Product Owner – Code Modules Initiative | Kaipupuri Hua

Come play a pivotal role in an all-of-data system initiative helping New Zealand make best use of its most powerful data assets, and enabling enduring change to statistical production and the delivery of social services.

About Us | Ko mātou

Stats NZ | Tatauranga Aotearoa is a Central Government employer of 1200+ people across Aotearoa. We provide data and statistics to support the decisions of Government, Māori and Iwi organisations, businesses, NGOs, and New Zealanders. Our work is About Aotearoa, for Aotearoa - data that improves lives today and for generations to come. We welcome every gender, ethnicity, ability, religion, age, and background and encourage all our people to be their authentic selves.

Background on the work programme

The mission of the Code Modules Initiative is to make New Zealand's integrated data assets easier to use, and understandable for everyone, including non-technical people.

Following a successful pilot in 2022, this work has attracted the backing of eight agencies and non-government users, who see value in creating data tools, called "code modules," that contain high-quality code and documentation for foundational measures needed by researchers - such as benefit receipt, migration status, highest qualification, employment status, and total income. The initiative is now expanding to support the growing demands on administrative data from delivery of the Social Investment approach, and shifts toward greater use of administrative data in the production of official statistics.

What's in it for you? | Ngā hua ka riro ki a koe

We encourage you to go to our careers site to learn more about the Way We Work at Stats NZ and also check out our benefits. We want working for us… to work for you!!

Starting salary: $95,972 - $128,391 negotiable + superannuation

Other benefits of joining Stats NZ include:

• Balance life and work commitments
• Develop and grow your career (coaching, training, study support, secondments)
• Contribute to meaningful work that makes a difference to all people in Aotearoa
• 3 extra annual leave days (taken during Christmas office closure)
• City based offices that cater to a variety of working styles and needs
• State of the art, 6-star green building in Wellington

The role | Te tūnga

This role is permanent based in Wellington and reporting to the Manager - Integrated Data Production.

In your role as Product Owner, you will be responsible for leading teams of subject matter experts through the module development process. This covers many of the typical stages of the software development life cycle including:

• Definition of scope and data product requirements
• Coordination of coding, testing, and documentation drafting
• Peer review, publishing, and the transition to ongoing data product stewardship

While you will not be delivering the outputs of these stages yourself, you will be responsible for facilitating cross-functional teams through the process, and ideally preparing participants to drive these processes themselves in the future where appropriate.

The module development and stewardship processes are intimately connected to the production of key administrative data assets including the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) and Longitudinal Business Database (LBD). The data products created are made available to the public via the ID Commons, a forum on the Discourse platform. As such, you will need to work closely with your teammates in the Production and Datalab teams to integrate your work with regular statistical production and publishing cycles and support their continuous improvement.

While the current development process has been piloted and is well supported with guidance and templated materials, you will want to make these your own and improve upon them to ensure the process can scale to meet increasing demand.

This role would suit someone who can bring:

• Product management skills you've gained in previous roles with the ability to apply scrum/agile methodologies where appropriate to administer the product development lifecycle (e.g. sprint planning, retrospectives, backlog management).
• A collaborative approach, working with developers, researchers, and data suppliers to iteratively improve products.
• Leadership and strategic stakeholder relationship management.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to present effectively to internal and external stakeholders.
• Familiarity with Azure DevOps or similar tools for managing sprints and projects.
• A background in data analytics, software development, or product design is highly desirable.

Note that previous experience working within a government agency is not required.

What you bring | Nōu te rourou

We understand transferable skills can come from experience gained from outside of work. We encourage you to be you in your application.

We are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and lifting our cultural capability. You don't need to be knowledgeable in all these areas already, but you do need to be on board with learning and have a genuine interest and willingness to grow on this journey with us.

Tell us about yourself in your cover letter, what attracted you to this role, and what you would bring to Stats NZ.

How to apply | Me pēhea te tuku tono

If this sounds like you, click on the Apply now button to be redirected to the application page on our careers site. The position description is located on the right-hand side of the page.

We will be screening applications as we receive them to move swiftly to interview. You may be asked to complete a pre-interview screen via phone or video. Please let us know in your application if we need to make any specific accommodations during our process.

Please reach out to recruitment@stats.govt.nz if you have any questions.

You must have the right to live and work in Aotearoa New Zealand. Background and various pre-employment checks are part of our recruitment process.

Note to Recruitment Agencies: unsolicited CVs will not be accepted.