, commissioning, performance, workforce development, public health, and organisational culture. This will require a leader who can connect strategy with delivery, strengthen system accountability, and ensure equity gaps are actively addressed within mainstream health services. 

A critical part of the role will be building and sustaining high-trust relationships with iwi, hapū, Iwi Māori Partnership Boards, hauora Māori partners and providers, hapori Māori, Māori community leaders, Ministers, the Board, the Chief Executive, ELT colleagues, Manatū Hauora, and wider public sector stakeholders. The successful appointee will ensure Māori voices and aspirations are reflected in Health NZ’s priorities, planning, investment decisions, delivery models, and performance expectations.

This role requires a leader of considerable mana, credibility, cultural grounding, and political nous. You will provide robust, free and frank advice to the Chief Executive, ELT, Board, and Ministers on Crown–Māori relationships, Te Tiriti obligations, Treaty settlements, accords, equity, investment, risk, performance, and system improvement. You will also bring the courage, discipline, and stamina to lead transformational change in a demanding national environment where expectations are high and the opportunity for impact is significant.

About you | Ko wai koe?

You will be a nationally credible Māori health, public sector, iwi, or system leader with a proven record of leading at scale. You will bring deep understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori health, whānau-centred models of care, and the importance of tangata whenua and mana whenua-led change. You will be confident operating across political, Crown, iwi, provider, clinical, regional, and community settings.

You will bring:

• Proven executive leadership experience within a large, complex, and politically nuanced environment.
• Demonstrable experience leading transformational system change and implementing national strategy consistent with kaupapa Māori.
• Strong understanding of the machinery of government, ministerial relationships, public sector accountability, and Crown decision-making.
• Experience managing large teams, significant public funding, commissioning, procurement, service planning, performance, and provider relationships.
• Deep cultural credibility and the ability to work in trusted partnership with iwi, hapū, whānau, Iwi Māori Partnership Boards, Māori health providers, and Māori communities.
• The courage to personally take a stand for equity and the discipline to translate aspiration into measurable system performance.

This is a rare opportunity to lead a nationally significant hauora Māori portfolio at a pivotal time for the health system. The successful appointee will shape the direction, performance, and influence of the Hauora Māori Service, while strengthening Health NZ’s ability to deliver responsive, equitable, safe, and effective whānau-centred care for Māori.

How to apply | Te Tono

Please email Heather Walker at Mana Recruitment, heather@manarecruitment.co.nz to request an information kete.

Please submit your application as soon as possible. Applications will be reviewed as they are submitted.

Closing Date: Sunday 7 June 2026 at 5pm.