Zespri International Looking for Executive Officer, Grower and Industry Engagement at Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand Full Time

Ko wai matou? Who are we?

Zespri is more than simply the world’s single-largest marketer of kiwifruit. We like to think of ourselves as fruit on a mission and as rebels with a cause: to help people, communities and the environment around the world thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit. We are proudly the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit, selling kiwifruit in more than 50 countries. We work with around 2,800 New Zealand and 1,500 international growers and post-harvest companies to source the best-quality Zespri Kiwifruit which we supply through our distribution partners to wholesale and retail customers. We are one of New Zealand’s best-known international brands, dedicated to creating sustainable long-term value for growers.

He aha te mahi? What’s the role?

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Executive Officer, Grower and Industry Engagement is a senior leadership role within the end-to-end supply chain which links the grower-facing activities of Zespri, through to the distribution of fruit to the end customer in-market.

The Executive Officer, Grower and Industry Engagement contributes to this through the leadership team and will provide leadership excellence to the Grower and Industry Engagement portfolio. The Executive Officer (EO) is responsible for being the outright senior leader for the Grower and Industry Engagement for Zespri, which includes the performance of grower engagement activities, the delivery of strategic initiatives in relation to our Growers and the Industry, and being the leader of the activities for any initiatives/issues which are critical to grower sentiment or grower behavior and outcomes. They will play a pivotal role in leading the strategy for building a sustainable kiwifruit industry leveraging impactful collaboration across the industry and providing strategic thought leadership and delivery of outcomes.

Key Accountabilities:

• Industry Strategy & Excellence – developing, leading, and building a wide coalition of support for industry wide strategic initiatives, this position maintains and strengthens the industry’s foundations to ensure it remains future focused and positioned to achieve its sustainable and long-term growth potential.

• Zespri Culture and Leadership Excellence – ensuring the Zespri values remain alive to through leadership and drive a winning culture of high performance within the business. The EO will develop talented managers and teams to deliver results, drive collaborative cross functional matrix relationships and priortise people engagement.

• Operational & performance excellence – providing strong Industry and Grower Engagement by developing, deploying and managing an operating model, ensuring that our key stakeholders have a consistently great experience of engaging with Zespri.

• Strategic execution – as part of the Leadership Team for the COO, this role is accountable for the performance of their strategic themes and alignment with the end-to-end supply chain strategic roadmap including strategic development and delivery of the grower sentiment work.

• Collective accountability – taking Zespri’s grower and supply chain team forward as part of a strategic Leadership working across functions and contributing positively and proactively to Zespri-wide issues.

• Grower Insight – as the lead custodian of our grower insight the EO will champion the voice of the grower within Zespri and challenge Zespri business groups in order to build trust with growers, stretch our performance, and maintain our competitive advantage.

• Brand Impact – ensuring Zespri maintains an impactful brand across all constituencies – growers, shareholders, consumers, customers, employees and the key industry stakeholders.

Ko wai koe? Who are you?

To be successful in this role, we are looking for an experienced Leader who possesses a deep knowledge of the kiwifruit industry, its heritage, its leaders and what motivates it with respects to leading industry wide change through strategic initiatives. We are also looking for:

• Communication Excellence – An extensive knowledge and experience of stakeholder engagement models and mechanisms to assist information flow across the organisation, communication pathways and network analysis.

• Strategic Thinking – The ability to initiate innovation and bring strategic change by observing and seeking out trends ensuring a solid understanding of the industry context and business drivers to derive best possibilities

• Business Acumen – Have a thorough understanding of business process architecture and ability to develop, deploy and utilize business performance measures to improve results.

• Stakeholder Management – Be skilled at identifying, managing and leading key stakeholders to achieve collaborative strategic outcomes for the benefit of the purpose, strategy and industry outcomes.

He aha e tika ai a Zespri? Why Zespri?

Our people are what makes our culture so irresistible and uniquely Zespri. We are a passionate and mighty team of 900+ employees in 23 different locations globally. Working at Zespri is an opportunity to join a fast-paced, culture-driven environment unlike any other. We want people who share our values of being personally connected, results-driven, and committed to guardianship. Join us in shaping our future and be part of a truly unique organisation.

• Competitive overall remuneration package, including a Short-Term Incentive scheme opportunity.
• FlexWELL flexible work ethos; WFH & the office.
• Additional paid annual leave day per year (Zespri Day).
• Additional paid volunteer day to volunteer within your community (Volunteer Time).
• Global Life and Permanent Disability Insurance.
• Group Medical Insurance benefits.
• Convenient Mount Maunganui office location, with free onsite parking.
• Your daily dose of Vitamin C with free kiwifruit!

Tono mai inaianei! Apply Now! Applications close 2 July 2023.

At Zespri, we understand the importance of diverse perspectives and experiences, and a fair hiring process is the first step to getting there. We want to attract a diverse range of people and encourage everyone from all backgrounds and walks of life to apply. Please let us know if you need any assistance or reasonable adjustments to take part in the recruitment and selection process. You can reach out to our Talent Acquisition team via email at [email protected] to have a chat to someone directly.