Te Tākinatanga | Our Story   

At Te Mata Hiko (Contact Energy), 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.

Our Finance team is at the heart of Contact, key to ensuring the development and execution of our strategy. They do this by supporting and challenging the financial performance of the business, achieving operational excellence, and providing financial information & insights to make good decisions for the future. Right now, they are busy - we’ve been given the green light to acquire NZX-listed Manawa Energy and a load of our best people are stepping out of BAU to work solely on the upcoming integration, including our superstar Finance Manager – Development & Major Projects.  With Sarah seconded for six months to the Manawa Energy integration project, we’re looking for a new Finance Manager every bit as awesome to be a trusted advisor to the Wholesale team in her absence.

Kōrero mō te tūranga | About the role

We’re on a journey to transform our business end-to-end – no mean feat as one of Aotearoa’s largest listed companies, with market capitalisation of around NZ$6 billion and over 65,000 shareholders & 3,500 debt investors. Alongside our business transformation, we’re investing billions into renewable energy, and this role will play a key part in bringing both stories to life. In this 6-month fixed term contract as Finance Manager for Development & Major Projects, you’ll be hands-on with the most dynamic parts of our business.

Reporting to our Head of Wholesale & Control, you’ll manage four (highly capable, high-performing) accountants, ensuring stretching but achievable plans for the Wholesale business. There’ll be a lot of relationship building, financial analysis and storytelling, and technical accounting, with a real mixture between long-term view and short-term endorphin hits.

The energy sector is interesting at the best of times, but here, we’re really walking the talk on ESG (corporate, societal, and governance) and doing awesome things for the future of NZ. If you want to do good, look no further: this role won’t just be great for you, it will contribute significantly to a cleaner, greener, happier Aotearoa.

Ko wai koe | About you

Operating at Finance Manager level (or the cusp of) already, you’re an authentic, EQ-driven leader who’s CA-qualified (or equivalent) and has a solid grasp on budgeting, forecasting, month-end close processes, and accounting systems (preferably ERP). Your people leadership experience might have been gained through project teams or the like rather than formal direct reports; the main thing is your demonstrated leadership capability, with excellent relationship-building and stakeholder engagement skills. We’re looking for an over-communicator, someone who can relate to a broad spectrum of people (from engineers to detail-driven analysts and “people people”) and keep them in the loop on every detail, big and small.

With a depth of experience in financial planning, analysis, and reporting at a senior level, you’re skilled in the effective resolution of complex issues and problems and can translate technical financial insights to plain English with ease. (We’d love it if you’ve gained this experience in Energy, Utilities, trading/investment banking and/or in a publicly listed company.)

Above all, you’re a team player, open and willing to learn, with a high degree of energy and integrity. Your working style is the opposite of transactional, equipping you to mentor meaningfully, drive continuous improvement, and build strong engagement and collaboration. This role will have core cross-functional relationships, so you’ll need to be a superb communicator; a thought leader who can build great rapport with ease, influence across various levels, and really bring people on the journey.

This is a 6-month fixed term contract to cover finance leadership for Development and Major Projects while our superstar Sarah is seconded to the Manawa integration project. Her team and key stakeholders are based in Wellington and work from the office almost all of the time, so ideally we’re looking for someone who’s Wellington-based and equally happy to work on-site, although this role is hybrid and you don’t need to be there full time.

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 a ‘Good to be Home’ annual payment toward your home set up & wellbeing, discounts on Contact Energy products, and more.

This ad will close automatically on Friday 6 June but we’re considering applications as they come in, so hop to it if you're keen, or if there's something you’re curious to know first, reach out to Tash on [email protected].

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.