Title: Head of Legal Partnering and Corporate Secretariat

Req ID: 11288

Kia Ora

We’re going places. Are you?

If life’s a journey, KiwiRail is a great way of keeping your career moving through it. Ours is a fast-paced, inspiring, and truly customer-focused culture – where your career will connect you to real opportunities, while balancing work and whānau life.

As the Head of Legal Partnering and Corporate Secretariat, you will provide expert legal advice, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards while fostering a culture of growth and innovation. You’ll serve as a trusted advisor to the Board, CEO, and senior leaders, offering insights on legal, commercial and risk matters critical to our success. Additionally, you’ll oversee statutory roles such as Privacy Officer and manage our corporate secretariat functions, ensuring governance excellence.

What you’ll do

As a key leadership role within KiwiRail you will be responsible for:

Lead and inspire the legal and compliance team, providing strategic direction.
Driving operational and culture transformation, focusing on customer experience, employee engagement and commercial outcomes.
Foster diverse talent development, promoting a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
Collaborate with executives to develop and implement organisational vistion, strategy and business plans.
Analyse legal and risk implications of strategic initiatives ensuring alignment with our growth objectives.
Contribute to the design and execution of financial, commercial and funding strategies to drive long-term success.
Develop and implement effective legal, governance and risk frameworks aligned with business objectives.
Proactively ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and relevant legislation, mitigating legal risks.

What you’ll need

A qualified lawyer with 10+ years' experience as General Counsel or equivalent, with a proven track record of leading legal teams and managing external legal budgets.
Experience in delivering a corporate secretariat for the Board of Company Directors.
Senior leadership experience in complex commercial organisation, preferably within the transport logistics or asset-intensive industries.
Expertise in providing corporate advice, negotiating complex transactions, and navigating regulatory environments.
Demonstrated success in leading strategic business initiatives and driving cultural change in dynamic enviornments.
Exceptional relationship-building and communication skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders at all levels.
Customer centric mindset focused on delivering exceptional service experiences.
Strong strategic thinking abilities with a knack for innovative problem-solving in complex situations.
Demonstrated ability to lead teams through periods of significant transformational business growth and change.
Only candidates with a proven track record of practicing law in New Zealand need apply.

Why KiwiRail?

KiwiRail is shaping New Zealand for good, delivering significant economic, social and environmental benefits. Through moving more freight on to rail, we are reducing carbon emissions and road maintenance costs, easing congestion in cities and making roads safer. Our purpose ‘Stronger Connections, Better New Zealand’ speaks to what our people, our customers, our stakeholders and the Government need. Connected to our customers and the future needs of their businesses. Connected to the communities we serve and operate in. Connected to each other, for the good of the country.

Our people are everything. That’s why KiwiRail is committed to an inclusive, flexible, and supportive workplace where everyone can feel valued, respected, and have equal opportunity to succeed. We encourage applications from people of all ages, genders, sexual orientation, personalities, ethnicities, abilities, and cultures. If you’re ready to go places, we’re ready when you are.