Greg Lind took up the role of Department of Conservation (Doc) Te Anau district operations manager on Tuesday.
He is responsible for the country's largest national park, Fiordland, as well as 41 permanent staff - a number that doubles during summer.
His managerial role in Queenstown was dissolved as part of Doc's latest restructuring round, which came into effect last week.
Mr Lind said the restructuring had prompted him to re-evaluate his goals for the years before he retired, and Te Anau presented a challenge.
''This is the biggest operations manager job in the country, and I thought I could make use of my skills.
''It's an exciting place, an exciting job and it appealed to me.''
The move follows a decade in the resort, the first eight as Queenstown area manager and the final two as partnerships manager.
He has worked for Doc in various roles throughout the country since it was established in 1987.
Mr Lind said his new job was ''complex'' with large-scale biodiversity and track and hut programmes, and he would have ample opportunity to apply his long experience in tourist operator concession management.
But he was sad to leave Queenstown, which was a ''marvellous place to work''.
''It's got really neat people - people who want to get the job done and do good things. What I've contributed has been satisfying, but the most satisfying thing is that a whole lot of people are continuing to get on with really good projects.''
He will be farewelled by his colleagues at a function in Queenstown on October 9.
