Ko wai mātou - About us

As New Zealand's largest telecommunications and digital services company, Spark’s purpose is to help all of New Zealand win big in a digital world. We provide mobile, broadband, and digital services to millions of New Zealanders and thousands of New Zealand businesses.

We operate in an exciting and constantly evolving industry, where the pace of change brings new and unique challenges every day, so we operate using Agile ways of working to allow us to meet the fast-changing needs of our customers. Agile replaces the traditional hierarchical organisational structure to produce a transparent, collaborative environment with highly productive teams who are empowered to deliver better outcomes for our customers, communities, and all of New Zealand.

Mō tēnei tūranga mahi - About the role:

The AI Platform Engineering Chapter Lead will be responsible for creating, deploying, and managing enterprise data product application architectures on the Cloud. This role requires extensive knowledge of Cloud services, particularly in security, access control, container orchestration, analytics services, and solutions for generative AI and machine learning. The successful candidate will play a critical role in fostering innovation and operational excellence, ensuring a secure, scalable, and cost-effective cloud infrastructure for data products as well as leading a team.

Ngā mahi o ia rā – Daily tasks:

• Design and implement enterprise data product architectures aligned with business needs and cloud strategy.
• Lead and mentoring a high performing team.
• Lead architectural design sessions, create proof-of-concepts, and provide guidance on best practices for security, access control, and isolation patterns.
• Gather requirements from stakeholders and translate them into technical specifications.
• Ensure the security, scalability, and reliability of Cloud environments, focusing on container orchestration, analytics, SaaS architecture patterns, and AI/ML solutions.
• Develop and maintain architecture documentation, including solution diagrams, design patterns, and implementation guides.
• Implement logging, monitoring, and alerting strategies to maintain operational excellence and proactive issue resolution.
• Utilise infrastructure as code (IaC) to automate the deployment and management of Azure resources.
• Conduct cost analysis and optimization to ensure efficient use of cloud resources.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to the cloud engineering team.
• Stay current with the latest Cloud services, features, and industry trends, especially in security, access control, and AI/ML solutions.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues related to Cloud infrastructure and services.
• Regularly review and assess existing cloud infrastructure for improvements and optimization.
• Promote agility in innovation through best practices in DevOps and CI/CD processes.

Tō wheako- your experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in cloud architecture and design.
• Cloud Solution Architect or similar certification is preferred.
• Strong hands-on experience with IaC tools (e.g., ARM templates, Terraform).
• Leadership experience.
• Expertise in SaaS solutions, focusing on data products.
• Proficiency in Cloud security, identity, and access control mechanisms.
• Experience with container orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Strong knowledge of data analytics services in the Cloud.
• Familiarity with isolation patterns and best practices for multi-tenanted solutions.
• Strong interest in generative AI and machine learning solutions is relevant.
• Proficiency in implementing logging, monitoring, and alerting strategies is also relevant.

He aha te take e uru ai koe ki a mātou – So, why choose us?

Te Kanorau me te Whakawhāiti mai - Diversity and Inclusion:

At Spark, we are constantly looking for ways to build a more inclusive culture. Our vision is for diversity and inclusion to be “how things are done at Spark”, embedded into our day-to-day activities, standards, and business practices. We want you to feel totally comfortable bringing your whole self to work regardless of your gender, ethnicity, orientation, age, or ability.

Toitū - Sustainability:

Sustainability is a key focus for us. We are dedicated to supporting Aotearoa New Zealand’s recovery and economic transformation. The principle of equity is at the very heart of our approach, and we remain committed to working in partnership to make a positive contribution to digital equity in line with our focus on Diversity and Inclusion.

Ō tatou painga – our Benefits:

Our people matter and we make sure we look after them. As a valued employee of Spark, we’ve got our people covered with a range of leading benefits including:

• Wellbeing – Comprehensive medical insurance, life and income protection. Access to wellbeing coaches, EAP and in-house Specialist Clinical support through our leading Mahi Tahi Wellness programme.
• Hybrid ways of working– for most teams at Spark this means being in the office for 3 days a week, and 2 days being flexible.
• Leave – in addition to four weeks annual leave, we offer purchased leave, enhanced parental leave payments & support, and study leave.
• Spark Credit – We provide permanent employees with $120 monthly Spark credit to use on any of our amazing products.
• Spark Share scheme – periodically we offer the opportunity to buy into our share scheme.
• Career Development – access to an internal marketplace that connects employees with experiential, on the job learning across Spark.

Ngā pūkenga Motuhake – the must haves:

Due to the nature and urgency of this role, we are only considering applicants that are based in New Zealand with permanent residency, citizenship, or a valid work visa (with at least 18 months remaining)