Team Leader Biosecurity | Kaiārahi Roopū Whakamātaki
The Parks team looks after Porirua’s natural landscapes and the health of Te Awarua o Porirua Harbour to ensure both our people and environment thrive. From our streams, bush and coastal areas to sports fields and shared paths, we manage and regenerate the spaces that define Porirua, and we work in partnership with Ngāti Toa and our community to create safe, welcoming, and ecologically rich places for generations to enjoy.
About the role
This is a hands-on leadership role where you’ll combine operational planning, field oversight, technical expertise, stakeholder collaboration, and team development to protect and enhance parks, reserves, coastal margins, riparian corridors, and wider catchments across Porirua.
You will:
- provide day-to-day leadership, supervision, coaching, and direction to a small team
- provide technical advice on control methods, best practice agrichemical use and integrated pest management approaches.
- develop work plans, coordinate staff rosters, support contractor deployment, and allocate resources
- maintain accurate operational records and provide progress updates to support restoration and reserve planning.
- plan, coordinate, and deliver annual and multi-year weed and pest animal management
- prioritise pest species and control sites, monitoring effectiveness, adapting methods, and helping drive long-term ecosystem resilience and a culture of continuous improvement
- work collaboratively with internal teams and external partners including Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Greater Wellington Regional Council, community groups, volunteers, landowners, contractors, and agencies such as Predator Free Porirua and Accord partners.
- be responsible for herbicide programmes, including planning, storage, application standards and compliance requirements.
About you
You’ll bring specialist knowledge in environmental weed and pest animal management, integrated pest management, and agrichemical use.
You’ll need to show us that you bring:
- Qualification in Ecology, Conservation, Biodiversity, Biosecurity, Land Management, or equivalent experience
- Proven leadership experience
- Demonstrated knowledge of best practice pest plant and pest animal control and hands-on understanding of environmental weed dynamics and suppression models.
- Growsafe Advanced Certification or the ability to obtain within six months of appointment.
- Working knowledge of the Wellington Region RPMP, Biosecurity Act, Health and Safety at Work Act, and agrichemical codes of practice, with experience applying these in field operations and/or contractor management
- Current first aid qualification and full New Zealand driver licence
- Experience safely operating small plant and machinery
- Ability to meet the physical demands of the role, including passing a physical fitness assessment
- A commitment to great customer service and strong written and verbal communication skills
What you need to do now
Come and join our dynamic Parks team and be part of our welcoming and engaging environment. Please contact Tim Broadwith on 027 803 0491 for more information.
Porirua City Council is committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. We actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. If you have any support or access requirements during our recruitment process, please let us know when you apply, and we’ll do our best to get you sorted.
You will need to apply via our careers centre: www.poriruacity.govt.nz/careers.
To find out more about working for Porirua City Watch this video
Applications close on Sunday 13 September 2026.
Permanent Full Time
Job no: 2026-5842
Location: Porirua
Closing Date: Sunday, 13 September 2026
