Te Tūranga /About the Role:
We’re on the lookout for an experienced, people-focused leader to take charge of our Animal Assembly department at Silver Fern Farms Finegand. This is a key leadership role where you’ll be overseeing the team responsible for moving livestock from the yards through to processing — safely, efficiently, and with animal welfare front of mind.
You’ll be someone who’s confident leading a large team, can juggle the moving parts of a busy department, and doesn’t mind rolling up your sleeves to get things done. If you know your way around production and care about building a strong team culture, we want to hear from you.
Te Mahi /Key Responsibilities:
- Leading from the front – supporting, developing, and holding your team accountable while creating a positive, high-performing culture.
- Running the day-to-day operations in Animal Assembly – making sure the right people are in the right place to keep things moving safely and efficiently.
- Keeping people and animals safe – making sure everyone goes home safe, compliance is met, and animal welfare is always a top priority.
- Looking for ways to do things better – encouraging ideas from the team, solving problems, and supporting continuous improvement across the department.
- Staying on top of performance and planning ahead – keeping an eye on targets, costs, and reporting while helping shape future improvements and upgrades.
Ōu Pūkenga /About You:
We’re looking for a hands-on, people-first leader who’s confident managing production in a fast-moving environment. You’ll take full ownership of your department – leading from the front, supporting your team to deliver great results, and making sure everything runs safely and smoothly. You’ll need to be proactive, solutions-focused, and able to juggle day-to-day performance while keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Most importantly, you’ll build a team culture that’s strong, accountable, and ready to adapt to whatever comes next.
- Leadership experience in a production or processing environment (meat industry or FMCG a bonus)
- A strong commitment to health & safety, quality, compliance, and animal welfare
- Confidence in people management – you know how to coach, support and hold your team to account
- Great communication skills and the ability to build strong working relationships across all levels
- A continuous improvement mindset – you're always looking for better ways to do things and can bring others along with you
- Good computer and reporting skills – you’re comfortable using Excel, Outlook and production systems
Te Ahurea /Why work at Silver Fern Farms?
Silver Fern Farms are all about Creating Goodness from the Farms the World Needs. Creating goodness is about taking a broader view of what goodness means, how we can create it and the impact it can have. That Goodness is created through the work of our People, the skill & expertise of our Farmers and our customers around the globe. ‘Goodness’ is also about being good to people and communities, animal welfare, and showing care and respect for the environment.
For you, we offer heavily discounted staff meat sales through our on site Butcher's Block, paid sick leave from the date of employment (no waiting for the 6 month anniversary required),and confidential employee assistance with career planning, financial advice and counselling. There’s the added bonus of free on-site parking and a SFF branded clothing allowance also.
Tono Mai /To Apply:
submit your application. We assess applications as they are received so don’t delay.
Silver Fern Farms welcomes people from all backgrounds and walks of life. We are proud to have a diverse and inclusive environment and are committed to providing equal opportunities for all team members and applicants. Come and create goodness together with us.