Risk and Assurance Analyst

Manulife Investment Management provides investment management services with a focus on timberland and agricultural assets across Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand, Manulife Investment Management Forest Management (NZ) Limited oversees more than 210,000 hectares of timberland estates. The company is committed to creating a safe working environment while managing clients’ forests sustainably and responsibly. Their goal is to protect the long-term productivity of the land while ensuring soil health, water quality, biodiversity, and community values are preserved and enhanced over time.

We are excited to be working closely with Manulife to recruit a newly created role, Risk & Assurance Analyst. Reporting to the Governance, Risk & Assurance Manager, this role will be key in supporting and strengthening enterprise risk and assurance practices across the New Zealand business. This is a varied and highly visible role that works closely with operational leaders, functional managers, and governance stakeholders across the organisation.

This position is suited to someone who enjoys building relationships across a business, has strong analytical capability, and is passionate about helping organisations strengthen their risk, compliance, and assurance frameworks. We are open to considering candidates with a range of experience levels, provided their experience is relevant to the role.

About the role
You will be responsible for supporting and delivering the enterprise assurance programme while contributing to the ongoing development and maintenance of the enterprise risk management framework.
Key responsibilities include:

• Supporting enterprise risk management processes and frameworks
• Maintaining and updating enterprise risk matrices and risk profiles
• Conducting internal audits and assurance reviews
• Monitoring compliance with internal policies, regulatory obligations, and industry standards
• Supporting crisis management planning and testing processes
• Preparing risk and assurance reporting for leadership teams and boards
• Driving continuous improvement initiatives across risk and assurance practices
• Delivering training and promoting a strong culture of risk awareness across the business

You will work collaboratively with teams across health and safety, environment, operations, finance, and governance, helping ensure robust controls and effective risk management practices are embedded throughout the organisation.

About you
To be successful in this role you will bring:

• Experience in risk management, internal audit, assurance or compliance – we are open to considering candidates at varying stages of their career.
• Experience working within a complex operational or safety-sensitive environment is preferred, but not essential.
• Strong written communication skills, including the ability to prepare high-quality reporting for senior leaders and the Board.
• Excellent relationship management and stakeholder engagement capability.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and programmes of work.
• High attention to detail and a proactive, solutions-focused approach.
• Relevant tertiary qualification and/or assurance or risk certifications (or working towards these) would be advantageous.

You will also bring a collaborative and adaptable mindset, with the confidence to engage across all levels of the organisation and contribute positively to a culture of continuous improvement.

This is an opportunity to join a respected organisation operating in a dynamic and globally connected industry. You will be part of a business that values integrity, accountability, collaboration, and innovation, while offering the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the long-term success and sustainability of its operations.

Please contact Liz Kennedy at Ryan + Alexander for a confidential discussion or apply today with your CV and cover letter.