Capstone Recruitment is partnering with Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) to appoint a newly created Senior Planner. QAC owns and operates Queenstown Airport and runs day to day operations at Wānaka Airport on behalf of Queenstown Lakes District Council. It is New Zealand's fourth busiest airport, with 2.82 million passenger movements in the year to 30 June 2026, more than a million of them international for the first time.
About the role
A standalone position reporting to the Head of Planning & Sustainability, this is QAC's lead statutory planning role. You will own the consenting strategy behind the airport's infrastructure programme, hold its designations, and represent QAC in hearings, mediation and policy processes as planning legislation and the district plan evolve. You will set the direction and direct external specialists rather than produce every technical report yourself, and as the first person in the role, you will have a real say in what it becomes.
What you will do
- Set the consenting strategy across the infrastructure programme, choosing the statutory pathway for each project rather than reacting to it
- Prepare and lodge resource consents, Notices of Requirement and outline plans, and hold QAC's designations
- Represent QAC at hearings, mediation and expert conferencing, and in the Environment Court where required
- Protect the airport's ability to operate as Queenstown develops around it, including the reverse sensitivity risk that noise creates
- Lead QAC's submissions on new planning legislation, national planning standards and the district plan review
- Form QAC's position on third party proposals that could affect airport operations or safeguarding
- Brief and direct external planning, legal and technical advisers, and hold them to their advice
- Give project managers and the executive a clear read on planning risk early enough to act on it
What we are looking for
- Around eight to ten years in statutory planning, resource management, infrastructure or environmental planning
- Advanced command of New Zealand resource management legislation. A planning related qualification is preferred
- Complex consents and designations taken end to end, including evidence you have written and then defended
- Experience in a hearing room, in mediation and across the table from a council
- A planner who starts from how an outcome can be achieved rather than why it cannot
- Comfort in a small team where you own your area outright and the shape of the work will keep changing
- Experience in aviation, transport, ports, utilities, transmission or other significant infrastructure is an advantage, though not essential
- A genuine intention to be based in Queenstown
If this sounds like the role for you, please apply through Seek by 11:59pm Wednesday 23 rd September. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to elizabeth@capstonerecruitment.co.nz.
