Principal Data Solution Engineer

Vodafone New Zealand Limited; Auckland; On-site; NZD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully subsidised health insurance

Lifestyle leave

Discounts on products and services

Job summary

Vodafone New Zealand Limited seeks a Principal Data Solution Engineer to collaborate on designing and delivering AI and data solutions. This role involves hands-on technical leadership, guiding engineering decisions and improving delivery quality.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience with data engineering, strong leadership capabilities, and the ability to work flexibly from home. Benefits include subsidised health insurance and additional leave options.

Qualifications

• Deep hands-on technical expertise across data engineering and solution engineering.
• Strong technical leadership capability with experience in mentoring.
• Proven credibility in designing scalable and secure data solutions.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical solutioning and execution of data engineering strategies.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership across complex delivery streams.
• Guide technical decision-making and improve engineering quality.

Skills

Data engineering expertise

Technical leadership

Problem-solving skills

SQL proficiency

AWS experience

Communication skills

Tools

Snowflake

Oracle

SQL DB

Teradata

dbt

Airflow

Qlik Ingestion

Job description

As the Principal Data Solution Engineer your role is to collaborate closely with business stakeholders and engineering teams to design, develop and deliver highly performant, scalable AI and data solutions that support One NZ’s business strategy and ambition to become the most AI-enabled telco in the world. As a key member of the AI & Data Engineering team, you’ll provide hands‑on technical leadership, shape repeatable engineering patterns and practices, and help uplift technical capability across teams to reduce handoffs, improve delivery quality and accelerate outcomes.

What you’ll do

• Own the detailed technical solutioning and execution of data engineering strategies and initiatives.
• Translate technical strategy, standards and architecture into practical implementation plans.
• Provide hands‑on technical leadership across complex delivery streams, solution designs and engineering practices.
• Ensure data solutions are secure, scalable, observable, performant, maintainable and production ready.
• Define and uplift the Data Solution Engineering craft, including technical capability standards, development pathways and skills uplift plans.
• Guide technical decision‑making, resolve delivery blockers and improve engineering quality across squads.
• Partner with architects, platform teams, cyber security, product owners, business SMEs and engineering teams to deliver integrated data and AI solutions.
• Create clear technical documentation, including solution designs, decision records, implementation guides, runbooks and knowledge‑sharing materials.
• Prototype and test new approaches, technologies and solution patterns to validate feasibility and reduce delivery risk.

What you’ll bring

• Deep hands‑on technical expertise across data engineering, solution engineering, cloud platforms, APIs, integration, DevOps and modern software engineering practices.
• Strong technical leadership capability, with experience coaching, mentoring and developing technical professionals.
• Proven credibility in designing end‑to‑end data and AI solutions that are scalable, secure, reusable, observable and aligned to enterprise architecture.
• Expert knowledge of data engineering principles within SQL and programming environments, including Python, Jinja, SQL, Java and Bash.
• Hands‑on experience with AWS and data warehouse platforms such as Snowflake, Oracle, SQL DB and Teradata, along with tools such as dbt, Airflow and Qlik Ingestion.
• Strong execution discipline, with the ability to turn strategy, standards and high‑level architecture into practical implementation plans and working solutions.
• A strong understanding of engineering and operational governance, including code and documentation standards, operational readiness, automation‑by‑design, cyber security, privacy, compliance and operational risk.
• Excellent systems thinking and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to work through ambiguity and develop pragmatic, scalable solution options.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to explain design decisions, constructively challenge technical direction and bring teams along collaboratively.
• One New Zealand is leading the way by ensuring you can have a truly balanced life. Most roles allow flexibility to work from home and flex your hours to enjoy work & whānau commitments.
• A fully subsidised Southern Cross health insurance cover for you and your family.
• Lifestyle leave, giving you the option to purchase an extra week or two of annual leave.
• Discounts on One New Zealand products, services and much more!