Principal Software Engineer: AI-Driven Tech Leader

New Zealand Government; Palmerston North; On-site; NZD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

NZ Transport Agency | Waka Kotahi (NZTA) is establishing Principal Engineering within Software Engineering to strengthen technical leadership and grow capability across teams, platforms and delivery.

The Principal Software Engineer will combine strategic thinking with hands-on expertise across frontend, backend, mobile and integration engineering, staying close to delivery and guiding long-term direction while mentoring growth across the chapter.

Qualifications

• Strong track record in modern software engineering across backend, frontend, integration, data and cloud.
• Experience establishing and embedding engineering standards, patterns, guardrails, Golden Paths and reusable approaches.
• Future-focused vision for AI augmented engineering, with the curiosity and leadership to experiment, prove and scale new approaches.
• Broad technical expertise across backend, frontend, integration, data and cloud technologies (Java, Spring Boot, React, REST APIs, PostgreSQL, Azure, Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub and GitHub Actions).
• Strong understanding of modern SDLC and DevSecOps, embedding security, automation and assurance throughout the lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on technical leadership across complex, high-impact engineering challenges.
• Lead the development and adoption of engineering standards, patterns, guardrails and reusable approaches.
• Lead the evolution of AI augmented engineering and scale approaches for design, build, test and delivery.
• Apply systems thinking across frontend, backend, mobile and integration engineering.
• Influence software strategy, direction and major decisions across teams and platforms.
• Provide enterprise-level technical design leadership and assurance for high-risk work.
• Mentor engineers from graduate to senior levels.
• Build alignment across Engineering, Architecture, Security, Platforms, Product and delivery teams.
• Champion DevSecOps, automation and shift-left security across the SDLC.

Skills

Software engineering

Engineering standards

AI augmentation

Systems thinking

Mentoring engineers

DevSecOps

Technical leadership

Influencing skills

Communication

Tools

Java

Spring Boot

React

REST APIs

PostgreSQL

Azure

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub

GitHub Actions

Job description

NZ Transport Agency | Waka Kotahi (NZTA) is establishing Principal Engineering within Software Engineering to strengthen technical leadership and grow capability across teams, platforms and delivery.

The Principal Software Engineer will combine strategic thinking with hands-on expertise across frontend, backend, mobile and integration engineering, staying close to delivery and guiding long-term direction while mentoring growth across the chapter.