Hamilton City and Waikato District Councils have formed a publicly owned, Council-controlled Organisation (CCO) to deliver water services across Hamilton city and Waikato district. The company is called IAWAI - Flowing Waters and will take over the provision of water services from 1 July 2026. This transition will occur in stages such as the current Watercare contract for Waikato District Council transferring to the CCO on 1 July 2026.  

He angituutanga: The opportunity 

Reporting to the Pou Aronui, you’ll provide strategic leadership for community and stakeholder engagement across IAWAI’s infrastructure delivery programme. You’ll guide the planning and delivery of engagement and communications activity for a $3 billion capital programme, helping ensure communities and stakeholders are well‑informed, involved, and able to participate meaningfully in decisions that affect them.

You’ll lead the development of engagement strategies, stakeholder frameworks, and consultation processes across multiple drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater projects. A key part of your role will be making sure engagement is built in early, aligned with IAWAI’s Significance and Engagement Policy, and meets all statutory requirements.

You’ll also coordinate closely with Aronui Tuuhono, Aronui Maaori, and Aronui Paaoho to ensure messaging is consistent, engagement activity is well‑connected, and there is strong alignment between project delivery, Maaori partnership, and organisational communications. This is a chance to shape how IAWAI works with its communities and partners as we deliver essential water infrastructure for the future.

Oo puumanawa me oo wheako | Your skills and experience 

• Minimum 10-15 years’ experience leading community and stakeholder engagement in complex infrastructure, utilities, or public sector environments
• Demonstrated experience delivering engagement across large-scale, multi-year capital programmes with multiple concurrent projects
• Experience working within statutory engagement frameworks and significance policies, including consultation processes and regulatory requirements
• Proven ability to advise project and programme teams on engagement strategy, risks, and approaches across the full project lifecycle
• Strong understanding of the relationship between engagement, communications, and infrastructure delivery, and how these disciplines work together to support project outcomes
• Experience working in environments with high public interest, political sensitivity, or reputational risk
• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop teams, including managing workload across multiple concurrent projects and priorities
• Strong stakeholder and relationship management capability across a wide range of groups, including communities, businesses, and local organisations
• Experience working alongside Māori partnership or engagement functions, with an understanding of how to appropriately integrate mana whenua engagement alongside broader community engagement
• Ability to interpret community and stakeholder feedback and translate it into actionable insights for project teams and organisational decision-making
• Strong judgement and decision-making capability in complex, ambiguous, and high-pressure environments
• Ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels, maintaining oversight while remaining connected to delivery

He aha te wariu o te utu kaimahi? | What’s the salary? 

Circa $139k dependent on skills and experience.

Me Tono Inaaianei!: Apply Now! 

• View the position description.
• Click apply
• ​Complete your application.

If you wish to include a cover letter with your application, please combine this in the same file as your resume and upload as a PDF file. Alternatively, you can use the 'Write a message to the Hiring Team' text box.

Applications close on the: 20th April 2026

Note: We will be shortlisting as we receive applications.

Start date for this position will be on or after 1 July 2026.

All candidates will be notified of the outcome on their application via email. Short-listed candidates will be required to complete an interview process, reference checks and a criminal check. Further background checking will be required when relevant to the role. View more information about these checks, our commitment to the Privacy act and details for international applicants by clicking hereIt is important to us that we support you throughout our selection process (interview and assessments). If you have any access needs during this process, let us know in advance so we can make sure these are met