Kōrero mō te tūranga | About the role
Reporting to our Sustainability and Community Manager, Kim (a kickass wahine who’s awesome to work for), as Lead Advisor - Community Relations you’ll get to do some of the coolest mahi Contact has to offer. Largely centred around our Hydro operations at Clyde Dam, you’ll be out and about getting to know local South Island communities as part of our renewable developments team, showing up as a good neighbour with meaningful kōrero, engagement, and - with any luck - more than a few cuppas.
Your mahi will focus on supporting delivery of engagement practices and managing our strategic and functional relationships with both existing and new stakeholders, including local Councils, community groups, neighbours, and all those with a connection to our electricity generation sites or developments. We expect it’ll take six or so months to fully get your feet under the desk – we have some in-flight priority projects that will quite quickly need engagement planning but would love for you to review existing practice frameworks and re-design process around engagement, with heaps of scope to tailor your approach to suit different audiences.
Over time, we see this role evolving into more of a social impact space – how does Contact not only develop relationships in local communities, but share the benefits? From school visits to site tours, local sponsorships and higher-level strategic work, there’s a lot on the go, with a good mix of proactive community projects and bigger consent processes. You’ll be able to engage on the full spectrum of engagement, from do-gooding in local neighbourhoods to full blown co-design and collaboration with community.
Ko wai koe | About you
It probably goes without saying, but for a Lead role in Community Relations, we need you to have had experience in community relations (ideally 7-10+ years). Knowing what communication methodologies to use when, how, and why will be vital, and of course you’ll need to do it well. Part of being a good neighbour is having a good yarn, be it conversationally, in reports, or a good ol’ PowerPoint. You’re the type who can bring the right focus on engagement expertise but still get excited about going into the local school to cook a mean as sausage sizzle. Self-motivated, authentic and transparent, you care about nature, care about people, are keen to drive results, and ready to do so in a company that feels the same way.
Lots of your mahi will be associated with our Hydro operations in the Clutha Mata Au catchment (Hawea, Cromwell, Clyde, Roxburgh, Alexandra) so local knowledge and relationships would be invaluable. We’re looking for someone who not only “gets” the local context but understands how to build relationships meaningfully and strategically. We’d love to see demonstrated modern engagement skill and expertise in your CV, and as we move toward a more systemised leading-practice approach, engagement design experience would be helpful too (as would having worked in consenting).
From a technical perspective, we’ll be looking out for:
This role will work with our South Island communities, mostly in Clyde, so the nearer you are to there, the better. Once you're settled in, we reckon at least five days a month face-to-face at our Clyde Dam would be good, with ad-hoc travel to other sites as and when necessary. There could also be weekend or evening work from time to time e.g., if we’re running a community drop-in info session.
There are a bunch of perks to being a permanent Contact kaimahi. Along with great leadership, teammates, development, and growth and progression opportunities, you’ll enjoy flexible working, free health insurance cover, better-than-your-average leave, access to Contact Shares, a ‘Good to be Home’ annual payment toward your home set up & wellbeing, a trail-blazing parental leave policy, discounts on Contact Energy products, and more.
This ad will close automatically on Wednesday 20 November but we’re considering applications as they come in so hop to it if you're keen, or if there's something you’re curious to know first, reach out to Tash on [email protected].
Please note, only candidates with the right to live and work in New Zealand will be considered for this role.
Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet 60% of the criteria, women and those in underrepresented groups tend to only apply if they tick every box. We're not about box ticking, so if you think you have what it takes but don't meet everything stated above, please still get in touch. We'd love to kōrero.
Te Mata Hiko (Contact Energy) does not accept any CVs received from recruitment agencies where a formal engagement has not been confirmed and agreed to with our Talent team. In the event that unsolicited CVs are submitted by recruitment agencies, Te Mata Hiko (Contact Energy) reserves the right to contact these candidates directly and consider them for current/future vacancies without any financial obligation to the recruitment agency in question. This will also apply to any CVs sent directly to line managers.
