AI Engineering Manager

Bureau Limited; Auckland; Hybrid; NZD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hybrid working

Auckland CBD offices

Strong career progression potential

Job summary

Jora New Zealand is seeking an experienced AI Engineering Manager to lead a high-performing team that delivers production-grade AI/ML and Generative AI systems on Azure and Databricks Lakehouse. You will set technical direction, drive standards, and ensure value delivery across business workflows and customer experiences.

You will partner with data science, engineering, and business stakeholders to translate opportunities into roadmaps and measurable outcomes, while advancing MLOps maturity and

Qualifications

• Proven people-leadership experience managing and mentoring technical teams, including performance management and capability uplift.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and mentor a team of AI Engineers, setting clear expectations and fostering engineering excellence.
• Provide technical leadership across the full AI lifecycle: data prep, model training, MLOps, and production operations.
• Drive design, deployment and optimisation of scalable, secure AI/ML and GenAI solutions (RAG, vector search, prompt orchestration, enterprise integrations).
• Partner with Data Science, Engineering, Architecture and stakeholders to translate opportunities into prioritised roadmaps and measurable outcomes.
• Establish and improve MLOps maturity, reusable frameworks, and alignment with security, governance, and responsible AI standards.
• Stay ahead of emerging AI technologies and guide safe, practical adoption.
• Act as a visible leader who communicates AI value to the business and drives transformation with ROI focus.

Skills

People leadership

AI/ML engineering

Generative AI/LLMs

Azure cloud

Databricks Lakehouse

MLOps

CI/CD

Security & governance

Education

Tertiary qualification or equivalent

Tools

Databricks Lakehouse (Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, MLflow)

Azure cloud environments

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Jora New Zealand will close on 9th September 2026. Thank you for being with us, we are cheering you on as you continue your career journey.

We’re seeking an experienced AI Engineering Manager to lead the design, development, and operational excellence of scalable AI solutions in a well-known Kiwi enterprise. This is a key leadership role with direct management responsibility for a team of four (2 x Senior AI Engineers, 1xMid-level AI Engineer, and 1 xMLOps Engineer).

About the Role

Reporting to the Senior Manager of Engineering and Architecture, you will lead and develop a high-performing AI engineering team that delivers production-grade AI/ML and Generative AI systems on modern cloud platforms (Azure, Databricks Lakehouse). You will set the technical direction, drive engineering standards and maturity, and ensure the team consistently delivers high-impact solutions that embed intelligence into business workflows, decision-making, and customer experiences.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and mentor a team of AI Engineers -setting clear expectations, developing capability, managing performance, and fostering a culture of engineering excellence.
• Provide technical leadership and direction across the full AI lifecycle: data preparation, model training, MLOps (CI/CD, monitoring, governance), and production operations.
• Drive the design, deployment, and optimisation of scalable, secure AI/ML and GenAI solutions (including RAG, vector search, prompt orchestration, and enterprise integrations).
• Partner with Data Science, Engineering, Architecture, and business stakeholders to translate opportunities into prioritised roadmaps and measurable outcomes.
• Establish and continuously improve MLOps maturity, reusable frameworks/accelerators, and alignment with security, governance, and responsible AI standards.
• Stay ahead of emerging AI technologies and guide the team on their safe, practical adoption.
• Act as a visible leader who articulates AI value to the business and drives transformation in areas such as asset management, trading/portfolio, finance, and customer interactions (e.g. reducing contact-centre pressure through intelligent automation). Strong focus on value delivery and ROI in a cost-conscious environment.

This role combines people leadership with hands-on technical direction. You will spend significant time developing your team while remaining close enough to the technology to guide architecture and delivery quality.

What You’ll Bring (Essential)

• Proven people-leadership experience managing and mentoring technical teams (ideally AI/ML or data engineering), including performance management, capability uplift, and delivery of cross-functional initiatives.
• Significant hands‑on experience designing, deploying, and maintaining production‑grade AI systems, with strong focus on Generative AI/LLMs (Azure OpenAI, RAG, vector search, etc.).
• Deep expertise with Databricks Lakehouse (Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, MLflow) and Azure cloud environments.
• Strong full-stack data/AI engineering background, CI/CD pipelines, MLOps practices, and the ability to bridge technical and business perspectives.
• Tertiary qualification or equivalent industry experience.

Preferred

• Experience in energy/utilities or complex operational domains.
• Cloud certifications (Azure/AWS/GCP) and AI/ML leadership credentials.
• Background in establishing AI governance and platform standards.

On Offer

Highly competitive salary package + benefits, flexible hybrid working, Auckland CBDoffices, strong career progression potential, and the opportunity to lead a very capableteam during a major period of AI-driven transformation.