Workforce Planner

Kia ora!

Are you someone who enjoys solving complex problems, finding patterns in data, and turning information into practical plans? Do you like working with people as much as you enjoy working with numbers?

We’re looking for Workforce Planners to join our team with permanent and 12-month fixed-term opportunities across our Air and Ground operations.

There are 3 x Workforce Planner opportunities: one permanent and one 12-month fixed-term position supporting our Pilot and Cabin Crew workforces, and a second 12-month fixed-term position supporting our Ground operations across Airports and Engineering & Maintenance.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in ensuring we have the right people, with the right capability, in the right place, at the right time to support a large and complex airline operation.

Depending on the role, you could be supporting workforce planning across our Air operation, planning for our Pilot and Cabin Crew workforces, or our Ground operation, supporting our Airport and Engineering & Maintenance workforces.

In either environment, you’ll work closely with operational leaders and stakeholders to develop workforce and leave plans that balance operational demand, resilience, cost efficiency, contractual obligations and regulatory requirements. Your work will directly influence how we plan, make decisions and prepare our workforce for future operational needs.

In this role, you will:

• Develop and maintain accurate workforce and leave plans across medium and long-term planning horizons, from approximately 6 months to 5 years ahead.
• Analyse workforce demand, labour capacity, leave requirements, operational risks and performance trends.
• Balance operational requirements, labour costs, contractual obligations and regulatory requirements to develop effective workforce plans.
• Monitor workforce plans and provide reporting, insights, options and recommendations to support informed business decisions.
• Identify workforce constraints, risks and opportunities, and recommend practical solutions to support operational readiness.
• Use data, modelling and structured problem-solving to shape decisions, influence outcomes and create clarity where there are competing priorities or ambiguity.
• Build strong relationships with operational leaders and key stakeholders to understand business priorities, constructively challenge where needed and translate requirements into workable plans.
• Identify and lead improvements in workforce-planning processes, tools, systems and ways of working.
• Maintain accurate workforce-planning data and systems to support reporting, compliance and decision-making.
• Champion safety, security and compliance in everything you do.

We’re looking for someone who brings:

• Experience in workforce planning, workforce management, resource planning, rostering, operational planning, demand or capacity planning, or a similar analytical planning role.
• Strong analytical thinking, numerical ability, logical reasoning and problem-solving capability.
• The ability to interpret data, identify trends, assess options and turn insights into clear, practical recommendations.
• Strong organisation and planning skills, with a high level of attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities.
• Confidence engaging with stakeholders, constructively challenging where needed and influencing decisions through clear communication and evidence-based recommendations.
• The ability to take ownership, work through ambiguity and help create structure where the path forward is not already well defined.
• Intermediate to advanced Excel skills and confidence working with data-driven planning tools.
• Experience with workforce-planning, reporting, modelling or visualisation tools would be advantageous.
• A continuous improvement mindset and a genuine interest in finding smarter ways of working.
• A relevant tertiary qualification is advantageous, but not essential if you can demonstrate equivalent experience.

Previous airline or aviation workforce-planning experience would be advantageous, but is not essential. We’re equally interested in strong planning capability, critical thinking and your ability to learn a complex operational environment.

Why join us?

This is a great opportunity to:

• Make a real impact across a large, complex and operationally critical airline environment.
• Develop your analytical, stakeholder management and strategic planning capability.
• Gain exposure to complex workforce challenges across Air New Zealand’s operational environment.
• Help shape workforce plans that support our people, customers and future operational needs.

If you’re passionate about solving workforce challenges, enjoy working with data and want to help shape how we plan for the future, we’d love to hear from you.

Applications close 14/09/2026.

At Air New Zealand, we are proudly committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and believe in creating a truly inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves and thrive. Our people are our greatest asset - because while everything else we do in our operation can be replicated by our competitors, it is our people that truly set us apart. We are firm believers in celebrating the differences and diversity of thought our people bring to their roles. We encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds, including those with a disability, additional health and mental health needs, and/or are neurodiverse to apply for our roles.

If you have encountered any accessibility barriers and require further information or reasonable accommodations to our recruitment process, please reach out to the recruiter listed on this job advert so they are able to support you to freely participate equitably in our recruitment and selection process.

Whāia te pae tawhiti kia tata. Ko te pae tata whakamaua, kia tina.

"Seek to bring distant horizons closer. Once near, seize them and make them your reality."