At the
University of Auckland, Hayward graduated in geology with BSc (Hons) in 1971 and PhD in 1975. In 1976–1977, he was a postdoc at the
Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C. From 1978 to 1991, Hayward was a
micropaleontologist for the
New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt. In March 1991, Hayward became the curator of marine invertebrates at the
Auckland Institute and Museum, after the retirement of Walter Olivier Cernohorsky. From 1997 to 2002, he was a self-employed research associate in the Geology Department of the University of Auckland, as well as from 1998 to 2000, a
James Cook Research Fellow at the University of Auckland. In 2003, he became the founder and principal scientist of Geomarine Research, located in Auckland. He was the principal scientist for three
Marsden Fund grants: from 2000 to 2002 "
Foraminifera and paleoceanography of Bounty Trough, east New Zealand", from 2003 to 2005 "The last global marine extinction: causes and consequences for global biodiversity", and from 2007 to 2010 "Causes of evolution and global extinction in the deep sea". In addition to his research on foraminifera, he has done research on "northern New Zealand geology and landforms, marine invertebrate ecology, industrial archaeology and lichens." Hayward was, from 1980 to 1989, an editor for the
Geological Society of New Zealand, from 1988 to 2012, an associate editor for the
Journal of Foraminiferal Research, and from 2010, chief editor for Foraminifera,
World Register of Marine Species. He is founder and convenor (1984–present) of the New Zealand Geopreservation Inventory and from 1990 to 1993, a member of the
New Zealand Conservation Authority and from 1993 to 1996 a member of the Auckland Conservation Board. He co-founded the Offshore Islands Research Group in 1977 and co-founded the Auckland Geology Club in 1993. He is the author or co-author of "over 1000 publications, including more than 280 peer-reviewed papers, hundreds of popular articles, 13 scientific monographs and more than 20 popular books." ==Legacy==