Job Description

Company Description

Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland

The University of Auckland is New Zealand’s pre-eminent University, with a turnover of $1.6bn, including research revenue of over $300m generated across eight diverse faculties and two research institutes. With over 9,000 staff and 50,000 students, the University of Auckland is one of New Zealand’s most significant and complex entities.

Job Description

Te Whiwhinga mahi | The opportunity

This is a unique opportunity to shape how innovation and entrepreneurship is learned and applied across Waipapa Taumata Rau.

As Principal Innovation Education Specialist, you will lead the design and codification of the learning systems that underpin CIE’s innovation and entrepreneurship capability development. You will take complex innovation and entrepreneurship methodologies and turn them into clear, practical and reusable frameworks, learning architectures, playbooks and tools that can be applied across programmes, venture pathways and wider University contexts.

This is not primarily a programme-delivery role. It is a senior specialist position for someone who can combine deep innovation and entrepreneurship expertise with learning design and systems thinking—making practitioner knowledge explicit, structured and scalable, and building the capability of others to apply it effectively.

A key part of the role will be enabling innovation and entrepreneurship learning to extend beyond CIE. You will develop train-the-trainer approaches, facilitator resources and capability-building models that equip academics, facilitators and partners to confidently use and adapt CIE's innovation learning approaches in different disciplines and contexts. This means creating a coherent underlying approach while recognising that innovation may be learned and applied differently in research, teaching, professional practice and venture development.

You will work across CIE and with academics, practitioners and partners to build a more coherent innovation learning system, including exploring how digital and AI-enabled approaches can extend the reach, personalisation and effectiveness of innovation education.

You will:

• Lead the design and development of CIE’s innovation and entrepreneurship learning frameworks, methodologies, architectures and models.
• Codify programmes and practitioner knowledge into practical playbooks, tools and reusable approaches that can be applied by academics, facilitators and partners.
• Design learning frameworks and approaches that provide coherence across CIE while being adaptable and contextualised to different disciplines, participant groups and contexts across a large research-led university.
• Design and develop train-the-trainer approaches that build the capability of academics, facilitators and partners to confidently deliver and adapt innovation and entrepreneurship learning.
• Develop facilitator resources, guidance and quality approaches that support effective and consistent application while allowing adaptation for different disciplines, audiences and contexts.
• Design learning architectures that create coherence and progression across innovation capability, research translation and venture development pathways.
• Develop and test digital and AI-enabled learning approaches, including interactive tools, digital mentors and other scalable learning components.
• Work with CIE teams, academics and practitioners to test, refine and continuously improve learning frameworks through real-world application.
• Provide specialist advice and thought leadership on innovation learning, capability development and the effective translation of innovation methodologies into practice.
• Contribute as a member of the CIE Leadership Team, bringing specialist expertise to CIE strategy, organisational capability and continuous improvement.

This is a permanent full time contract, working 37.5 hours per week.

For further details about the role, please view the position description.

Mō tō mātou rōpū | About the team

The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) is Waipapa Taumata Rau’s platform for developing the innovators, entrepreneurs and changemakers of the future. We work across the University to help students, researchers and staff build innovation and entrepreneurial capability, turn ideas into action, develop ventures, and create social, cultural, environmental and economic impact for Aotearoa and the world. 

CIE is entering an exciting new chapter. With an ambitious new strategy, we are significantly increasing the reach and impact of innovation and entrepreneurship across the University, helping realise Waipapa Taumata Rau’s ambition to be a global powerhouse of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, and strengthening the University’s contribution to a more innovative and prosperous Aotearoa. 

We are building a team of people who are curious, collaborative, ambitious for impact and committed to turning ambition into action. If you want to help shape how a world-class research-led university develops innovative and entrepreneurial people, we would love to hear from you. 

He kōrero mōu | About you 

You are an experienced innovation practitioner and learning systems thinker who can make complex ideas clear, practical and usable. You understand innovation and entrepreneurship deeply enough to interrogate methodologies rather than simply package existing content, and you have the design capability to turn that expertise into frameworks, tools and learning systems that others can confidently apply.

You enjoy solving complex design problems, working across disciplines and bringing structure to ambiguity. You are highly collaborative and able to work effectively with academics, practitioners and specialists without needing formal authority, while maintaining a strong focus on quality and getting things into use.

You will bring:

• Deep practical knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship methodologies and how people develop innovation and entrepreneurial capability.
• Demonstrated experience designing and codifying complex methodologies, practices or knowledge into clear frameworks, models, playbooks, tools or learning systems.
• Strong learning and capability design expertise, with the ability to design coherent learning architectures rather than simply individual learning activities.
• Experience designing train-the-trainer, facilitator development or other capability-building approaches that enable others to confidently apply specialist methodologies and practices.
• Strong systems thinking, conceptual and analytical capability, with an ability to see connections, structure complexity and solve difficult design problems.
• The ability to translate specialist or practitioner knowledge into approaches that can be used consistently by other educators, facilitators and practitioners.
• Digital and AI fluency, with the ability to identify and apply emerging technologies meaningfully to learning and capability development.
• Excellent written communication and the ability to articulate complex concepts simply and precisely.
• Strong collaboration and influencing skills, including experience working effectively with academics, practitioners and multidisciplinary teams in complex organisations.
• A relevant tertiary qualification in innovation, entrepreneurship, education, design, business or a related discipline; postgraduate study would be advantageous.

Experience within a tertiary education, research or innovation environment would be valuable. You will understand, or be able to quickly develop an understanding of, the complexity of a research-led university and the different contexts in which innovation and entrepreneurship are learned and applied across disciplines and through teaching, research, research translation, venture development and professional practice, working with students, researchers and academic staff.

Additional Information

Me pēhea te tuku tono | How to apply

Applications must be submitted online, by the closing date of Sunday 13th September, 2026 to be considered. Please include your CV and a cover letter highlighting how you meet the skills and experience outlined above, what attracts you to this opportunity, and what you would bring to CIE and our strategic plan.

Equity

The University is committed to meeting its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi and achieving equity outcomes for staff and students in a safe, inclusive, and equitable environment. For further information on services for Māori, Pacific, women, LGBTQIATakatāpuiMVPFAFF+, people with disabilities, parenting support, flexible work and other personal circumstances go to www.equity.auckland.ac.nz