Overview
Head of Strategy, Commercial & Portfolio Jobs in Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand at Watercare Services Limited
Title: Head of Strategy, Commercial & Portfolio
Company: Watercare Services Limited
Location: Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
He kōrero mō mātou | About Watercare
Ki te ora te wai, ka ora te whenua, ka ora te tangata
When the water is healthy, the land and the people are healthy
Now is an exciting time to join Watercare, we're planning to spend $14 billion over the next 10 years to ensure we can continue to support our growing city in a climate-resilient way. When you average that out, that's an investment of $3.8 million every day!
He whakamārama mō te tūranga mahi | About the role
We are seeking an experienced Head of Strategy, Commercial & Portfolio to translate organisational strategy into a coherent, value‑driven digital and technology roadmap.
Reporting to the Chief Digital Officer, this senior leadership role integrates strategy, commercial discipline, portfolio management and delivery governance. You will strengthen investment decision‑making, improve portfolio transparency, and ensure initiatives are strategically aligned, commercially sound, appropriately sequenced and governed consistently.
This role acts as a trusted advisor to the Chief Digital Officer, Executive Leadership Team and governance forums, bringing clear insight, structure and confidence to complex investment and delivery decisions.
Ngā kawenga matua | Key Responsibilities
- Support the development and continuous refresh of Watercare’s Digital and Technology Strategy
- Translate strategy into a multi‑year, sequenced roadmap with clear milestones, dependencies and benefits
- Design and embed a clear enterprise portfolio governance framework in partnership with Digital leaders
- Provide visibility of portfolio interdependencies, constraints, delivery confidence and strategic trade‑offs
- Define and enforce delivery governance standards including stage gates, escalation pathways and decision rights
- Lead independent portfolio‑level assurance and maintain a clear audit trail of investment decisions
- Establish commercial standards, contract governance and vendor performance frameworks
- Provide consolidated executive and Board‑level reporting on portfolio performance, financials, risks and benefits
- Drive strong benefits realisation discipline, partnering with business owners to ensure value is achieved
- Build and lead a high‑performing Strategy, Commercial & Portfolio function
Ngā pūkenga e rapu nei mātou | About you
You are a strategically and commercially astute leader with experience operating at scale in complex environments. You bring structure, clarity and confidence to ambiguity, and can balance long‑term strategy with pragmatic delivery realities.
You Will Have
- Senior experience in strategy, commercial and enterprise portfolio leadership
- Proven ability to develop and execute digital or technology roadmaps
- Strong experience in investment prioritisation, governance and assurance
- Demonstrated commercial and vendor management capability
- Experience working with Executives and Boards on investment decision‑making
- An analytical, outcome‑focused and value‑driven approach
- Experience in complex or regulated environments (desirable)
- Exposure to large‑scale transformation programmes and hybrid delivery models (desirable)
Ngā hua mōu | What's in it for you
We offer a competitive salary and staff benefits package including:
- Training and development opportunities
- Life and income protection insurance plans
- Generous parental leave
- Employee discounts at a range of large retailers
Me pēhea te tono mai | How to Apply
Come and join our team! If you are looking for an exciting career opportunity with a fantastic team then please apply online today – careers.watercare.co.nz.
