Head Of Architecture

Orion; Christchurch; Hybrid; NZD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Five extra days of leave a year

Wellbeing allowance

Access to holiday house in Hanmer

Job summary

Orion is seeking a Head of Architecture to own and mature the enterprise architecture practice in New Zealand's Canterbury region. You will set the architecture vision, establish governance and standards, and guide a team through significant decisions that shape technology investments and roadmaps.

You will balance strategic thinking with pragmatic decision-making, translate complex tech choices into business implications, and ensure architecture remains practical, safe and valuable to delivery

Qualifications

• Strong enterprise and solution architecture experience with governance, standards, target states and roadmaps.
• Ability to lead experienced architects while remaining hands-on with significant or complex decisions.
• Experience navigating complex transformation programmes, systems and vendor environments.

Responsibilities

• Set our enterprise architecture vision, target state and roadmaps, while maturing our governance, standards and ways of working
• Lead and develop our architecture team, while personally guiding significant and complex architectural decisions
• Shape technology investment and transformation priorities, bringing consistency to solution architecture and design assurance
• Translate complex technical choices into clear business implications, risks and trade-offs
• Get the most from our core platforms while making smart, pragmatic decisions about adjoining and emerging technologies
• Work across IT and Operational Technology, shaping our approach to data, AI and automation while balancing innovation with resilience, cyber security, reliability and safety

Skills

Enterprise architecture

Governance & standards

Stakeholder engagement

Executive influence

Commercial judgement

Data & AI awareness

IT/OT knowledge

Tools

SCADA

ADMS

GIS

Telemetry

Asset management systems

Job description

This is an opportunity to take ownership of Orion's architectural direction at a time when technology, data and AI are playing an increasingly important role in how we operate and evolve. As our Head of Architecture, you'll lead and mature our enterprise architecture practice, setting the direction for how our technology landscape comes together and helping us make smart, sustainable decisions about where we go next. You'll establish the frameworks, standards and governance that give us consistency while ensuring architecture remains practical, accessible and genuinely useful to the people delivering change. This isn't about architecture for architecture's sake. We're looking for someone who understands the discipline deeply but knows how to apply it pragmatically. Someone who can recognise when a decision needs rigorous analysis and when we have enough information to move forward.

About us

Passionate, curious, and innovative are a few words that describe our people. We are powering the future, connecting communities, and igniting innovation. Orion owns and operates the electricity distribution network that provides power to central Canterbury. As the third largest electricity distribution network in New Zealand, we cover remote rural areas, regional towns, and the city of Christchurch. We are an essential service and take our responsibilities seriously. We are community owned and working here means a career with meaning and purpose that makes a difference in your very own neighbourhood.

The role

There's plenty ahead, our major core platforms are largely established but there are significant decisions to make around how the wider technology environment fits together, particularly as data, AI and new ways of working continue to evolve.

• Set our enterprise architecture vision, target state and roadmaps, while maturing our governance, standards and ways of working
• Lead and develop our architecture team, while personally guiding significant and complex architectural decisions
• Shape technology investment and transformation priorities, bringing consistency to solution architecture and design assurance
• Translate complex technical choices into clear business implications, risks and trade-offs
• Get the most from our core platforms while making smart, pragmatic decisions about adjoining and emerging technologies
• Work across IT and Operational Technology, shaping our approach to data, AI and automation while balancing innovation with resilience, cyber security, reliability and safety

About you

You'll bring strong enterprise and solution architecture experience with the ability to balance strategic thinking with practical decision-making. You'll simplify complexity, challenge constructively and communicate confidently with technical specialists, executives and business leaders alike. We're looking for someone who brings:

• Strong enterprise and solution architecture experience, including governance, standards, target states and roadmaps
• Credibility to lead experienced architects while remaining hands‑on with significant or complex decisions
• Experience navigating complex transformation programmes, systems and vendor environments
• Strong stakeholder engagement and executive influence, with the ability to turn complexity into clear decisions
• Commercial judgement and a pragmatic approach that brings structure without unnecessary bureaucracy
• Strong understanding of emerging technology, particularly data, AI, cloud and automation
• Experience across utilities, energy, critical infrastructure or operational environments, with exposure to IT/OT environments such as SCADA, ADMS, GIS, EAM, telemetry or asset management systems highly valued

We offer

You'll find at Orion, you can come as you are and just be you. You will be joining a workplace that values who you are, the work you do, and the way you think. Importantly, we offer:

• Flexible working arrangements, and flexible locations with our Head office in Burnside and satellite offices in Rolleston and Ferrymead
• Five extra days of leave a year - three days of “My Days” leave and two “Orion Days” between Christmas and New Year
• A broad range of workplace benefits from a wellbeing allowance to access to our holiday house in Hanmer! You might be surprised to find out that the company that brings the power to your home is innovative, inclusive, progressive, and quite good fun.

We are truly committed to diversity, inclusion and lifting our cultural capability.

To learn more about us, check out our careers site to find out more about working at Orion.

You must have the right to live and work in New Zealand to apply for this job. Pre-employment checks are part of our recruitment process.