Principal Software Engineer - AI-Augmented Leadership

Marketplace; Manawatū-Whanganui; Remote; NZD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead complex engineering challenges and define technical direction across frontend, backend, mobile and integrations. You will mentor engineers, shape engineering standards and drive AI-augmented engineering with a strong security posture.

You will influence the chapter, collaborate with Architecture, Security, Platforms and Product teams, and advance long-term sustainable delivery through innovative approaches and

Qualifications

• Deep software engineering leadership across frontend, backend, mobile and integration domains.
• Experience establishing and embedding engineering standards, patterns and guardrails.
• Vision for AI-augmented engineering with practical scale and governance.

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on technical leadership across complex, high-impact engineering challenges.
• Lead evolution of engineering standards, patterns, guardrails and reusable approaches.
• Mentor engineers from junior to senior levels and grow technical leaders.
• Influence software strategy and technical direction across teams and platforms.

Skills

Technical leadership

Software engineering

DevSecOps

Systems thinking

Mentoring

Stakeholder influence

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub

GitHub Actions

PostgreSQL

Azure

REST APIs

Spring Boot

React

Job description

New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead complex engineering challenges and define technical direction across frontend, backend, mobile and integrations. You will mentor engineers, shape engineering standards and drive AI-augmented engineering with a strong security posture.

You will influence the chapter, collaborate with Architecture, Security, Platforms and Product teams, and advance long-term sustainable delivery through innovative approaches and