Lead AI Engineer

Job Title: Lead AI Engineer Company: Spark New Zealand Job Category: Machine Learning Roles & Responsibilities: Mō tēnei tūranga mahi \- About the Role: * Team Leadership: Line\-manage permanent AI engineers, establish engineering workflows, and drive measurable outcomes. * Engineering Standards: Define patterns for applications, agentic workflows, Retrieval\-Augmented Generation (RAG), and evaluation, while applying code review, test automation, and DevOps practices. * Release Readiness: Ensure pre\-production build, test, and evaluation quality with built\-in guardrails and observability. * Capability Growth: Build up internal skills and transition critical\-path AI work from external partners to in\-house teams. * AI Governance: Enforce responsible\-AI controls and usage guidelines to safeguard Spark's intellectual property Sustainability is a key focus for us. We are dedicated to supporting Aotearoa New Zealand’s recovery and economic transformation. The principle of equity is at the very heart of our approach, and we remain committed to working in partnership to make a positive contribution to digital equity in line with our focus on Diversity and Inclusion. * Wellbeing – Comprehensive medical insurance, life and income protection. Access to wellbeing coaches, EAP and in\-house Specialist Clinical support through our leading Mahi Tahi Wellness programme. * Hybrid ways of working – for most teams at Spark this means being in the office for 4 days a week, with 1 day being flexible. * Leave – in addition to four weeks annual leave, we offer purchased leave, enhanced parental leave payments \& support, and study leave. * Spark Credit – We provide permanent employees with $150 monthly Spark credit to use on any of our amazing products. * Spark Share scheme – periodically we offer the opportunity to buy into our share scheme. * Career development – access to an internal marketplace that connects employees with experiential, on the job learning across Spark. Due to the nature and urgency of this role, we are only considering applicants that are based in New Zealand with permanent residency, citizenship, or a valid work visa (with at least 18 months remaining). Work Location: Auckland, New Zealand Availability: Full time

Tō wheako\- Your Experience: Ō tatou painga – our Benefits: Ngā pūkenga Motuhake – the must haves: Key Skills: Machine Learning, Python Salary: $150 monthly