Lead - AI Engineering
Approved
Salary not disclosed — see roles that show pay.
About the role
Spark helps all of New Zealand win big in a digital world. As New Zealand's leading telecommunications company, we connect millions of New Zealanders and support thousands of businesses through our mobile, broadband, IT and cloud solutions.
At the heart of our strategy, SPK-30, is our ambition: It’s better with Spark. Whether it’s our network performance, customer experiences, or the workplace culture we create with our people, we want it to be better with Spark.
Our industry moves at pace, and so do we. Technology, customer expectations and business needs are constantly evolving. We embrace change, work together to solve problems that matter and focus on creating better outcomes for our customers, communities and Aotearoa. Our people are empowered to take ownership, keep learning and make a real impact.
About the Role:
Lead a team of AI engineers working to deliver production-grade AI and agentic solutions across multiple initiatives spread across various parts of the business. Own the technical direction, engineering quality, and outcome delivery of AI & automation initiatives spanning BSS/ OSS, Order & Fulfilment, Customer Experience, Martech, and Network & Ops.
Day to day you will be involved in:
· Leading the team: line manage the permanent AI engineers, set ways of working, and make sure the teams deliver measurable outcomes
· Owning the engineering standard: patterns for apps, agentic workflows, RAG and evaluation - with code review, test automation and deployment practice applied to internal and partner work alike
· Owning release readiness: build, test, evaluation and deployment quality evidenced before production rather than after, with guardrails and observability in place from day one
· Growing internal capability: skills plans, certification, and a planned shift of critical-path AI work from partner to internal
· Automating with AI: use agent-assisted engineering in daily practice and lead permanent and partner engineers to work the same way
· Working with architecture: partner with the other architects so design decisions land in the build without rework
· Delivering outcomes across squads: convert prioritised use cases into shipped, production-grade solutions across various segments of the business
· Upholding AI governance: apply the programme's AI usage guidelines and responsible-AI controls to protect Spark IP across internal and partner teams
What experience you'll bring?
· 5+ years in software or ML engineering, with 2+ years leading engineering teams
· Proven delivery of production LLM / GenAI applications (not POCs)
· Strong grounding in agentic frameworks, RAG, prompt engineering, and eval-driven development
· Cloud-native engineering on Azure, AWS, or GCP; Python and modern MLOps tooling
· Experience integrating AI into enterprise platforms (Salesforce, ServiceNow, D365, or similar)
· Track record of shipping outcomes in complex, multi-vendor environments
· Telco BSS/OSS or large-enterprise transformation background is a bonus
WHY CHOOSE US:
Diversity and Inclusion: Te Kanorau me te Whakawhāiti mai
At Spark, diversity and inclusion are simply part of how we work here, built into our everyday decisions, behaviours and ways of working. We want everyone to feel totally comfortable bringing their whole self to work, no matter your gender, ethnicity, orientation, age or ability.
Sustainability: Toitū
As Spark, how we do business is just as important as what we do. We believe technology has a critical role to play in helping Aotearoa transition to a high-productivity low-carbon future, where all New Zealanders can thrive in a digital world. Equity sits at the heart of how we work, and we're focused on partnering in ways that makes a real difference to digital equity across the country. We support our customers and communities by being sustainable ourselves, investing in our people, minimising our environmental impact, and operating a responsible, ethical business.
Benefits: Awhina
Our people matter and we make sure we look after them. At Spark, we've got our people covered with a great range of benefits, including:
Wellbeing - Medical insurance, life, income and trauma protection, wellbeing support and access to our leading Mahi Tahi Wellness program.
Hybrid ways of working - For most teams at Spark this means being in the office for four days a week, and one day being flexible.
Leave - Four weeks annual leave, plus purchased leave, leading parental leave support and study leave.
Spark Credit - $150 monthly Spark account credit for permanent employees to enjoy our products and services.
Spark Share scheme - Opportunities to share in Spark's success through our employee share scheme.
Sustainable commuting - Salary sacrifice options to make public transport and cycling more affordable.
Grow your career - Access learning, development and internal opportunities to build new skills and grow your career across Spark.
