Hamilton preferred; alternative locations considered for the right candidate  

Full-time | Permanent  

DairyNZ’s story 

Deliver a positive future for New Zealand dairy farming 

Te whakaputa i te anamata kounga mō ngā pāmu kau o Aotearoa 

We are full of people who have a passion for delivering great outcomes and creating positive change. We leverage our collective strength by bringing the dairy sector together, helping farmers build more sustainable, profitable, and resilient farm businesses; because a strong dairy sector means a strong New Zealand.  

Your opportunity 

The Portfolio Manager plays a key role in enabling  DairyNZ to deliver the right mix of projects and programmes to generate and realise tangible value to levy-paying farmers. 

This role provides a strategic, organisation-wide view of a portfolio of projects and programmes, supporting leaders to make informed decisions about priorities, value, risks, and organisational capacity. Working closely with teams across DairyNZ and engaging with the leadership team, senior leaders, project sponsors, and the Enterprise Portfolio Office, you’ll help ensure our investment choices are aligned to strategy, well managed, and focused on delivering meaningful outcomes for farmers and the sector. 

What this role is:  This is a strategic, insight-focused role coordinating the delivery of projects and programmes,  

What this role is not: This is not directly involved in the day-to-day delivery of projects. 

We are recruiting for Portfolio Managers for each of our four strategic portfolios. Candidates should possess capability and experience in one (or more) of the following portfolio subject areas: 

• Driving Productivity – the focus of this portfolio is to drive productivity in the NZ dairy system, including unlocking gains across animal genetics, forages, and farm workplace productivity.  

• Strengthening farm systems – the focus of this portfolio is to future proof our farm systems, including work on future farm systems, our economic insights and strong biosecurity stems. 

• Competing on sustainability – responsible dairy is a competitive advantage for NZ dairy, and this portfolio focuses on work across water quality, animal care and greenhouse gases. 

• Improve the business – this portfolio will have oversight of initiatives that are focused on improving how DairyNZ runs as a business. 

In this role, you will: 

• Provide clear, evidence-based insights for your portfolio to support decision-making at executive and governance level. 

• Ensure portfolio investments align with our strategy and deliver measurable value, adoption, and impact for farmers, and DairyNZ. 

• Support prioritisation and timing of initiatives within your portfolio by balancing value, risk, capacity, and organisational fit. 

• Monitor portfolio performance, benefits, risks, and dependencies, identifying issues early and recommending options. 

• Embed standards, tools, and ways of working across the portfolio. 

• Work closely with leaders, sponsors, and teams to support confident, well-informed investment decisions.

About you  

We’re looking for someone who brings both strategic thinking and practical judgement, and who can work comfortably with senior leaders in a complex environment. You’ll influence outcomes through strong relationships, governance forums, and decision support rather than direct delivery accountability. 

You’ll bring: 

• Strong subject matter, technical, or strategic expertise relevant to a portfolio area, or the ability to quickly build depth and leverage specialist expertise. 

•  Experience in portfolio, programme, and/or project management within complex organisations. 

• Proven experience working with senior leadership and governance groups. 

• Strong business and financial acumen, with a focus on value and benefit realisation. 

• Exceptional relationship management, executive-level communication and interpersonal skills. 

• The ability to work through ambiguity and provide clear, confident recommendations. 

• Strong problem solving, an innovative mindset and curiosity to optimise portfolio delivery and success 

Experience in research, industry good, primary industries, public sector, or not-for-profit environments is desirable. Formal portfolio, programme or project management qualifications (e.g. MoP, MSP, PRINCE2, PMP, Agile) are advantageous. 

Why you should join us 

Make a difference - Together with our farmers, help us drive positive progress for the sector and country we love. Our credible work supports a sustainable future for farmers, the environment and communities across Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Bring the whole you - We put people at the heart of what we do. We welcome all that you are and support your wellbeing, so you thrive personally and professionally. 

Join a vibrant culture - Be part of a team that truly believes in our values. We have the courage to take bold action and the curiosity to drive innovation. Our credibility shines in our evidence-based work and our connectedness builds meaningful, collaborative relationships. 

Empowering you - We succeed when you do, which is why we champion the development and growth of our people. We empower you to do and be at your best through learning opportunities and great benefits. 

Sound good to you? Come join our team who together, are making a difference. 

Check out the full position description here to read more detail. Applications close 20th April 2026.