IN-CONFIDENCE EXTERNAL
Conservation House
18 Manners Street
Wellington, 6011
doc.govt.nz
15 December 2025
Ref: OIAD-5860
Merritt Drake
Via email: f[FYI request #32892 email]
Tēnā koe Merritt
Thank you for your request to the Department of Conservation (DOC), received on 17 November
2025, in which you asked:
Please provide the following information as at 17 December 2025:
1. For all roles within the mid-level tiers or equivalent levels of your agency's
organisational structure (for example, team managers, principals, seniors, analysts
and advisors, etc), the minimum, maximum, and median salaries currently being
paid for each position title.
2. For the same group of roles, the number of employees in each pay band/grade that
is currently being used for each position title.
I am not seeking personal information, so anonymised data is fine. If any part of the request
must be withheld, please release the remainder. I would prefer the information in a simple
table or spreadsheet if possible, please.
We have considered your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA).
Your request sought information as of a future date, 17 December 2025. As the OIA only applies
to information that exists at the time the request is made, we asked you to clarify the timeframes.
We did not receive a response. Therefore, we have provided data as of 31 October 2025, which
is the closest reporting date to the date that your request was received.
Your questions and our responses are listed below:
1.
For all roles within the mid-level tiers or equivalent levels of your agency's
organisational structure (for example, team managers, principals, seniors, analysts and
advisors, etc), the minimum, maximum, and median salaries currently being paid for
each position title
DOC has hundreds of unique position titles, and a varied and complex workforce that
includes operational delivery roles as well as more traditional corporate and policy
roles. To sufficiently anonymise the data, we have grouped individual permanent
position titles using the existing National Occupation List (NOL) categorisation. The
National Occupation List is an independent New Zealand-focused occupation
classification, and we use the NOL titles as part of our standard reporting. Information
about how many position titles each NOL title covers is found in the table in Appendix A.
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Full information has been provided for NOL titles of ten employees or more. To protect
the privacy of individuals, NOL titles with less than ten employees have been withheld
under section 9(2)(a) of the OIA, as there are insufficient numbers of employees to
anonymise the data. This relates to a total of 46 NOL titles consisting of 172 employees.
Note that some NOL titles will cross multiple salary bands, which helps to explain why
the range between minimum and maximum salaries paid is larger in some cases. The
number of salary bands covered by each NOL title is provided in Appendix A.
2.
For the same group of roles, the number of employees in each pay band/grade that is
currently being used for each position title.
Please refer to Appendix A for the number of employees in each salary band being
used for the provided list of position titles, as of 31 October 2025.
You are entitled to seek an investigation and review of my decision by writing to the Ombudsman
as provided by section 28(3) of the OIA.
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) and attached documents may be
published on DOC’s website.
If you would like to discuss this response with us, please contact Karl Brewerton, Employment
Relations Manager by email to [email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Karyn Thompson
Chief People Officer
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Atawhai
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APPENDIX A
# of
# of
# of
Mid-tier
Mid-tier
Mid-tier
NOL Title
permanent
position
salary
Minimum
Median
Maximum
employees
titles
bands
Salary
Salary
Salary
Conservation Officer
203
90
4
$71,920
$106,475
$155,000
Park Ranger*
69
31
1
$82,181
$95,378
$102,775
Environmental Research
Scientist
52
11
4
$100,309
$113,872
$138,333
Policy and Planning Manager
51
4
2
$94,816
$148,000
$180,000
Policy Analyst
51
13
4
$95,391
$123,141
$160,000
Program or Project Manager
43
20
5
$85,335
$125,533
$148,320
Resource Management Planner
31
9
3
$102,775
$113,872
$138,333
Liaison or Relationship Advisor
29
21
3
$97,844
$117,570
$155,000
Communications Officer (Public
Relations)
23
10
2
$97,844
$113,872
$133,956
Corporate Services Manager
20
8
2
$82,181
$137,253
$160,999
Solicitor
20
6
2
$135,875
$144,150
$156,145
Other Specialist Managers
18
15
2
$112,023
$148,250
$161,659
Environmental Manager
17
17
1
$101,142
$141,055
$160,000
ICT Business Analyst
15
8
4
$101,790
$119,663
$141,224
Organisation and Methods
Analyst
13
7
2
$100,309
$112,023
$138,333
Learning and Development
Professional
13
8
2
$102,775
$113,872
$136,145
Māori or Cultural Manager
12
10
2
$94,816
$141,471
$155,221
Accountant (General)
11
3
1
$120,796
$128,912
$133,900
Finance Manager
10
8
1
$106,475
$176,080
$189,520
Human Resources Advisor
10
4
3
$102,775
$129,531
$138,333
Structural Engineer
10
3
1
$129,505
$138,530
$148,320
*Note: the number of employees shown here does not reflect the total number of employees employed as Park
Rangers. This only includes those considered ‘mid-tier’. Most Park Rangers would be at lower levels of the
organisation. The same applies to other NOL titles too e.g. Conservation Officer.
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APPENDIX B
Number of employees
Salary Range
(total perm)
F
478
G
86
RR5
103
RR6
35
RR7
24
Range B
131
Range C
36
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