At Spark, we’re committed to living our values, with tūhono (connection) at the heart of our mahi. Welcoming whānau into the recruitment process helps create a real sense of belonging and support for each candidate. We just ask candidates to let us know in advance if whānau will be joining, so we can prepare the space and make sure everyone feels comfortable.
At the heart of our strategy, SPK-30, is our ambition: It’s better with Spark. Whether it’s our network performance, customer experiences, or the workplace culture we create with our people, we want it to be better with Spark.
Our industry moves at pace, and so do we. Technology, customer expectations and business needs are constantly evolving. We embrace change, work together to solve problems that matter and focus on creating better outcomes for our customers, communities and Aotearoa. Our people are empowered to take ownership, keep learning and make a real impact.
About the Role:
Lead a team of AI engineers working to deliver production-grade AI and agentic solutions across multiple initiatives spread across various parts of the business. Own the technical direction, engineering quality, and outcome delivery of AI & automation initiatives spanning BSS/ OSS, Order & Fulfilment, Customer Experience, Martech, and Network & Ops.
Day to day you will be involved in:
· Leading the team: line manage the permanent AI engineers, set ways of working, and make sure the teams deliver measurable outcomes
· Owning the engineering standard: patterns for apps, agentic workflows, RAG and evaluation - with code review, test automation and deployment practice applied to internal and partner work alike
· Owning release readiness: build, test, evaluation and deployment quality evidenced before production rather than after, with guardrails and observability in place from day one
· Growing internal capability: skills plans, certification, and a planned shift of critical-path AI work from partner to internal
· Automating with AI: use agent-assisted engineering in daily practice and lead permanent and partner engineers to work the same way
· Working with architecture: partner with the other architects so design decisions land in the build without rework
· Delivering outcomes across squads: convert prioritised use cases into shipped, production-grade solutions across various segments of the business
· Upholding AI governance: apply the programme's AI usage guidelines and responsible-AI controls to protect Spark IP across internal and partner teams
What experience you'll bring?
· 5+ years in software or ML engineering, with 2+ years leading engineering teams
· Proven delivery of production LLM / GenAI applications (not POCs)
· Strong grounding in agentic frameworks, RAG, prompt engineering, and eval-driven development
· Cloud-native engineering on Azure, AWS, or GCP; Python and modern MLOps tooling
· Experience integrating AI into enterprise platforms (Salesforce, ServiceNow, D365, or similar)
· Track record of shipping outcomes in complex, multi-vendor environments
· Telco BSS/OSS or large-enterprise transformation background is a bonus
WHY CHOOSE US:
Diversity and Inclusion: Te Kanorau me te Whakawhāiti mai
At Spark, diversity and inclusion are simply part of how we work here, built into our everyday decisions, behaviours and ways of working. We want everyone to feel totally comfortable bringing their whole self to work, no matter your gender, ethnicity, orientation, age or ability.
Sustainability: Toitū
As Spark, how we do business is just as important as what we do. We believe technology has a critical role to play in helping Aotearoa transition to a high-productivity low-carbon future, where all New Zealanders can thrive in a digital world. Equity sits at the heart of how we work, and we're focused on partnering in ways that makes a real difference to digital equity across the country. We support our customers and communities by being sustainable ourselves, investing in our people, minimising our environmental impact, and operating a responsible, ethical business.
Benefits: Awhina
Our people matter and we make sure we look after them. At Spark, we've got our people covered with a great range of benefits, including:
Wellbeing - Medical insurance, life, income and trauma protection, wellbeing support and access to our leading Mahi Tahi Wellness program.
Hybrid ways of working - For most teams at Spark this means being in the office for four days a week, and one day being flexible.
Leave - Four weeks annual leave, plus purchased leave, leading parental leave support and study leave.
Spark Credit - $150 monthly Spark account credit for permanent employees to enjoy our products and services.
Spark Share scheme - Opportunities to share in Spark's success through our employee share scheme.
Sustainable commuting - Salary sacrifice options to make public transport and cycling more affordable.
Grow your career - Access learning, development and internal opportunities to build new skills and grow your career across Spark.
At Spark, we’re committed to living our values, with tūhono (connection) at the heart of our mahi. Welcoming whānau into the recruitment process helps create a real sense of belonging and support for each candidate. We just ask candidates to let us know in advance if whānau will be joining, so we can prepare the space and make sure everyone feels comfortable.