Auckland Transport head David Warburton - Auckland's highest-paid local body executive - is stepping down.
Mr Warburton, who has been the chief executive at the council agency for seven years, says he will leave at the end of the year.
He is the last of the inaugural chief executives appointed when the amalgamated Auckland Council was created in 2010.
Dr Warburton gets up to $679,000 in annual salary - more than the chief executive of the much-larger council itself.
Auckland Transport has begun seeking his replacement.