About the Company
Are you a dynamic, forward-thinking tech leader ready to take on a brand new challenge at the forefront of a major transformation? This is a newly created role, and we’re looking for a Tribe Tech Lead with a passion for technology and leadership to shape the future of core banking systems and lead a highly skilled engineering team on a multi-year journey to innovation and modernisation.
This is a unique opportunity to join one of New Zealand’s most trusted and purpose-driven financial organisations, leading a cutting-edge technology transformation that will revolutionise customer experiences and empower millions of New Zealanders. If you thrive on complex challenges, have deep expertise in software engineering, and enjoy leading through change, this is the role for you.
About the Role
As the Tribe Tech Lead you’ll be at the heart of a multi-year core banking transformation, playing a key role in reimagining the way technology powers financial services. You will set and deliver the technology vision and roadmap, ensuring that core banking systems are modern, reliable, and aligned with the business's needs.
This is a senior role with broad influence, as you will be working alongside senior leaders, driving strategic technology investments, managing a diverse and talented engineering team, and working closely with cross-functional teams to deliver impactful results. You’ll be shaping not just the technical direction, but also the culture and engineering excellence that underpins the technology delivery.
Key Responsibilities
1. Define & Execute the Technology Strategy
- Own and drive the technology roadmap for the Tribe, aligning technology delivery with business goals and strategic objectives.
- Lead core systems modernisation, enhancing operational efficiencies, reducing complexity, and ensuring scalability and security for future growth.
- Identify and implement innovative technologies and solutions that keep the bank at the cutting edge of the industry, particularly in lending and financial transactions.
2. Leadership & People Development
- Lead a high-performing engineering team, providing strategic direction, mentorship, and guidance to Tech Area Leads and Chapter Leads.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement, creativity, and collaboration, empowering your team to innovate and develop their craft.
- Be a role model for engineering best practices, ensuring the team is equipped to deliver on challenging and complex projects.
- Manage large-scale downstream teams, providing leadership across multiple squads, while also maintaining the autonomy and accountability of individual engineers.
3. Delivery & Execution Excellence
- Oversee technology delivery across core systems, ensuring projects meet quality, security, and performance standards.
- Unblock technology bottlenecks, resolve escalations, and ensure smooth, agile delivery of key initiatives.
- Work closely with the Tribe Lead and senior stakeholders to ensure alignment on prioritisation, trade-offs, and resource allocation.
4. Strategic Collaboration
- Work closely with product owners, business leaders, and senior executives to define and prioritise key technology investments, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
- Collaborate across tribes and squads to ensure that all technology changes are aligned with the broader organisational strategy.
- Be a key player in driving cross-functional collaboration, influencing senior leadership, and shaping technology decisions that impact the entire business.
5. Innovation & Future-Proofing
- Champion agile and DevOps methodologies, continuously refining processes and tools to improve speed, quality, and delivery efficiency.
- Stay ahead of the curve on emerging technologies, advising the leadership team on leveraging these innovations to enhance customer experiences and business outcomes.
About You
We’re looking for an experienced, strategic tech leader with a deep technical foundation who can balance hands-on leadership with a forward-thinking, visionary approach to technology. You will be someone who thrives in complex environments, enjoys leading through change, and inspires and motivates diverse teams to achieve great outcomes.
Essential Skills & Experience:
1. Strong Leadership Background
- Proven experience in leading large engineering teams (direct and indirect reports), with expertise in people development, coaching, and culture-building.
- Ability to manage strategic technology delivery and influence senior leaders in an enterprise-level transformation context.
- Comfortable leading teams at scale, ensuring a culture of collaboration, high performance, and continuous improvement.
2. Extensive Technical Expertise
- Solid background in software engineering, with experience in systems architecture, software development, and engineering best practices.
- Strong understanding of core banking systems, lending technologies, and financial transactions.
- Experience in agile delivery, including working with DevOps and SRE practices.
- Exposure to technologies such as .NET, Azure, and modern cloud infrastructure is highly desirable.
3. Strategic Vision & Execution
- Experience in defining and executing technology roadmaps in complex, high-stakes environments.
- Ability to provide strategic technology leadership while ensuring that initiatives are delivered on time, within scope, and with minimal disruption to the business.
- Proven track record of managing cross-functional technology investments to achieve business goals.
4. Domain Knowledge in Lending & Financial Services
- A strong understanding of the financial services landscape, particularly in lending and financial transactions, is a must.
- Experience working in core banking transformation or similar initiatives is highly advantageous.
- Exposure to insurance technology is also beneficial.
5. Personal Attributes
- Collaborative leadership style that builds strong relationships across teams and stakeholders.
- Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- A growth mindset with a passion for innovation, continuous learning, and leading teams towards engineering excellence.
Why Join Us?
Joining this organisation means being part of a purpose-driven organisation that is shaping the future of banking in New Zealand. You will be provided with the tools, resources, and career development opportunities to grow and succeed.
- Attractive salary package: Competitive base salary starting from $250k, with on-target earnings (OTE) up to $340k.
- Benefits: Access to health insurance, lifestyle leave, volunteering opportunities, and more.
- Inclusive culture: Work in a diverse, supportive, and inclusive environment where you can truly make a difference.
- Work-life balance: Enjoy flexible working options to suit your lifestyle.
Apply Now!
We welcome offshore applicants for this opportunity. Given the high volume of applications, we encourage you to apply directly first so we can properly track your submission. If you’d like to reach out, feel free to call myself (Teresa Jordan) at +64 27 376 4884.
At the appropriate stage, we will request your references. We ask that you do not include them on your CV when applying.
At Tribe we have our guiding light to show us the way. We bring our whole selves to work. We encourage inclusion in every single interaction. We genuinely care about people and are curious about their stories. We celebrate all points of view. We will help you find your tribe, the same way we have. We’re all on a journey together so come along…