Principal Engineer

Bank of New Zealand; Wellington; Hybrid; NZD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Bank of New Zealand in Wellington is seeking a Principal Engineer to join the Lending Origination portfolio within the Lending Platforms domain. You will lead architectural direction, mentor engineers, and drive modernization across modern and legacy systems to deliver resilient, scalable outcomes.

The role is permanent full-time with a hybrid model (minimum three days in the office) and opportunities to shape AI-enabled solutions and engineering practices across BNZ.

Qualifications

• 7 to 10+ years of hands‑on experience developing, enhancing, and maintaining enterprise applications with deep expertise in Java and/or .NET technologies.
• Experience designing and supporting RESTful APIs, integrations, and distributed systems, with exposure to React for modern web apps.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation, source control, and DevOps practices.
• Production incident response: triage and resolve incidents through to post‑incident reviews.
• Strategic technical leadership: lead cross‑team initiatives and influence architecture and testing at scale.
• Systems thinking: design for resilience, performance, and testability.
• Influence without authority: build trust and align teams across domains.
• Mentorship and stewardship: develop engineers and raise engineering standards.

Responsibilities

• Shape the future of BNZ's Lending Platforms with hands‑on modernization and legacy‑to‑modern transitions.
• Lead architecture, engineering practices, and technology strategy balancing innovation with stability.
• Guide Home Lending Modernisation programme to simplify and automate lending journeys end‑to‑end.

Skills

Java

DotNet

RESTful APIs

React

CI/CD

DevOps

Production incident response

Engineering leadership

Systems thinking

Mentorship

Job description

Here at BNZ, it's about more than just banking. We work together in an agile, energising environment to create innovative solutions through our promise "If you can imagine a better future, let's find a way."

We support wellbeing, flexible working and have a generous leave offering. There is the opportunity for growth, learning and career development. No two days are the same.

Ko mātou tēnei | This is Us

We have an exciting opportunity for a Principal Engineer to join our Lending Origination portfolio within the Lending Platforms domain.

You’ll join a technology tīma modernising BNZ’s lending stack for the future, while safely steering our legacy platforms through to sunset. We’re simplifying the lending experience and giving our bankers modern, resilient tools that make it easier to serve customers well.

Mō te Tūranga | About the Role

We sat down with the People Leader (who you would report to) and they told us the following about the role:

This is a permanent full‑time position based in Wellington. It is a hybrid role with at least three days in the office and flexible working on the other days.

What is the team culture and environment like?

We’re a vibrant mix of talented folks from all walks of life, coming together to innovate and collaborate in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. We have a focus on being Engineering Led and our Product teams are passionate about building the right thing and building it right.

What projects / work will the candidate be working on now and into the next year?

You’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of BNZ’s Lending Platforms, working hands‑on using your advanced development skills across both modernisation and legacy technology to deliver safe, scalable and customer‑centric outcomes.

In the near term, you’ll contribute to the ongoing Home Lending Modernisation programme, focused on simplifying and automating lending journeys end‑to‑end to enable fast, digital‑first customer experiences.

What is the most exciting thing about this opportunity?

This is a rare opportunity for an experienced engineer to play a pivotal role in one of BNZ’s most significant technology transformations. As a Principal Engineer, you’ll help lead the transformation of our lending technology landscape, moving from a long‑established legacy estate to a modern digital lending platform. You’ll influence architecture, engineering practices, and technology strategy while balancing innovation with the stability and resilience of the platforms that support both colleagues and customers into the future.

What skills and experiences are required for this role?

• Technical experience: 7 to 10+ years of hands‑on experience developing, enhancing, and maintaining enterprise applications, with deep expertise in Java and/or .NET technologies. Experience designing and supporting RESTful APIs, integrations, and distributed systems, alongside exposure to React for modern web application development. Strong understanding of CI/CD pipeline development, deployment automation, source control, and DevOps engineering practices.
• Production incident response: Provide expertise and guidance triaging application issues, incidents and problems all the way through to incident closure including post incident review.
• Expertise in craft: Deep expertise in software engineering, platform design, test architecture, automation, or quality engineering at scale.
• Strategic technical leadership: Proven ability to lead cross‑team initiatives, define long term technical or quality strategy and influence architecture, delivery and testing practices at scale.
• Systems Thinking: Design for resilience, performance, and testability. Balances trade‑offs and considers system‑wide impact in decisions.
• Influence without authority: Build trust across roles and functions. Align people through thoughtful communication and principled leadership within Lending Platforms and other domains.
• Mentorship and stewardship: Provides technical leadership and mentorship across engineering teams, influencing and developing junior and senior engineers. Builds organisational capability by setting high engineering standards, fostering technical excellence, and enabling others to deliver their best work.

What attributes will this person display in order to be successful in this role?

As a Principal Engineer, you are a strategic technical leader who shapes the direction and design of systems, practices, and platforms that scale across teams and domains. You drive engineering and quality excellence through deep technical expertise, sound judgement, and strong influence. By solving complex, high‑impact problems, mentoring engineers, and guiding strategic decisions, you lift organisational capability and help BNZ deliver outcomes with confidence, reliability, and sustainability. You have a proven track record of leading AI initiatives and driving the adoption of AI‑enabled solutions, translating emerging technologies into tangible business value. You provide thought leadership on the responsible use of AI, influencing technology strategy, engineering practices, and delivery approaches across the organisation.

Nau Mai ki te Pēke o Aotearoa | Come to the Bank of New Zealand

We review applications as they are received and may close advertising early.

This is an exciting opportunity to join us! We're bold thinkers who are taking brave steps to create a company that people want to work for, and customers want to bank with. If you're ready to join a fun organisation where we are proud of our culture and how we are helping New Zealander's to 'Find their way'.

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini" - Success is not the work of an individual, but the work of many.

Applications will be reviewed regularly across the advertising period, but we do reserve the right to close applications early.