Legal Counsel

Te Whakapakari Tahi I Tō tātau Taiao – Enhancing our environment together.

Our vision is a healthy environment and a resilient and prosperous community.

About The opportunity | Ko te āheinga:

HBRC has a unique opportunity for you to join our organisation as an in-house legal expert, supporting the future-focused work we are doing to protect and enhance our natural environment. We need solid legal guidance and advice to ensure we are meeting our legislative obligations while effectively supporting our ratepayers. This newly created role gives you the ability to add immense value and mould the position into your own, bringing your personal approach to our diverse range of complex and interesting projects. You will work directly with our managers and executive team providing advice that will enable us to better identify, understand, manage, and proactively mitigate legal, commercial and reputational risk.

Based in the Hawke’s Bay, you will be passionate about our region, our people and our environment. We have a lot of work to do post Cyclone Gabrielle and having solid, reliable, legal guidance that uses initiative and actively prevents adverse situations is invaluable to us right now! You will also play a critical role in the engagement and management of external legal advisors, where needed depending on the demands of the organisation.

About you | E pā ana ki a koe:

We need someone who can make robust decisions and provide support across a wide variety of legal issues providing well-considered management of risk and liability. Ultimately you will be a true multi-talented generalist and active problem-solver!

• Prepared to challenge the status quo – displays courage, initiative, sound judgement and innovative thinking
• Collaborative and collegial working style – works towards shared vision and goals
• High level of personal resilience and emotional intelligence – can take and deal with the knocks
• Courteous and professional – displays confidentiality, honesty and integrity
• Resilience, adaptability, and flexibility to keep up with the ever-changing nature of HBRC.

To support this, you will be able to demonstrate a tertiary qualification, significant relevant experience in the public sector or providing in-house legal services, 10+ years post qualification experience, experience in developing corporate frameworks, policies, procedures and processes, excellent technical skills, drafting and negotiation experience.

What we offer | Nga huanga mōu:

The salary range for this role will depend on the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate.

We offer a range of benefits including (but not limited to)

• Limited income protection and life insurance policies  
• Flexible working policy - the autonomy and trust to work flexibly/work some days from home
• A strong commitment to developing and upskilling people within a supportive working environment
• Subsidised eye tests and lenses, flu vaccinations, and other well-being initiatives

To see a full list of our benefits please visit our website: https://www.hbrc.govt.nz/our-council/careers/working-with-us/

We value diversity and as such we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status although applicants must have existing rights to work in New Zealand. HBRC is responsible for Civil Defence emergencies and as such, all staff may be called upon to support the response.

How to apply | I pēhea ki te whakauru:

Applications close 15 May 2023 but we may contact candidates for interviews as we go, so please apply today.

View the job description here.

Please apply via Seek.

About us | E pā ki a mātou:

At Hawke’s Bay Regional Council our purpose is to work with our community to protect and manage the region’s precious taonga of rivers, lakes, soils, air, coast and biodiversity for health, wellbeing and connectivity. Our organisation is diverse and our work is varied. Our structure comprises of six key business units; Corporate Services, Integrated Catchment Management, Asset Management, Māori Partnerships, Policy & Regulation, and the Executive Advisory Group which also consists of the Civil Defence and Emergency Management.

We focus on prioritising:

Te kounga o te wai, te haumarutanga me te mārohirohi ā-āhuarangi o te whakamarutanga | Water quality, safety and climate-resilient security.  

Kia koi, kia toitū hoki te whakamahinga o te whenua | Climate-smart and sustainable land use. 

Kia ora, kia āhei, kia mārohirohi ā-āhuarangi hoki te rerenga rauropi | Healthy, functioning and climate-resilient biodiversity. 

Kia toitū, kia mārohirohi ā-āhuarangi hoki ngā ratonga me ngā hanganga ā-whare | Sustainable and climate-resilient services and infrastructure. 

17 April 2023

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