Senior People & Culture Business Partner

Senior People & Culture Business Partner

National Support Office

Mō te Tūranga | About the Role

As our Senior People & Culture Business Partner, you’ll be a trusted strategic advisor to Executive Leaders, General Managers and senior leaders across a diverse portfolio, helping shape the future of our people and our business. You’ll work at a senior level to translate business priorities into impactful people strategies, strengthen leadership capability and enable high-performing teams. Your portfolio spans both clinical (hospital) and corporate functions giving you the opportunity to influence across a broad and varied part of the organisation.

This is a role focused on strategic partnership, capability uplift and organisational performance. You’ll work closely with leaders on developing people plans to achieve their outcomes including workforce planning, organisational design, succession and talent planning, leadership development, remuneration, and complex employee relations. You will focus your expertise where it adds the greatest value — providing strategic insight, challenging thinking, and enabling leaders to effectively lead their teams. You will be able to flex between strategic level and operational delivery in a varied role.

You’ll also play an important role in organisation-wide initiatives spanning talent and capability, employee engagement, learning and development, change and continuous improvement. You’ll bring significant experience translating business strategy into practical people solutions that improve organisational performance and employee experience. If you’re passionate about influencing at a senior level, building leadership capability and driving meaningful change, this is an opportunity to make a lasting impact within one of New Zealand’s leading healthcare organisations. This is a full-time, permanent position based at our National Support Office in Auckland CBD, with regular travel to Hamilton and Rotorua.

Ngā pūkenga me ngā wheako | Skills and experience

• Extensive experience (10+ years) in a senior HR or People & Culture Business Partner role, partnering with executive and senior leadership teams in complex and fast paced organisations.
• A tertiary qualification in Human Resources, Business, Psychology, Finance, or a related discipline is preferred.
• Proven success leading organisational change, transformation, restructures, and culture initiatives that deliver lasting business outcomes.
• Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to align people strategies to organisational goals and performance.
• Experience influencing senior leaders and executive teams, including those reporting to Boards of Directors.
• Exceptional employment relations expertise, with the confidence to navigate complex people matters and provide trusted advice.
• A strategic mindset with the ability to assess business challenges, identify opportunities, and develop practical people solutions.
• Outstanding coaching skills, empowering leaders to build high-performing, engaged, and capable teams.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence, challenge, and collaborate at all levels.
• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving capability, with sound judgement when managing complex organisational and people issues.
• Confidence leading difficult conversations, resolving conflict, and gaining stakeholder buy-in through periods of change.
• A naturally curious, proactive, and continuous improvement mindset that challenges the status quo and drives better outcomes.
• Experience within healthcare or another complex, highly regulated industry will be highly regarded.
• Brings a collaborative and flexible approach, working in partnership with others and understanding the importance of give-and-take to achieve the best outcomes.

Ngā mea ka taea e mātou te tuku I a koe | What we can offer you:

• Competitive Rewards: Attractive remuneration package, relocation allowance, and employee referral bonus scheme.
• Health & Wellbeing: Funded health insurance, a comprehensive wellbeing programme, and generous Christmas/New Year breaks.
• Flexibility & Growth: Flexible working arrangements and a Nursing Council of New Zealand-approved PDRP.
• Perks & Community: Discounts from a range of partners and the opportunity to join our Employee Network.

Ko wai matou | Our Organisation

At Southern Cross Healthcare, our values shape everything we do:

• Care First – We lead with compassion, delivering care that’s deeply human through genuine manaakitanga.
• Better Together – Collaboration is our strength. We unite diverse skills and perspectives to create better outcomes for all.
• Pursue Excellence – We strive to improve, innovate, and excel every day—never settling, always aiming to deliver our best.

If you have specific needs or would like to discuss how we can support you, please contact our Talent Acquisition team at [email protected] for a confidential conversation.