Business Improvement Leader

• Full Time
• Application Closes 18 Sep 2026
• Auckland - South Auckland
• Business Operations Specialist

Drive improvement. Shape performance. Make your mark.

At BestStart, we are passionate about creating environments where children can learn, grow and thrive. We are looking for a Business Improvement Leader who can bring commercial thinking, operational expertise, and a genuine passion for improvement to help our centres perform at their best.

This is a role where you will be close to the business — using data and trends to identify opportunities, working alongside our Northern Regional and Area Managers, and turning insight into practical action that improves financial and operational performance. Preferably Auckland based, however, for the right person we would consider Hamilton as a base.

What you’ll do

You will be a trusted business partner to our operational leaders, using commercial insight and operational expertise to identify opportunities, influence change and deliver measurable improvement.

• Analyse centre performance and identify opportunities to increase revenue, manage costs and improve contribution
• Support budget preparation, forecasting and financial planning, helping leaders understand and manage their financial performance.
• Develop and implement business improvement plans for centres where there is an opportunity to lift performance.
• Identify opportunities to optimise staffing, rostering, centre layouts and ways of working.
• Work alongside Regional and Area Managers to improve centre performance and sustainability.
• Facilitate training and build capability in areas such as financial tools, staff utilisation and operational excellence.
• Conduct regular centre visits and collaborate directly with teams to embed sustainable improvements.
• Identify successful improvement opportunities that could be applied more broadly across BestStart.

What you’ll bring

You will be commercially minded, comfortable with numbers and data, and equally confident working with people. Most importantly, you will know how to turn insight into action and bring people with you along the way.

We are looking for:

• Proven experience improving financial and operational performance.
• Experience with budgeting, financial analysis and data-led decision making.
• Strong change management and continuous improvement capability.
• Experience training, coaching, or building capability in others.
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
• A practical, organised and results-focused approach.
• The ability to investigate issues, identify opportunities and develop solutions that make a measurable difference.

Why BestStart?

This is an opportunity to have a genuine impact across a large, purpose-led organisation. You will collaborate with leaders across our centres, helping them make better decisions, build capability, and improve outcomes for children, whānau and our teams. If you are ready to use your commercial and operational expertise in a role where you can make a broader impact, influence change, and see the results of your work, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply now and make your mark at BestStart.