Tiakina te anamata, mā te tūhono i ngā tāngata me ngā wāhi o te inamata. Taking care of tomorrow: connecting people and place today.
Mercury is a bold future-focused organisation, providing energy and telecommunications to more Kiwi than anyone else, leading the way with renewable energy and working toward a sustainable future. At the heart is our purpose which pushes us to do all we can to create a better future for our people, our communities, and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Our Opportunity:
We're looking for a Principal Platform Engineer to provide expert technical leadership and shape the future of Mercury's Technology platforms. This role is pivotal in enabling our technology teams to deliver faster, safer, and with greater confidence through modern platform engineering practices.
As a trusted technical leader, the Principal Platform Engineer plays a hands-on role in shaping and championing modern platform engineering practices - with a strong focus on mentoring and setting clear, effective standards. You'll lead high-impact initiatives from the front; collaborating with key stakeholders and driving outcomes with autonomy and confidence.
The Principal Platform Engineer is a key technical leadership role that ensures platform solutions and services:
- Are delivered in alignment with Technology needs and business unit expectations
- Enable development teams to work independently within defined guardrails
- Support cloud-native architecture principles and practices Are effective and efficient, protecting and optimising Technology investment
Key Accountabilities:
- Lead, develop, manage and motivate a highly capable engaged and effective team.
- Lead the evaluation and adoption of new technologies.
- Work collaboratively with Technology partners to proactively manage and maintain the operational health and security of the platform within agreed standards and service levels.
- Drive initiatives to streamline spending and enhance effectiveness in cloud services.
- Lead the design of internal developer platforms and tools.
- Identify and implement performance improvements across platforms and services.
- Create and maintain platform engineering standards while leading proof of concept implementations for emerging technologies and architectural patterns
- Establish security and quality frameworks
We are looking for:
- Tertiary qualification in Technology with advanced cloud certifications (AWS/Azure) and strong understanding of cloud-native architectures and platform engineering principles.
- 10+ years' experience in enterprise systems with 5+ years in platform engineering, including strong technical leadership experience and expertise in building developer platforms.
- Deep expertise with Infrastructure as Code implementation, container technologies, and public cloud platforms (AWS/Azure).
- Expert-level skills in enterprise tools such as Terraform, Kubernetes, Azure DevOps, and advanced programming abilities in Python, PowerShell, and Shell scripting.
- It is preferred that you have experience leading technical transformations, comprehensive knowledge of CI/CD architecture, and expertise in monitoring and observability platform design.
- Exceptional leadership and communication skills with proven ability to build effective relationships and translate complex technical concepts for business stakeholders.
Mercury offers (full benefits are listed on our Career Page):
- Additional 5 days leave per annum (MyDays)
- $400 one off tax-free payment towards setting up your home office
- A diverse workplace where your unique abilities and talents will be recognised and encouraged
- Annual salary reviews with excellent parental leave policy, with the option to purchase additional leave
- The opportunities, career paths and facilities associated with working for one of New Zealand's largest multi-utility providers
- Flexible working policy - The autonomy and trust to work flexibly from our purpose-built premises and from home, recognising the value of this flexibility in the modern world
- Discounted health insurance and free life and income insurance
- Excellent well-being programme including up to $100 annual check ups and confidential assistance programme
- Gender affirmation leave and supportive bereavement leave to be taken when you lose anyone close to you, including your pet
Mercury is a learning organisation that is committed to providing you with opportunities to grow and develop that will benefit you now and in the future. Part of your role includes building your skillset and mindset through a variety of ways. We believe this creates an energised, innovative and agile work environment where you will feel valued.
At Mercury, we believe that having a team of individuals with different backgrounds, experience and capability working together makes us stronger and better as an organisation. We know that some candidates may only apply for a role if they meet all of the criteria. If you want to join our team, we encourage you to apply for any role that matches your skills, capabilities and interests, even if you aren't sure if you meet all of the criteria. If you require assistance or accessibility support from us during the application and selection process, please reach out to [email protected].
A full position description is available below. Applications close 19th June at 5:00pm. Please note that Mercury retains the right to bring a particularly strong candidate through to interview more quickly. We are currently experiencing higher than normal application volumes and may close the external advertising for this role early, therefore if it is of interest to you; please do not delay in applying. We strongly welcome your application.
