Quality Engineer Lead

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; Wellington; Hybrid; NZD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free health insurance cover

Boosted KiwiSaver

Parental leave policy

Job summary

Contact Energy (Te Mata Hiko) seeks a Quality Engineer to guide the shift from traditional testing toward proactive quality engineering across multiple squads. You’ll influence automation, testing standards, and risk decisions while coaching engineers to embed quality into delivery.

You’ll work across domains, shaping strategies, improving CI/CD integrations, and mentoring teams to adopt automation-first practices in a flexible, energy-focused environment in New Zealand.

Qualifications

• Solid experience in quality engineering, quality assurance or test automation within modern technology environments.
• Strong understanding of Agile delivery, DevOps practices and modern software engineering principles.
• Experience supporting teams to improve quality outcomes through effective engineering and testing practices.
• The ability to build credibility with technical and non-technical stakeholders alike.
• Strong communication skills, curiosity and a collaborative approach to problem solving.

Responsibilities

• Support several squads with practical quality engineering guidance.
• Help software and data engineers adopt test-driven software engineering and automation-first practices.
• Shape test strategies, standards, risk decisions and useful quality measures.
• Improve automation reliability, maintainability and CI/CD integration.
• Adapt the approach to different technologies rather than forcing one standard solution.

Skills

Quality engineering

Agile delivery

DevOps practices

Engineering influence

Stakeholder communication

Curiosity & collaboration

Education

Quality engineering certifications

Tools

Automation frameworks

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud platforms

Job description

At Contact, we believe home is the most important place in the world. That belief shapes everything we do, from leading the energy transition to how we power Aotearoa and care for our people and communities.

We’re a power, broadband, and mobile company, but we’re also investing boldly in renewable energy and smarter, more connected ways of working ( mahi ). Our ambition is simple: to leave Aotearoa better than we found it.

Guided by our values & behaviours, we’re a team who care deeply about the work we do, how we support one another, and the impact we have. Simply put, we touch lives to make life better.

Quality shouldn’t be a hand-off at the end of delivery. We’re reshaping how Contact builds quality into software, moving away from highly embedded testing roles toward proactive quality engineering across our Technology domains.

Job Description

You’ll work across around three to four squads within an assigned business domain, helping teams strengthen automation, identify quality risks earlier and take shared ownership of quality throughout delivery.

This is broader than a traditional embedded test and/or test automation role. You’ll guide quality strategy, automation, standards and feedback loops while coaching software and data engineers to build quality into their work. To begin with there may still be times when you contribute directly to automated testing, but you’ll be working toward oversight, enablement and proactive quality engineering.

• Support several squads with practical quality engineering guidance
• Help software and data engineers adopt test-driven software engineering and automation-first practices
• Shape test strategies, standards, risk decisions and useful quality measures
• Improve automation reliability, maintainability and CI/CD integration
• Adapt the approach to different technologies rather than forcing one standard solution

Qualifications

Ko wai koe | About You

You’ll bring strong quality engineering experience and a passion for helping teams deliver great technology outcomes. You’ll likely already be working in an environment where automation, engineering practices and quality are closely connected, with your focus extending beyond traditional manual testing.

You’re comfortable moving between technical depth and wider influence, building strong relationships, coaching others, and helping teams continuously improve how quality is delivered.

What you’ll bring:

• Solid experience in quality engineering, quality assurance or test automation within modern technology environments
• Strong understanding of Agile delivery, DevOps practices and modern software engineering principles
• Experience supporting teams to improve quality outcomes through effective engineering and testing practices
• The ability to build credibility with technical and non-technical stakeholders alike
• Strong communication skills, curiosity and a collaborative approach to problem solving

Useful, but not essential:

• Experience working with cloud, API, data or digital platforms
• Exposure to automation frameworks, CI/CD pipelines or modern engineering tooling
• Experience mentoring, coaching or providing technical leadership to others
• Relevant certifications in quality engineering, Agile, DevOps or related disciplines

You don't need to tick every box to be successful in this role. If you've built strong foundations in quality engineering and you’re curious, adaptable and motivated to help teams deliver great outcomes, we'd love to hear your story.

Additional Information

We support flexible working where it works for the individual, the team and the business. Our main hubs are in Wellington, Auckland and Tauranga, and this role is best suited to someone who can work flexibly from one of these locations to enable strong in person connection and collaboration. While we do have smaller sites across other centres of Aotearoa, proximity to a main hub is important for this role.

Contact is not a place you’ll stagnate. We’re growing, evolving, and investing in our people. We also offer a bunch of other perks like free health insurance cover, boosted KiwiSaver, access to Contact Shares, a ‘Good to be Home’ annual payment toward your home set up & wellbeing, a trail-blazing parental leave policy, twice yearly payments towards our products if you’re a Contact customer, and more!

Here at Contact Energy (Te Mata Hiko), we know our strength lies in developing a sense of belonging - one that helps us attract and retain people with a broad range of perspectives and experiences.

We’re committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to bring their whole selves to work. Our goal is to reflect the diversity of our customers and communities to help build a better Aotearoa New Zealand.

We have a rich community of talented people that we support to thrive at Contact.

Our inclusive hiring process is designed to embrace the diversity of Aotearoa New Zealand, ensuring a wide range of perspectives are included in our decision-making and helping reduce bias along the way.

The wellbeing of our kaimahi is super important to us. We use employee insights to offer a range of initiatives and resources to support physical, mental, financial and emotional wellbeing – including flexible working arrangements, employee network groups and a market-leading parental leave policy.

At Te Mata Hiko, we want everyone to thrive. We welcome applicants far and wide - of every age, stage, background, and pride. Join us and be part of a team that values your passion and attitude just as much as your experience and skills.

Please note, only candidates with the right to live and work in New Zealand will be considered for this role.

Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet 60% of the criteria, women and those in underrepresented groups tend to only apply if they tick every box.We're not about box ticking, so if you think you have what it takes but don't meet everything stated above, please still get in touch. We'd love to kōrero.