QA Director

Quality Assurance Director
Auckland
Permanent, Full Time

About Whitecliffe
Whitecliffe is a leading independent tertiary institution in New Zealand, renowned for delivering innovative, industry-connected education. With campuses in Auckland, Manukau, Wellington, and Christchurch, we pride ourselves on having teaching staff with extensive industry experience who support our graduates to turn creativity into a career.

About the role
We're seeking a strategic, decisive, and relationship-focused Quality Assurance Director to lead Whitecliffe's academic quality assurance and compliance framework. This role is responsible for Whitecliffe's institutional quality system, holding end-to-end accountability for compliance coordination, regulatory submissions, and operational QA system management. Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, you will ensure the design, implementation, and ongoing evaluation of Whitecliffe's quality assurance systems — including ongoing institutional implementation of NZQA's Institutional Quality Assurance Framework (IQAF) — and lead the organisation's response to an evolving regulatory environment.

You will champion change management and continuous improvement as core institutional capabilities, leading structured initiatives that help academic and professional teams adopt new quality practices with minimal disruption to learners. You will create, own, and continuously refine Whitecliffe's overarching quality assurance frameworks, policies, and toolkits, ensuring they remain fit-for-purpose, evidence-informed, and scalable across delivery areas.

As the senior escalation point for student complaints and appeals relating to academic quality and regulatory matters, you will ensure these are resolved fairly, consistently, and in line with NZQA requirements — using systemic learnings to strengthen quality enhancement planning. You will lead preparation for and coordination of external review processes, represent Whitecliffe in engagements with NZQA and other regulatory bodies, and own accountability for course accreditation, re-accreditation, and provider registration processes.

You will work collaboratively with academic leaders and teaching teams to strengthen reflective self-review practices, support meaningful use of academic quality data, and embed sustainable quality enhancement approaches across the institution. This role gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ensuring its principles and commitments are embedded throughout governance, programme delivery, learner support, and quality assurance processes, and that Whitecliffe can demonstrate it is actively responding to the aspirations of Māori learners, whānau, hapū, iwi, and communities.

What you will bring

• Leadership experience in academic quality assurance, compliance, or regulatory management within higher education or a comparable regulated environment
• Ability to build effective relationships across academic and professional teams and lead organisational change in a collegial manner
• Project and change leadership capability, including planning, coordinating, and delivering complex initiatives to deadline
• A strategic, confident, and collaborative approach — with the credibility to represent quality assurance to governance bodies and senior leadership
• A relevant tertiary qualification in governance, education, administration, business, or a related discipline — or equivalent professional experience
• Working knowledge of NZQA compliance requirements, including the Institutional Quality Assurance Framework (IQAF), self-assessment, and evaluative quality assurance practice
• Demonstrated experience leading change management initiatives within complex, regulated organisations
• Proven ability to design, implement, and continuously improve quality assurance frameworks, policies, and systems
• Willingness and capability to act as an escalation point for complex or sensitive matters, including complaints, appeals, or disputes, with sound judgement and discretion
• Demonstrated understanding of contemporary tertiary quality assurance and self-assessment practice within the New Zealand context
• Ability to interpret and apply regulatory requirements in complex academic and governance contexts
• Ability to interpret and synthesise academic quality and performance data to support evidence-informed decision-making and improvement planning
  
• Ability to oversee governance, policy, compliance, and academic quality documentation systems, ensuring accessibility, version control, and audit readiness
  

As Whitecliffe continues to strengthen and mature its quality assurance and regulatory practices, this role will be instrumental in shaping the long-term development of sustainable systems, institutional capability, and quality leadership across the organisation. This is an opportunity to lead meaningful change — driving regulatory readiness, academic quality enhancement, and institutional capability at a strategic level.