Senior Product Owner at Contact Energy · Wellington

Company Description

Te Tākinatanga | Our Story

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 tikanga, 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.

We’re now looking for a Senior Product Owner to join our Technology Retail domain, partnering closely with our Retail business to shape the next evolution of our CRM, data and digital products. You’ll be hands on, outcome focused and play a key role in lifting our product practice, including how we use AI to work smarter.

While this role is aligned to our Retail domain, our Product Owners have opportunities to work across Contact’s technology landscape over time, bringing their skills to different domains and challenges.

Job Description

Te Whiwhinga mahi | The Opportunity

As a Senior Product Owner, you’ll be a product expert and advocate within our Technology Retail domain, partnering with stakeholders to shape and influence the roadmap and performance of our CRM, data and digital products. This is a hands‑on senior role. You’ll actively work with squads to define problems, shape solutions, and enable meaningful outcomes aligned to our Contact31 strategy.

You’ll operate in a complex, multi‑squad environment, often working across multiple product areas and initiatives within Retail. You’ll align stakeholders, guide teams through ambiguity, and ensure decisions are grounded in customer value, commercial impact, and practical delivery realities.

This role works within a shared Retail–Technology backlog, with real opportunity to influence priorities, anticipate future value areas, and support a shift towards a DevOps approach where teams own and support the products they build.

You’ll also play a key role in lifting our product practice, helping teams adopt smarter ways of working, including the use of AI to accelerate discovery, improve decision making, and enhance product outcomes.

This is a role for someone who can think strategically, influence widely, and roll up their sleeves to make things happen.

In this role, you will:

• Communicate and evolve product direction, ensuring alignment to Contact31 and clear customer value outcomes
• Identify and define user needs, opportunities, and areas for performance uplift
• Create, prioritise, and maintain a visible, strategically aligned product backlog across multiple squads, anticipating future value opportunities
• Partner with Delivery Leads to ensure solutions are fit for purpose and balance cost, value, and speed
• Define release packages and sprint goals that drive customer and commercial outcomes
• Measure and communicate product performance and business impact to senior stakeholders
• Work with teams across Retail and Technology to ensure solutions are robust, compliant, and aligned
• Mentor and support Product Owners and team members, strengthening capability across squads
• Champion standards, playbooks, and a culture of collaboration, learning, and continuous improvement
• Support the Retail Domain Lead with domain strategy, roadmap development, and forward planning

Qualifications

Ko wai koe | About You

You’re a seasoned Product Owner who knows how to turn insight into action and ideas into outcomes. You’re commercially savvy, customer centric, and comfortable leading teams through ambiguity and change.

You’ll bring:

• 5+ years’ experience leading product outcomes in complex environments
• Experience mentoring and coaching Product Owners or cross‑functional teams
• Deep knowledge of digital and data technologies and their business applications
• Strong understanding of human‑computer interaction and customer‑centred design
• Expertise in Agile and Lean planning and software development practices
• Experience working within technology, architecture, or digital software ecosystems
• Excellent communication skills, able to translate complexity for diverse audiences
• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and organisational capability
• Commercial acumen and a track record of driving measurable business value
• Strength in stakeholder engagement, influencing, negotiating, and conflict management
• Exposure to, or interest in, how AI tools and techniques can enhance product discovery, decision making, and team capability

Additional Information

We’re working in partnership with JOYN to support recruitment for this role. JOYN acts on Contact’s behalf as part of the hiring process. All candidate information is collected and managed by Contact and will be used solely for the purposes of your application, in line with our privacy obligations.

We support flexible working where it works for the individual, the team and the business. Our main hubs are in Auckland, Wellington and Tauranga, and this role is best suited to someone who can work flexibly from one of these locations. We also have smaller sites across other major centres of Aotearoa and are open to applications from across Aotearoa (mōtu) where candidates can work flexibly from those centres.

This ad will close on Wednesday 10th June but we’re considering applications as they come in, so hop to it if you're keen!

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, 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.

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.