Engineering Lead – Customer Core (BIS) Team

Worker Type:

Permanent

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.

Mo te Tūranga | About the Role

We’re looking for an Engineering Lead to join our BIS\Emax team (Mainframe Customer Core - Cobol development) as we embark on a move to modernisation of our banking core which ensuring operational and project delivery streams are maintained. This role will lead both permanent staff and contractors across two teams of Core Banking - Project delivery with a focus on Objectstar to COBOL rewrite and Customer Core Operational Team.

As Engineering Lead, you’ll provide technical leadership, coaching, and pastoral care to ensure both teams deliver with engineering excellence, accountability, and alignment to BNZ’s technology strategy. You’ll play a pivotal role in strengthening our delivery capability, empowering engineers to perform at their best, and maintaining a high standard of quality, security, and operational resilience across our systems.

What will you do day to day?

• Provide leadership, mentorship, and support across both operational and project delivery teams, driving engineering excellence and continuous improvement.
• Align team delivery with BNZ’s technology and business strategies, ensuring quality, scalability, and resilience in all outcomes.
• Champion a culture of accountability, collaboration, and innovation, supporting individuals through the full employee lifecycle.
• Partner closely with the Product Owners and Technical Delivery Managers to ensure seamless communication, prioritisation, and focus across teams.
• Drive uplift in engineering practices — automation, observability, secure coding, and “one-way, same-way” standards — to reduce technical debt and increase delivery velocity.

What projects will you be involved in?

You’ll play a key role in leading the technical capability supporting the ObjectStar-to-COBOL rewrite within the Emax program, as well as ongoing enhancements to the Customer Core systems that underpin the bank’s most critical data flows.

Your leadership will ensure strong collaboration between program delivery and business-as-usual operations, helping the teams transition toward a modern, hybrid mainframe-cloud future.

What’s exciting about this opportunity?

You’ll lead teams responsible for systems that sit at the heart of BNZ’s banking platform, processing millions of transactions and powering customer data across the organisation. This is an opportunity to collaborate and shape how we modernise and sustain our mainframe environments, influence the future of our engineering culture, and grow the capability of an experienced, passionate team.

What’s challenging about this opportunity?

You’ll be leading across two delivery streams — operational and program — that each have distinct priorities. Success will rely on balancing stability with innovation, maintaining technical excellence while driving transformation, and ensuring both teams stay aligned and supported throughout delivery.

What attributes will help you succeed?

• Proven leadership experience across both delivery and operational technology teams.
• Strong background in software engineering and system design (mainframe and/or distributed).
• Deep understanding of engineering governance, risk, and compliance within large, regulated environments.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of translating technical concepts into business impact.
• A people-first mindset — able to mentor, develop, and empower engineers to perform and grow.
• Experience in agile delivery and continuous improvement practices.

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

Join a team that’s modernising the backbone of the bank. What you do here matters — your leadership will directly shape the systems that power every customer, every day.

Please note: Advertising for this position closes Tuesday 21 October 2025 . We will be reviewing 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', then show your interest by submitting your application - we can't wait to read it. 

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

Closing Date: 21 October 2025

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