Kaihautū Tuarua - Deputy Chief Executive | Te Tauraki

Permanent, Full-time | Ōtautahi, Christchurch

• Play a key leadership role in a kaupapa Māori organisation delivering meaningful hauora and oranga outcomes for whānau across Te Waipounamu.
• Shape operational performance, strengthen systems, and enable kaimahi to deliver with confidence and impact.

Te Tauraki is seeking a values-led Kaihautū Tuarua | Deputy Chief Executive to provide both strategic leadership and strong operational oversight and team leadership across our organisation. Reporting to the Kaihautū | Chief Executive, this permanent, full-time role is based in Christchurch and plays a critical part in enabling Te Tauraki to deliver on its strategic priorities as both an Iwi-Māori Partnership Board and commissioning agency for Whānau Ora services.

As second-in-charge, you will work closely with the Kaihautū to ensure Te Tauraki is well positioned, well supported, and well equipped to deliver for whānau. You will lead planning, prioritisation, resource management, contract oversight, financial stewardship, and performance assurance across the team, while building a collaborative and high-trust culture grounded in kaupapa Māori values.

About The Role

This is a hands-on leadership role focused on translating strategy into clear, coordinated delivery. You will coach and support functional managers, strengthen internal ways of working, oversee delivery milestones, and ensure advice, reporting, and operational decisions are high quality, timely, and evidence based.

A key part of the role will be providing assurance across contracts, finances, risks, and organisational performance. You will identify issues early, support leaders to respond effectively, and ensure resources are managed proactively so the team can deliver outcomes that ultimately benefit whānau.

About You

You will be an experienced senior leader who knows how to lead through managers, build capability, and bring clarity to complex work programmes. You will be comfortable balancing strategic thinking with operational delivery, and you will bring sound judgement and a calm, collaborative and culturally-grounded leadership style.

Experience in health, social services, commissioning, iwi, or other complex service delivery environments would be highly valued. Most importantly, you will be aligned with the kaupapa, vision, and values of Te Tauraki and committed to strengthening outcomes for whānau Māori.

If you are interested and would like to discuss the role further please contact Melanie Carpinter (Sign in to view email) for a confidential conversation and/ or apply with a cover letter and CV to Mel Carpinter Chief Executive email by 5pm 18 September 2026