Senior Legal and Policy Advisor Secondary Legislation at Parliamentary Counsel Office114,291 - 139,689
Its statutory objective is to promote high-quality legislation that is easy to find, use, and understand and, to that end, to exercise stewardship of New Zealand's legislation as a whole. This means that, along with drafting and publishing legislation ourselves, we lead a system in which more than 100 other agencies draft and publish secondary legislation.The workThe PCO is leading a multi-year initiative to improve the quality of secondary legislation and make it as easy to access and use, and as trusted, as other legislation.
We support agencies through standards, templates and guides, access to legal and design expertise, and a community of practice.Agencies publish secondary legislation on their websites and the PCO's evolving technology identifies, indexes, and links to that secondary legislation from the NZ Legislation website to create a single point of access to legislation.The PCO has a lead role in supporting, monitoring, and regulating agencies to ensure this system works effectively, to drive improvements in quality and access. The roleThis newly established permanent role will serve as the PCO's subject-matter expert on quality and access to secondary legislation and will lead and contribute to other PCO work programmes.
As subject-matter expert for secondary legislation, you will:provide advice and guidance on legislative design, drafting and publication practices for agency-drafted secondary legislation, involving drafting and other experts where requireddevelop, implement and maintain tools to support high-quality agency-drafted secondary legislation that is easy to find, use and understandcontribute legal and policy expertise to PCO and agency end-to-end practices for secondary legislation, from identification of legislative powers and drafting of empowering provisions through to availability on the legislation website and beyond.collaborate across teams and agencies to shape PCO policies, processes and regulatory approaches for agency-drafted secondary legislationsupport the delivery of new services and respond to emerging challenges.What we're looking forWe're looking for someone who brings:legal expertise, ideally with drafting or instructing experience in primary or secondary legislationskills in navigating internal and external processes, perspectives and responsibilities and driving settled positionsexcellent communication and engagement skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate internally and across agenciesa strategic mindset and ability to develop practical, scalable solutions to complex challengesa good understanding of policy development, and the practices and needs of agencies.The ideal candidate will have a keen interest in the work of our office.
The candidate must be able to meet the legal qualification requirement in section 136(2) of the Legislation Act 2019.This role is based in our Wellington office and is hands-on: you will be able to see the difference that your mahi delivers for the business.Our cultureOur whakatauākī is a guiding principle that helps to ensure our actions and decisions align with our values.Mā te whakamana tāngata, me te mahi ngātahi, ka whai putanga tātouThrough valuing people and collaborating, we can achieve great outcomes Located across the road from Parliament, PCO offers you a fascinating insight into New Zealand's legislative system and the chance to have lasting impact across the public sector and society.We offer a range of resources to support your wellbeing such as flexible working arrangements, 5 weeks annual leave, access to fitness opportunities, discounted health insurance, annual vision and hearing test reimbursement, in-house te reo classes, and more.How to applyFor more information about working at the PCO, as well as the job description, please visit our careers page www.pco.govt.nz/careers-at-the-pco.All applications must be completed through the listing on Seek and include a cover letter telling us why you are suitable for the role, and a CV.Enquiries can be sent to: recruitment@pco.govt.nzApplications close: 5pm Wednesday 22 October 2025.