- A critical team leadership role with operational breadth and community impact
- Take your career to the next level in a small council and get the experience you need
- Westport based
- Good base salary; relocation support available
About The Role:
As Team Leader Roading & Transport, you will manage the day-to-day operations of Buller District Council's roading and transport network ensuring it remains safe, accessible, and fit for purpose for all road users and the wider community.
This is a hands-on leadership role with strategic reach. You will lead a stable, well-performing team of three direct reports, with indirect oversight of capital works project managers, consultants, and contractors.
You will oversee the monthly works programme for the road maintenance contract, manage NZTA Waka Kotahi programming, funding, and reporting, and lead capital works and renewals. Total budget responsibility sits at $10–15m annually, with a three-year overall transport programme ranging between $30–60M.
As the district's terrain means weather events regularly trigger slips and flooding, you will oversee investigation and remediation to keep communities connected. You will provide input into Long Term and Annual Plans, and represent Council at forums including the Road Efficiency Group Te Ringa Maimoa (REG), connecting NZTA and councils across the top of the South Island and West Coast.
The Buller district faces a significant infrastructure challenge, including the Karamea Highway Special Purpose Road, a 61km route serving isolated communities with 100% NZTA funding currently confirmed to 2027 and ongoing advocacy underway. The transport team has a strong working relationship with NZTA and a well-established programme of work.
Stakeholder and community relationship management is one of the challenges of this role. Buller is a tight-knit community and residents care deeply about decisions that affect their roads. Someone coming from a large city environment will find that infrastructure changes - safety barriers, raised crossings, realignments - can meet strong community resistance even when they are legally required or clearly safety-driven. The ability to explain those decisions clearly, listen well, and bring people along is as important here as the technical capability to deliver them.
Skills & Experience:
To be successful in this role you will need:
- An Engineering background through formal qualification or demonstrated experience
- Minimum five years' experience in a similar roading and transport role within local government, consultancy, or civil contracting
- Sound understanding of contract and project management principles
- Proven leadership experience with a small team, with the ability to give clear direction and manage a tight programme on budget and to standard
- Ability to procure and develop physical works packages, including contract documentation in line with Council and NZTA policies
- Knowledge of civil construction methods, materials, and products
- Strong stakeholder and relationship management skills both internally and with external parties including NZTA and contractors
- Confidence communicating with communities on infrastructure decisions, including where public sentiment is challenging
- Computer literate with proficiency in MS Excel and RAMM
- Strong communication skills across written, oral, and visual media
- Excellent time management and task prioritisation
A current STMS qualification, knowledge of NZS 391X New Zealand Conditions of Contract, experience in a local government environment and familiarity with NZTA processes NZTA TIO and RAMM/GIS systems are desirable.
Benefits:
- A supportive, values-led team committed to community, integrity, and collaboration
- Accelerated career progression and breadth of experience across asset types and disciplines
- Real work-life balance in a community where the lifestyle is as rewarding as the role
- Work in a supportive, values-driven environment that embraces diversity and fosters professional growth.
- Flexible working arrangements
About the Company:
Buller District Council is the territorial authority for the northern West Coast, based in Westport. It’s a part of Aotearoa New Zealand where you can finish work and be on the river, in the hills, or at the beach within minutes - the kind of work-life balance that’s hard to find in a larger city.
For the right person, it’s also a place where careers move faster: at a small council managing a diverse infrastructure portfolio, you get breadth of experience in a few years that a specialist role in a large council might never offer. The Council delivers a wide range of infrastructure, regulatory, and community services for residents and ratepayers, with its core values - Community Driven, One Team, Future Focused, Integrity, and We Care - shaping how its people work every day.
BDC's Long Term Plan 2025–2034 commits to $43.1m in local roads capital investment and $42.8m on the Karamea Highway - signalling the scale and importance of roading to this district's future.
Buller District Council honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is committed to working with tangata whenua to deliver on its obligations under Te Tiriti.