Design & Infrastructure Manager - 10 to 12 month fixed term

Transpower New Zealand; Auckland; On-site; NZD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Transpower New Zealand is seeking an experienced Infrastructure and Design Manager in Wellington to lead our infrastructure lifecycle, design governance and end-user services. Reporting to the IST Division, you’ll guide a team of 5–10 professionals and work with vendors and partners to deliver reliable, secure and scalable solutions.

You don’t need deep tech in every domain; your strength is in clarity, decision-making and removing roadblocks to keep critical services moving while aligning with

Qualifications

• Experience leading enterprise technology infrastructure and end-user services within a large, complex organisation.
• Experience managing vendor relationships and service performance in outsourced environments.
• Experience governing operational risk, resilience and service continuity in critical technology environments.
• Strong leadership, coaching and enablement of capable teams, especially through change.

Responsibilities

• Shape and communicate infrastructure roadmaps aligned to organisational priorities and enterprise architecture
• Support reliable, secure and high-performing infrastructure and end-user services through lifecycle planning and operational governance
• Provide design governance and assurance for infrastructure solutions, operational support arrangements and service management capabilities
• Drive continuous improvement, standardisation and automation to improve quality, efficiency and customer experience
• Ensure new technology capabilities transition into sustainable operational support models with clear accountabilities
• Establish strong vendor, service provider and technology partner relationships that deliver measurable service, commercial and business outcomes
• Identify and manage operational, technology and vendor-related risks, including resilience, recovery and service continuity arrangements
• Enable an inclusive, high-performing team culture where experienced people are trusted, supported and clear on priorities

Skills

Enterprise technology infrastructure

End-user services

Vendor management

Service performance

Leadership / coaching

Change management

Education

Tertiary qualification in Information Technology, Engineering, or related discipline

Tools

ITIL certification

Job description

• Lead infrastructure design and service performance
• People, vendor and stakeholder leadership

• Lead infrastructure design and service performance
• People, vendor and stakeholder leadership
• Immediate start available

Transpower’s purpose is to empower the energy future for New Zealand - a future that delivers a net-zero carbon economy and a reliable and secure electricity system.

At the forefront of the energy sector, Transpower is the regulated state-owned enterprise that owns and operates the national electricity transmission system and fulfils the role of system operator. With over $5 billion in critical infrastructure assets, we play a pivotal role in connecting electricity generators to users and distribution networks across Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Role Context

In this 10 to 12-month fixed-term role, you’ll provide steady, enabling leadership across Transpower’s infrastructure and end-user service environment. You’ll support a mature, technically capable and largely self-managing team to maintain reliable, secure and resilient services, while helping prioritise roadmaps, operational improvements and stakeholder outcomes that support future workforce and business needs.

About The Team

The Infrastructure and End-User Services team sits within our Information Services and Technology (IST) Division and is responsible for the provision of network, core infrastructure including datacentres, compute and storage, and end-user services. The team manages and maintains platforms to agreed service levels, supports delivery of the capital programme, drives continuous improvement, and plays a key role in incident, major incident and problem resolution where the core infrastructure environment is impacted.

Reporting to the Infrastructure and End-User Services Manager, this Wellington-based 12-month fixed-term role leads a team of approximately 5 to 10 experienced direct reports, with outsourced partners and contractors engaged as required. You’ll work closely with IST leaders, Strategy and Architecture, Security, Applications, Delivery teams, business stakeholders, vendors and managed service providers.

The Opportunity

As Infrastructure and Design Manager, you’ll provide practical technology leadership across infrastructure lifecycle management, operational governance, design assurance, vendor performance and service management capability. You won’t need to be the deepest technical expert in every area; your strength will be in creating clarity, enabling good decisions, removing roadblocks and helping a skilled team deliver well.

You’ll help guide the design and delivery of scalable, sustainable infrastructure solutions aligned to enterprise architecture standards, security requirements, operational support models and lifecycle management practices. You’ll also support strong service management disciplines, service performance, service data quality and operational controls so delivery remains reliable and sustainable.

This is a great fixed-term opportunity for someone who enjoys leading capable people, working through complexity and building confidence across stakeholders, vendors and technology partners. If you bring sound judgement, collaborative leadership and an ability to keep important services moving in a critical infrastructure environment, we’d like to hear from you.

The interesting work you’ll be involved in will include:

• Helping shape and communicate infrastructure roadmaps aligned to organisational priorities and enterprise architecture
• Supporting reliable, secure and high-performing infrastructure and end-user services through lifecycle planning and operational governance
• Providing design governance and assurance for infrastructure solutions, operational support arrangements and service management capabilities
• Driving continuous improvement, standardisation and automation to improve quality, efficiency and customer experience
• Ensuring new technology capabilities transition into sustainable operational support models with clear accountabilities
• Establishing strong vendor, service provider and technology partner relationships that deliver measurable service, commercial and business outcomes
• Identifying and managing operational, technology and vendor-related risks, including resilience, recovery and service continuity arrangements
• Enabling an inclusive, high-performing team culture where experienced people are trusted, supported and clear on priorities

What will you bring?

You’ll bring enterprise technology leadership experience, sound commercial judgement and a pragmatic, service-focused approach. We’re open to different backgrounds and do not expect one person to have deep technical expertise across every infrastructure domain. What matters is your ability to lead experienced specialists, make sensible trade-offs, influence stakeholders, work constructively with vendors and maintain focus on reliability, security, resilience and customer outcomes.

Skills and experience we’ll assess, noting we are open to transferable experience:

• Experience leading enterprise technology infrastructure, end-user services, platforms, operations or a related technology function.
• Experience managing complex technology services delivered through internal teams and managed service providers.
• Experience supporting technology change, service improvement or lifecycle initiatives in a complex organisation.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, commercial outcomes and service performance in outsourced or multi-supplier environments.
• Experience governing operational risk, resilience, recovery and service continuity within critical technology environments.
• Experience leading, coaching or enabling capable teams, ideally through change, delivery pressure or shifting priorities.

If you have strengths in some, but not all, of these areas, we still encourage you to apply. This is a fixed-term role with an established team, so we are looking for someone who can quickly build trust, bring structure and judgement, and help the team continue to deliver well.

What’s advantageous but not essential:

ITIL certification or equivalent service management capability.

• A relevant tertiary qualification in Information Technology, Engineering, Business or a related discipline.
• Ongoing professional development demonstrating contemporary technology and leadership practice.
• Experience working in critical infrastructure, utilities, regulated environments or similarly high-assurance enterprise settings.

Join us at Transpower!

Aotearoa, New Zealand is powered by the people who work here. Every home, every marae, every electric vehicle, every hospital relies on the electricity we manage and deliver. This is your opportunity to join us on a mission that affects all New Zealanders, the planet, and the economy.

With over 28 nationalities, our people provide diverse perspectives, knowledge, and deep and varied experience which they love to share and which we celebrate. We work in the office or on-site for a minimum of three days each week, which helps us build and maintain relationships, support learning, deliver outcomes, and sustain our culture. This approach also offers staff the flexibility they need for both work and personal commitments, with adaptable daily start and finish times.

We prioritise employee wellbeing with a range of health and wellness benefits - check them out here: https://www.transpower.co.nz/about-us/careers-transpower/staff-benefits

Next Steps

To understand more about the breadth of our work at Transpower - check out our Integrated Report 2506 Transpower Integrated Report FY25, ICT Strategy ICT Strategy and review the position description for this role.

Role closes: Tuesday 6th, October

Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and conversations may commence prior to the close date.

Existing eligibility to work in Aotearoa New Zealand is required.