Operational Administrators are part of the Support Branch of the Navy. As an Operational Administrator, you are responsible for providing high quality payroll and administration support to serving personnel, using the New Zealand Defence Force’s Human Resource Information System.

You will also provide support in office administration functions such as managing correspondence, word processing, and filing. This role is undertaken at sea onboard ships, as part of a deployed force overseas or in New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) establishments in New Zealand.

Job on Base:

The initial parts of your career are spent ashore in the Devonport Naval Base with short duration postings to ships to gain experience and consolidate operational expertise. These can be supplemented with short term postings to other locations in New Zealand as well overseas experiences with NZDF deployed forces and exchanges with other Navies. All Operational Administrators are now deployed to the Human Resource Service Centre (HRSC) which is the Tri-Service centre managing pay and administration.

Job on Deployment:

If you are highly motivated and successful under training you will be posted to ship to first consolidate your training and learned skills. Whilst at sea you will be in a support role to the Administration Manager. Outside of your 0800 – 1600 day you will be take part in whole-ships duties keeping parts of ship clean, damage control party and assisting the ships medic and chefs when time permits.

Career Progression

Your hard work, experience, and training accomplishments as an Operational Administrator are rewarded by promotions in rank and salary. Following your initial training and consolidation, you can reasonably be expected to have attained a basic level of competence within 18 months of joining. This will be supplemented by a sea posting and then further training to prepare you for promotion to a supervisory role.

Advanced training will involve both generic leadership skills and operational administrator skills. Successful completion of these will qualify you for a promotion to Leading Hand whereby you will be responsible for supervising a team of Operational Administrators, either at sea or ashore.

Employment opportunities for Operational Administrators within the Navy and the Defence Force are particularly varied. There are opportunities for Operational Administrators at sea, in Devonport, Wellington at Defence House and Joint Force Headquarters, and even further afield with deployed forces around the world.

The minimum remuneration you will be paid from your enlistment is $35,694. Your remuneration will increase upon graduation of your recruit course to $42,487 and will continue to increase on promotion and seniority.

• Be a minimum of 17 years of age.

• Be a NZ citizen or have permanent residency and have lived in NZ for five years.

• Be of good character – assessed by study of testimonials and a police record check.

• Be free of any criminal convictions for the previous two years.

• Completed three years of secondary school.

• Have a minimum of 12 NCEA level 1 credits in English and Maths.

• You must be medically fit for service.

Whilst under training you will be posted to Devonport Naval Base. On completion of your training you will be posted to HRSC – Wellington.