Lead Software Engineer

ZURU; Auckland; On-site; NZD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Culture for Growth

Health Benefits

Global Opportunities

A Player Team

Competitive Remuneration

Fresh fruit & snacks

Job summary

ZURU is seeking an Engineering Lead to own how we build internal software and developer platforms across the group. You will lead a function covering developer experience, reliability and cloud, with one owner responsible for both road and traffic to ensure end-to-end delivery.

You will found and grow the engineering team, emphasize adoption over throughput, and drive measurable improvements in production reliability for systems your team supports.

Qualifications

• An engineering leader who has built internal software used daily by employees.
• Hired and built an engineering function from the ground up.
• Owns production reliability for systems your team did not write.

Responsibilities

• Lead the paved path: ship CI/CD, scaffolding, deployment, observability, guardrails as a product.
• Forward deployed engineering: build and lead a team embedded with business units.
• Manage the internal application estate: decide graduation, retirement and ownership.
• Own reliability & cloud: runtime foundations, observability, on-call rota.
• Automated standards: embed checks and traceability in every change.
• Bridge Engineering and Enterprise Technology to ensure smooth handoffs.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Internal software

Platform/developer experience

Reliability & cloud

CI/CD & observability

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

About ZURU

ZURU is on a mission to disrupt across industries, challenge the status quo and catalyst change through radical innovation and automation advances. This is in play in different pillars of the company: ZURU Toys are re-imagining what it means to play; ZURU Tech is shaping a better future by leading the next building revolution; ZURU Edge is pioneering new generation FMCG brands to better serve modern consumers.

Founded in 2003 by EY Entrepreneur of the Year and World Entrepreneur Hall of Fame brothers Nick and Mat Mowbray, ZURU has quickly grown to a team of over 5000 direct and indirect members across more than 30 international locations.

One of the largest toy companies in the world, globally recognised and award-winning brands include Bunch O Balloons, Mini Brands, XSHOT, Rainbocorns and Smashers. Our global FMCG brands include MONDAY Haircare, Rascals, NOOD, BONKERS, Gumi Yum Surprise, and more!

For more information, visit www.zuru.com.

Position Overview

This role owns how ZURU builds software for itself — the paved path engineers build on, and every internal application that ships on it. The Engineering Lead founds the Engineering function serving the Group internally, covering developer platform, forward deployed engineering, and reliability and cloud. One owner holds both the road and the traffic — because a road nobody drives on is not a road. The lead builds the team, sets the bar, and publishes capability other teams consume rather than gating their work.

Position Impact

At 6 months, the paved path ships as a product teams choose — with golden-path adoption and time to production both measured and moving — and the first forward deployed engineers are placed with the business units they serve.

At 12 months and beyond, the internal application estate runs honest in both directions — applications graduate onto a supported rota and applications retire. Ungraduated applications per engineer stays inside the ceiling that keeps forward deployed engineers forward, and the Group's ask-to-live median — the business days from an accepted ask to the thing live in the asker's hands — has shortened.

Who you are:

An engineering leader who has built internal software other employees used day to day, run a platform or developer-experience team measured on adoption rather than throughput, and hired an engineering function from the ground up. You're fluent in agentic development — you judge the quality of the output, not only the velocity. You've owned production reliability for systems your team did not write. You hold both the road and the traffic, because you know one without the other doesn't work.

Key Responsibilities

The Paved Path

• Ship CI/CD, scaffolding, deployment, observability, and guardrails as a product — resolved into the repository rather than written into a standards document.
• Measured on how many teams take it, not how many documents describe it.

Forward Deployed Engineering

• Build and lead a team that sits with the business unit it serves — not pooled in an office.
• One engineer validates an idea, builds it, and holds it until it graduates.

The Internal Application Estate

• Decide what graduates onto a supported rota, what is absorbed into the packaged estate, and what is retired.
• Every application carries a named business owner and a retirement date.

Reliability & Cloud

• Own the runtime foundations, the observability layer, and the on‑call rota that holds applications after the engineer who built them moves on.

Automated Standards

• Build standards into the work so they are checked on every change — with the result recorded and attributable.
• A rule with no check that runs is not a rule.

The Build Seam

• Hold the line between Engineering, which builds, and Enterprise Technology, which runs the packaged estate.
• Hand work across it when it belongs there.

LIFE@ZURU

ZURU is on a quest to reimagine tomorrow. Founded in 2003, ZURU Group has rapidly grown and now spans three core divisions—ZURU Toys, ZURU Edge (consumer goods) and ZURU Tech (construction).

At ZURU, we have cultivated a high‑performing culture that encourages excellence. Our team works towards ambitious goals, learning, performing, and improving together, all while having fun. We empower talented individuals to do their best work every day.

At ZURU, you get out what you put in. You are responsible for driving your own career and we provide the platform to achieve it. As ZURU is on such a fast growth trajectory, there are opportunities here that you won’t find anywhere else.

Get to know us a little better by checking out @lifeatzuru on Instagram or www.zuru.com.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Culture for Growth
• Health Benefits
• Global Opportunities
• Surrounded by an A Player Team
• Competitive Remuneration
• Lots of fresh fruit, coffee, pals fridge and more (optional)

ZURU – Reimagining tomorrow