Specialist – Senior Legal Counsel (Property)

Company Description

Te Tākinatanga | Our Story

Ko tā Contact e whakapono nei, ko te taiao tonu te taonga nui katoa o te ao.

Koinei mātou e whai atu nei kia mahue atu i a mātou tētahi ao hauora ake, tēnā i te ora i kuhu ai mātou.

He pakihi whakarato hiko, ipurangi mātou, engari arā kē atu anō ā mātou taha.

Kei te whakawhanake mātou i ā mātou mahi ake, i ngā ara hoki e whai hiko ai a Aotearoa, kei te kōkiri kia tukua te hiko tukurua, ā, kei te whakaputa i tētahi wheako matihiko mō ā mātou kiritaki kāore anō kia kitea i tēnei whenua.

He tīma kotahi mano mātou nō ngā hau e whā, e ngākau nui ana ki ā mātou mahi, e aroha ana tētahi ki tētahi, e ako ngātahi ana, e whakapono tahi ana ki ā mātou tikanga ārahi: mā te manaaki kia toa, ka mana te katoa.

At Contact, we believe home is the most important place in the world. It's all part of our vision to leave Aotearoa better than we found it. We’re a power, mobile, and broadband company, but we’re so much more than that. We are transforming the ways we mahi, and how Aotearoa is powered, leading the charge on renewable energy and digitising customer journeys in ways not yet seen here. A team of 1000+ from all walks of life who love what we do, look out for each other, and learn from one another every day, we’re stoked to be guided by our tikanga: we touch lives to make life better.

Job Description

Kōrero mō te tūranga | About the role

Shape the future of energy in Aotearoa as a trusted legal adviser at Contact.

Are you an experienced property lawyer with a knack for navigating complex legal landscapes? We’re looking for a Senior Legal Counsel to join our award-winning Legal Team within Corporate Affairs. Reporting direct to General Counsel, this is your chance to provide strategically focused legal services across our business, with a special emphasis on property matters that underpin our operational and renewable growth projects.

What Your Impact Could Be:

• Providing commercially pragmatic advice on property and land matters, balancing risk and value to help Contact progress land and development opportunities with confidence.
• Leading legal workstreams for property matters, including land acquisitions, divestments, easements, leases, and land access arrangements.
• Supporting Tangata Whenua and other stakeholder engagement, ensuring legal advice contributes to respectful, constructive relationships.
• Translating business strategy into practical legal plans and shaping responses that move projects forward.
• Preparing high-quality briefings for senior management or the Board, and mentoring Legal Counsel to uplift capability across the team.
• Delivering legal training and proactively advising on compliance with law and corporate policies.

Qualifications

Ko wai koe | About you

A trusted adviser who builds strong relationships, communicates clearly, and brings a collaborative, solutions-focused mindset, you’re comfortable leading, mentoring, and influencing others, and you thrive in an environment where your expertise helps shape the future.

What You’Ll Bring:

• Admission as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand (or equivalent, with NZ practising certificate attainable) – must-have.
• 8+ years’ relevant PQE with deep expertise in property law and land-related legal frameworks – must-have.
• Strong understanding of commercial drivers and strategy, with a proven ability to help achieve business objectives – must-have.
• Highly effective planning and organisation, with the ability to prioritise by value/risk – must-have.
• Comfortable advising in ambiguity, with excellent written and verbal communication skills and a plain-English approach – must-have.
• Leadership skills, including mentoring, process improvement, and capability uplift – nice-to-have.

Additional Information

We support our people to work how, where and when works the best. Most of the Legal team are based in Wellington and work 2-3 days a week in our office there (the rest at home), so that would be the place to be if you enjoy regular in-person team time, however this role can be fully remote, and we’re open to applications from all over Aotearoa. You might be interested to know we have offices in Auckland, Tauranga and other locations, too.

Contact is not a place you’ll stagnate. We are growing and offer superb learning and development opportunities along with 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, discounts on Contact Energy products, and more.

If you’re ready to bring your expertise to a team that values authenticity, collaboration, and making a real impact, we’d love to connect with you. This ad will close automatically on Friday 24 October but we’re considering applications as they come in so apply now if you're keen.

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.

Te Mata Hiko (Contact Energy) does not accept any CVs received from recruitment agencies where a formal engagement has not been confirmed and agreed to with our Talent team. In the event that unsolicited CVs are submitted by recruitment agencies, Te Mata Hiko (Contact Energy) reserves the right to contact these candidates directly and consider them for current/future vacancies without any financial obligation to the recruitment agency in question. This will also apply to any CVs sent directly to line managers.