HR Manager

This year Youthtown celebrates 93 years as one of New Zealand’s most iconic organisations dedicated to youth development. The vision to empower young New Zealanders to be the best they can be remains at the forefront of everything it does to enable it to influence young people’s lives for the better as the next generation of proud New Zealanders. Youthtown supports tamariki and rangatahi aged 5-24 years to build confidence, resilience and future ready skills through a variety of sustainable and inclusive programmes which deliver measurable change across New Zealand’s schools, whanau and communities.

Following the appointment last year of a new CEO who has continued to take the organisation through transformational change to enable it to be fit for purpose for the future, a number of newly created leadership roles have been identified. These roles will increase Youthtown’s capacity to extend its reach and continue to positively impact the lives of thousands of young people through providing opportunities for them to realise their potential and thrive.

The national HR Manager will report to the CEO as a member of the new senior leadership team, responsible for all aspects of HR strategy and operations, with the opportunity to either work full time or four days a week. Leading one direct report, this HR generalist role will work closely with the Youthtown leaders across NZ to promote a positive, inclusive and high performing workplace culture as the trusted subject matter expert in the following areas:

• Best practice strategic HR leadership
• Organisational development and workforce planning
• Change management
• Culture and engagement
• Employment relations and risk management
• Leadership development
• Remuneration governance
• HR systems and analytics
• Health and Safety

You will be a tertiary qualified HR professional with a minimum of eight years’ experience in a senior HR role, preferably gained in a not for profit or youth development sector. An effective communicator and influencer at all levels, you will bring your demonstrated relationship building skills to coach and mentor managers across Youthtown to align HR best practices with organisational goals so that everyone in the organisation can flourish. Proven experience of shaping and delivering HR strategy across a multi site organisation, combined with the ability to operate at a practical level, will be critical for success in this role. Culturally aware, you are committed to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi to champion diversity and help build a culture where people feel valued and supported.

If you would like to contribute to Youthtown’s next exciting chapter of growth and innovation as it continues to build on its heritage to add lasting value to the young people of New Zealand, we would love to hear from you. 

Please contact Julia Stones on 0220 347 066 or email at [email protected] if you have any queries or require further information. 

Please email a cover letter and CV to the above email address. 

Applications close on Friday 9 January 2026 and please note that Youthtown is committed to child protection and the safeguarding of children and young people so appointment to this role will be subject to an MOJ check and compliance with the 2014 Vulnerable Children Act.

Apply now