Tiakina te anamata, mā te tūhono i ngā tāngata me ngā wāhi o te inamata. Taking care of tomorrow: connecting people and place today. Mercury is a bold future-focused organisation, providing energy and telecommunications to more Kiwi than anyone else, leading the way with renewable energy and working toward a sustainable future. At the heart is our purpose which pushes us to do all we can to create a better future for our people, our communities, and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Our Opportunity:
As a Continuous Improvement (CI) Specialist, you'll play a pivotal role in driving this ambition forward; leading strategic initiatives, elevating our CI capabilities, and enabling teams to deliver lasting value.
This is a high-impact role, ideal for someone who combines expert-level knowledge of CI methodologies with outstanding leadership, coaching, and cross-functional delivery experience. You'll be a trusted advisor to senior leaders and a hands-on orchestrator of large-scale, complex improvements that drive tangible results across the business.
Key Accountabilities:
- Lead strategic improvement initiatives that span across customer and operational teams, aligning delivery with Mercury's enterprise strategy.
- Act as a senior CI advisor, partnering with senior leaders to identify opportunities, present business cases, and secure executive sponsorship.
- Build CI capability by coaching, mentoring, and uplifting practitioners across the organisation.
- Develop and maintain tools and frameworks that support CI maturity, including assessment models, training, and governance practices.
- Embed modern CI practices, leveraging lean, Six Sigma, agile and design thinking approaches to solve complex problems and optimise processes.
- Support cross-functional value streams, engaging stakeholders from technology, robotics, operations and more to implement end-to-end solutions.
- Contribute to strategic planning through opportunity canvases and initiative prioritisation to ensure the highest-value work gets delivered.
We are looking for:
- Certification in Lean, Six Sigma or similar CI methodologies.
- Proven experience leading enterprise-level CI initiatives and process optimisation.
- Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor and develop CI practitioners and embed capability within teams.
- Deep understanding of process analysis, root cause identification, and data-driven decision-making.
- Strong facilitation skills and the ability to work with diverse groups to achieve shared outcomes.
- Experience influencing and engaging senior leaders and multiple stakeholder groups.
- Familiarity with Agile, Scrum and digital transformation environments (highly desirable).
- Excellent analytical and communication skills, and a passion for continuous learning and innovation.
Mercury offers (full benefits are listed on our Career Page):
- Additional 5 days leave per annum (MyDays)
- $400 one off tax-free payment towards setting up your home office
- A diverse workplace where your unique abilities and talents will be recognised and encouraged
- Annual salary reviews with excellent parental leave policy, with the option to purchase additional leave
- The opportunities, career paths and facilities associated with working for one of New Zealand's largest multi-utility providers
- Flexible working policy - The autonomy and trust to work flexibly from our purpose-built premises and from home, recognising the value of this flexibility in the modern world
- Discounted health insurance and free life and income insurance
- Excellent well-being programme including up to $100 annual check ups and confidential assistance programme
- Gender affirmation leave and supportive bereavement leave to be taken when you lose anyone close to you, including your pet
At Mercury, we believe that having a team of individuals with different backgrounds, experience and capability working together makes us stronger and better as an organisation. We know that some candidates may only apply for a role if they meet all of the criteria. If you want to join our team, we encourage you to apply for any role that matches your skills, capabilities and interests, even if you aren't sure if you meet all of the criteria.
Please click 'apply' to submit your application. If you require accessibility or assistance support from us during the application and selection process, please reach out to recruitment@mercury.co.nz. Please do not apply via this email address.
A full position description is available below. Applications close 21st August at 5:00pm. Please note that Mercury retains the right to bring a particularly strong candidate through to interview more quickly.