• Lead creative excellence across a diverse organisation
• Join a collaborative, people-centred Communications and Engagement Group
• Make a real difference for Waitaha Canterbury

Kaunihera Taiao ki Waitaha │ About Environment Canterbury

Waitaha - our Canterbury region - is like no other and we are proud to call it home. We have the privilege of working with Papatipu Rūnanga, stakeholders and our wider community to protect our environment, including water, land and air through regulation and planning. As a Regional Council we're responsible for flood protection, public transport, civil defence, and more.  

Together we're taking action to shape a thriving and resilient Canterbury, now and for future generations. Toitū te marae o Tāne, toitū te marae o Tangaroa, toitū te tangata | if the land is well and the sea is well, the people will thrive. 

Kōrero mō te Tūranga | About the Role

As our Principal Designer, you’ll elevate creative excellence across Environment Canterbury by providing specialist design direction, mentoring, and hands-on creative leadership.

You’ll drive innovation, new design thinking and techniques, quality, and consistency — aligning design with brand and campaign strategies, embedding accessibility and a digital first mindset, and building capability across the team. As a key advisor to leaders and project teams, you’ll translate complex needs into clear, audience centred design that supports our priorities for Waitaha Canterbury. 

You will:

• Lead organisation wide creative direction and design thinking across campaigns and priority programmes, setting standards and providing quality assurance
• Grow capability—mentoring designers, supporting the Production Lead and Manager Brand and Digital Production, peer review work, and foster a high performing, innovative team culture
• Engage stakeholders to understand outcomes, assess options, and recommend fit for purpose solutions; provide expert design advice to kaimahi across C&E and the wider organisation
• Deliver complex print and digital design projects end-to-end—including video, animation, and motion—while managing competing priorities, workflow/triage, suppliers, and quotes as required
• Champion accessibility and a digital first approach; identify and mitigate reputational risks in creative outputs; continuously improve processes, systems, and file management discipline

For more information on this role, please refer to the job description at the bottom of the advert.

Mōu │ About You

You're a strategic, hands-on senior designer who brings calm leadership, sharp judgement, and a passion for audience centred design. You balance creativity with pragmatism, influence confidently at senior levels, and lift the standard of work around you. You enjoy mentoring others, navigating complex production environments, and ensuring everything we publish is accessible, on brand, and impactful for our communities.

Mātau ā-Wheako | Experience  

You’ll bring:

• 10+ years across graphic/digital design, video, animation, and motion graphics; advanced Adobe Creative Cloud (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Acrobat), PowerPoint/Microsoft 365; Mailchimp; PC environment
• Proven photography/videography production and editing for multichannel campaigns, with a digital first mindset and strong grasp of accessibility and current best practice
• A portfolio demonstrating strategic brand/campaign work in complex or public sector settings, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders to protect and strengthen brand
• Experience mentoring/design leadership, supervising contractors, coordinating workflows/triage, project management, supplier engagement, and quoting/production oversight
• Strong collaboration with designers, printers, production houses, and advisors—balancing creative excellence with risk awareness and audience needs
• An understanding of te reo and ngā tikanga Māori is an advantage.

Ngā hua o te Mahi i te Kaunihera Taiao ki Waitaha | Working at Environment Canterbury  

Our mahi is underpinned by our values:

• Kaitiakitanga (stewardship)
• Pononga (integrity)
• Manaakitanga (people first)
• Whanaungatanga (collaboration)
• Māiatanga (can do)

We understand and embrace a diverse workforce; this diversity will enable us to better serve our people, our community, and our greatest taonga, the environment. We value everyone’s contribution, diverse thinking, and skills.

We're on a journey to become a treaty partner of excellence, including incorporating te ao Māori into our work. We offer supportive opportunities to develop capability in this area and encourage our people to use kaupapa Māori, mātauranga Māori, and te reo Māori in our daily work. We welcome you with an open heart & mind, wherever you are on your personal te ao Māori journey.

Ko ētahi atu kōrero | Additional Information

For a confidential chat about this role, please contact Shelley Fuller on 027 249 8628.

Applications close on February 25.  Applications will be reviewed as we receive them, and interviews may take place before the close date. We reserve the right to close advertising early.  

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. 

We are committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. If you're excited about this role but don't meet every qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply.

Me mahi tahi tātou - Together we can