Data Scientist

Type: Permanent
Hours: Full time
Location: Wellington 
Business Group: Engagement, Data and Innovation                           
Branch: Taituarā / Regulatory and Identity Services
Salary: $109,697 - $136,512

Wellington-based | Permanent | Deliver practical AI solutions and predictive insights

We’re looking for a delivery-driven, hands-on Data Scientist who’s passionate about applying AI and advanced analytics to solve real business problems. You’ll collaborate with our data engineers, analysts / dashboard developers, and fellow data scientists to turn ideas into insights — designing, building, and deploying data science solutions that make a measurable impact across passports, citizenship, and identity services within the Taituarā / Regulatory and Identity Services branch at the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).

From 1 December 2025, the Business Intelligence & Insights (BI&I) team becomes a part of the Engagement, Data and Innovation Group as Business Insights — reflecting a stronger focus on modern data platforms, digital innovation, and using data and analytics to better understand our business, inform decisions, and drive continuous improvement across our services.

Mō te tīma | About our Teams

The Engagement, Data and Innovation group leads the development of new products, services and operational policies to enhance the delivery of services in line with Branch priorities. The group provides a range of services to the Regulatory and Identity Services branch, including operational policy, market service, product strategy and innovation, design and content, and data analytics.

The Business Insights team is one of the branch’s main data analytics teams, made up of data engineers, data analysts / dashboard developers, and data scientists who work together across the full data lifecycle — from data sourcing and modelling to advanced analytics and insight delivery. We focus on the delivery of data marts, business intelligence (BI) products, statistical modelling and data analysis that creates valuable insights to influence operational and policy decision-making.

He angitūtanga | About the Role

Reporting to the Manager, Business Insights, this is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Data Scientist to lead and deliver large-scale advanced analytics projects. You’ll play a key role in applying best practices, developing data products that support decision-making, and promoting a data-driven culture that enhances the essential services we deliver for Aotearoa.

This role is ideal for a Data Scientist seeking meaningful work and new challenges within a modern data environment, contributing to initiatives that make a real impact for New Zealanders.

• Design, build, and deploy predictive, machine learning, and advanced AI models to solve operational and strategic challenges, including time-series forecasting models (daily/weekly/monthly), model monitoring and drift detection.
• Develop and deliver end-to-end AI use cases — from scoping and prototyping to production and implement model lifecycle practices: versioning, performance monitoring, re-training.
• Work with data engineers to prepare and use high-quality data from our new Microsoft Fabric platform. 
• Partner with business teams to understand problems and translate them into practical data science solutions.
• Communicate insights clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Contribute to the development of responsible AI, MLOps, and model governance within the branch.
• Experiment with emerging tools, techniques, and generative AI capabilities to unlock new value from data.

Mōu | About you

We’re looking for someone who is passionate about data science, communicates effectively, builds strong relationships, and brings a customer-focused mindset. You’ll thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced environment where curiosity, adaptability, and teamwork are key to delivering impact:

• 2–4 years’ experience applying data science or AI to solve business or service delivery problems.
• Strong programming skills in Python or R, with practical experience in model development and evaluation.
• Familiarity with modern cloud data platforms such as Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, or Databricks.
• Proven ability to deliver results — from data wrangling and feature engineering through to model lifecycle management: versioning, model retraining, performance tracking, data drift monitoring.
• Great communication skills and a collaborative mindset — you work well with others to make complex data useful and actionable.
• Curiosity, initiative, and a delivery-focused mindset — you enjoy turning ideas into working solutions.

Nice to have

• Experience with MLOps, prompt engineering, or integrating AI models into production workflows.
• Experience with time-series forecasting libraries (e.g. Prophet, ARIMA, ETS), scheduling/optimisation libraries or workforce planning analytics.
• Experience working with operational (event/transactional) data, processing times and linking operational metrics with forecasting.
• Familiarity with Power BI, data storytelling, or advanced data visualisation.
• Understanding of ethical AI, data governance, and privacy principles in the public sector.

We’ll be reviewing applications as they come in and may progress with interviews before the closing date. If this role sounds like you, we encourage you to apply early.

Applications close: 5pm, Friday 16 January 2026
For more information please contact: Hien Nguyen (Hien.Nguyen@dia.govt.nz)
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