Chapter Lead - Data Application Engineering

Spark NZ

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.

The Data Story at Spark

Spark has been on a journey with data, with data getting increasingly embedded into business decision-making. Data Democratization, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are at the forefront of our new opportunities. We are actively looking at ways to create data products to make our data more accessible than ever before to help both Spark and our valued customers win big in a digital world.

One of the key aspects of building these data products is to create beautiful and intuitive user interfaces using web development and data visualisation tools/ techniques (incl. React, TypeScript, Python, GIS etc.) and enable interaction with insights driven by deep data analytics and commercial levers.

About the role

As the Chapter Lead of Data Application Engineering, you will lead and mentor a team of Data Application Engineers responsible for developing internal data products that create meaningful impacts for Spark and its customers. This role requires a balance of hands-on technical expertise, leadership, and strategic thinking to drive innovation in data applications.

You will set the technical direction, foster a culture of engineering excellence, and collaborate across business and technology teams to build scalable, user-friendly data-driven applications. In addition to contributing to development, you will drive best practices, mentor engineers, and ensure that the team stays at the forefront of emerging technologies. Role requires skills in software engineering, web development, data visualisation and DevOps skills. It's also an opportunity to get exposure to exciting field of Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Automation.

Role Requirements

• • Minimum of 4+ years of experience in software development and delivery
• • Customer Focus: Obsession with understanding and satisfying user needs
• • Communication Skills: Strong communication skills for user interactions and team collaboration
• • Technical Proficiency: Solid technical background, capable of writing clean, secure code
• • Innovation: Creative and innovative mindset, capable of brainstorming and executing new ideas
• • Adaptability: Ability to adapt to changing requirements and user feedback
• • Frontend: React.js, Next.js, TypeScript
• • Backend: Python, FastAPI, NodeJS
• • Data Visualization in JavaScript libraries (Chart.js, Recharts, Echarts etc.) or any other frameworks like Streamlit, Plotly Dash
• • Proficiency in Azure DevOps for CI/CD and workflow automation,
• • Solid practical experience with Docker and Kubernetes, including container orchestration
• Proficiency in Git and GitHub for version control and collaboration
• Practical knowledge of SQL, with expertise in database design and query optimization
• Experience is Snowflake or other popular relational, or non relational database and warehouses are beneficial.
• Exposure to data science concepts and their integration into application development is a plus.

Product Mindset

The candidate demonstrates strong product mindset, with a primary focus on building exceptional products with data-driven features along with traditional software development, taking ownership and leading the product roadmap at times.

Responsibilities

• • Leadership & Team Growth: Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of Data Application Engineers.
• Define and drive best practices for building scalable and maintainable data applications.
• Foster a culture of innovation and continuous learning, ensuring the team is up to date with modern technologies.
• Cross-functional collaboration, including data scientists, product managers, and business leaders, to align engineering efforts with organizational goals.
• Advocate for high-quality engineering practices, including CI/CD, DevOps, and cloud-native architecture.
• Thought leadership and knowledge sharing: organize tech talks, workshops and knowledge-sharing sessions and represent data application engineering to wider groups
• Provide technical guidance to non-technical stakeholders, ensuring clear communication between engineering and business teams

About Candidate

• • Degree in Technology, Business, or Science
• Experience in software development and delivery
• Ability to lead and mentor teams while fostering an environment of continuous learning
• Strong knowledge of Docker, Azure DevOps, Kubernetes, Git, and SQL
• Excellent problem-solving skills and stakeholder management abilities.
• Experience driving large-scale engineering initiatives in an agile environment.
• Product thinking and strategic mindset to drive impactful data solutions.

As a Chapter Lead - Data Application Engineering, you will play a crucial role in shaping the future of data applications at Spark, ensuring our data products deliver real business impact and technical excellence. If you are passionate about data-driven applications, leadership, and innovation, we invite you to join our team and drive the next wave of transformation at Spark.

WHY CHOOSE US:

Diversity and Inclusion: Te Kanorau me te Whakawhāiti mai

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.

Sustainability: Toitū

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.

Benefits: Awhina

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 4 days a week, and 1 day being flexible.

• Leave - in addition to four weeks annual leave, we offer purchased leave, enhanced parental leave 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.

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).