Digital Plan Design & Onboarding Specialist

Were looking for a motivated planner seeking a genuinely unique opportunity to help shape how planning is done across New Zealand - and soon Australia and beyond.

Rico is a fast-growing planning technology company. Were scaling our team from a small highly engaged group and already support over 30 planning consultancies and 8 councils across New Zealand with pilots also underway in Australia. Our ambition is big but practical: make the planning application and decision-making process better faster and more consistent.

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Tasks

This role sits at the intersection of planning practice and technology.

Youll be responsible for translating local regional and national planning instruments - along with associated GIS data - into structured digital formats that planners can assess directly within Rico.

In practice that means:

• Analysing district regional and national plans to understand how rules standards policies objectives and activity classifications operate
• Breaking those provisions down into structured machine-readable formats
• Helping ensure plan content stays current as plans change over time
• Working with GIS datasets to identify relevant layers (e.g. zones overlays constraints) and determine how they should be represented to users - both as data points and as visual map layers
• Supporting and guiding our plan-loading processes so information is accurate consistent and usable by real planners

Rico is used by both consultants and councils to prepare and process planning applications and decisions. This role is a crucial bridge between how planners think and how digital tools support good assessment and decision-making.

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Requirements

You dont need to be a technologist. Were looking for someone with a strong grounding in planning not coding.

Comfort with everyday digital tools - such as Google Docs/Sheets Canva or similar software - is important but you dont need any programming experience. Well support you to learn the more technical aspects of the role as you go.

Youll likely have experience in:

• Planning policy consenting or assessment roles
• Working with district or regional plans and understanding how provisions interact
• Interpreting rules activity statuses objectives and policies
• Using or engaging with GIS data in a planning context

What matters most is that you understand how planning instruments are structured how theyre applied in practice and how planners use them to shape assessments and decisions.

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Benefits

Were a high-performing nimble team which means:

• Youll roll up your sleeves and work across a wide range of tasks
• Youll have real influence over how things are done
• Youll learn quickly and have the opportunity to shape your role as the company grows
• Your planning expertise will directly influence how the product evolves

This is a rare opportunity for a planner who wants something different - intellectually challenging practical and impactful - while working alongside fast-moving technology thats creating real change in the industry.

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If youre motivated curious and keen to help improve how planning works at a system level just apply! Wed love to hear from you.