A new chapter is starting for water services in Wellington’s metropolitan area. From 1 July 2026, Tiaki Wai will take over responsibility for providing drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services to approximately 433,000 residents across Wellington City, Porirua City, Hutt City, and Upper Hutt City.
As a council-owned water services organisation, oversight will be maintained by a Partners Committee made up of representatives from shareholding councils and mana whenua (Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o Te Ika and Ngāti Toa Rangatira). From 1 July, Tiaki Wai will bill customers directly for water services, meaning it can make more prioritised, sustainable investment and borrowing decisions. Councils will also transfer their water assets to Tiaki Wai, giving it the independence, resources, and region-wide perspective to effectively manage and improve water services for current and future communities.
Based in Wellington and a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, the Chief Customer Officer (“CCO”) will play a vital role in helping to shape Tiaki Wai through its establishment phase and into long-term operational maturity, ensuring the organisation is set up, resourced, and aligned for future success and delivering to its customers, communities, partners and shareholders.
Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, central to this role’s accountabilities will be the development of a customer-centred culture, ensuring that the customer experience is woven through organisational strategy and that customer outcomes remain at the very heart of decision making, service design and investment choices. As the Executive champion for the customer, the CCO will be tasked with ensuring that the organisation is experienced by its customers as being transparent, responsible and trustworthy, easy to deal with and that its ability to deliver on its promises is supported by effective automation, digital self-service and data-driven insights.
We are seeking a passionate and strategic customer champion with a proven track record of success in leading large-scale customer, service or experience functions at a senior executive level. With a background spanning customer communications, marketing and digital media, the appointee will demonstrate a deep understanding of customer experience, service design and journey management, underpinned by the ability to effectively leverage automated, digital customer services and related technology and data.
The ability to work confidently in a start-up environment, manage political sensitivities, and drive large-scale transformation at pace, while building trust with councils, iwi, and the wider public will prove critical to success.
For more information or to apply, please contact Hobson Leavy Executive Search: tiakiwai@hobsonleavy.com.
Applications close at 5.00pm Wednesday 8th April 2026
