MacKinnon is currently the high performance manager at Auckland Cricket, having previously spent five years at New Zealand Rugby Union, where he acted as their player development manager.

He will lead New Zealand’s senior, junior and regional talent programmes when he takes up the post on April 18.

“I was very excited to see this role come up, hockey is a growing sport made up of great people and values and it has a vibrant future,” said MacKinnon.

“I’m looking forward to helping the elite teams get to the next step as well as improving regional and local high performance systems and processes.

“There are a lot of good things happening in hockey both at national level and around the country so my role will be to identify any gaps and strengthen those.”

Hockey New Zealand have expressed their hope that their national teams will consistently win medals at major world events in the future.

New Zealand’s women’s team narrowly missed out on a podium place at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after losing the bronze medal match, while their men’s team were beaten in the quarter-final stage.

Ian Francis, Hockey New Zealand chief executive, believes the national governing body have found the ideal candidate for the job.

“We were looking for a high performance professional with a background in sport and Paul certainly ticks all those boxes,” he said.

“We are thrilled to have Paul joining the team at Hockey New Zealand as we move on to the next phase of our progression towards medalling at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”