An opportunity to contribute to conservation on private land in Aotearoa
Work with a variety of ecosystem types and landscapes throughout Aotearoa
Social, friendly, vibrant work environment
We have an excellent opportunity for a motivated and enthusiastic land protection (ecological) advisor to join our Wellington head office team. Land Protection Advisors work closely with and support our regional representatives, adding to and enhancing the network of protected areas across Aotearoa. In addition to your ability to provide robust ecological and practical land management advice, you’ll also be comfortable managing your own workflow and ensuring that timeframes are met. Strong communication, relationship building, and interpersonal skills are key to this role.
This is a permanent, full-time position based in our Wellington office.
About the role
QEII open space covenants legally protect approximately 190,000 hectares of private land and play a key role as a refuge for some of New Zealand’s rarest and most endangered biodiversity and ecosystems. Land Protection Advisors, together with our regional representatives (who are based around Aotearoa), progress new covenant proposals, and assist with oversight of monitoring and management of registered covenants.
Land Protection Advisors each support and enable a small group of regional representatives. Advisors contribute to and peer review covenant proposal and management work, providing an exciting opportunity to learn about different ecosystem types and apply critical thinking skills in a variety of situations. This includes a critical ecological/open space analysis of areas proposed to be protected, management actions required and providing a recommendation to QEII’s executive. Advisors also work closely with our legal team, providing ecological advice to help resolve covenant management issues as they arise.
Because we are a small, collaborative organisation, advisors play a key role in the success of QEII and are actively involved in a variety of other work streams. These include assisting with covenant administration, our external communications (e.g., Open Space magazine articles and annual report), assessing funding applications to our annual contestable fund, involvement in externally funded projects, providing content for QEII submissions, preparing and presenting board papers, and responding to external stakeholder enquiries.
What we offer
Salary range: $69,000-$79,000 depending on qualifications and experience.
A few benefits of working at QEII:
Three additional (QEII holidays) leave days over the annual closedown period
$250 wellness allowance every year
A social, friendly, and vibrant work environment
About us – QEII National Trust - Ngā Kairauhī Papa
Our mission is to support and inspire people to protect and enhance special places, creating a network of thriving natural landscapes with communities closely connected to them. We are an independent charitable trust that partners with private landowners to protect sites on their land with covenants. Almost 70% of New Zealand is in private land ownership, so protecting biodiversity and heritage on private land is critical to reversing the decline of indigenous biodiversity and preserving our history.
A covenant is an agreement between us and a landowner to protect land forever. The landowner continues to own and manage the protected land, and the covenant and protection stays on the land, even when the property is sold to a new owner.
If this role sounds like you, we would love to hear from you! To apply, please send your CV and a covering letter to careers@qeii.org.nz by 9am on Monday 27 July 2026.
If you have any questions, please email careers@qeii.org.nz
You must be legally entitled to work in Aotearoa New Zealand to apply. The full position description is available at https://bit.ly/4f0FZow
