Whakatakoto te tūāpapa | Laying the foundation

At Contact Energy, our purpose is clear, to improve the lives of New Zealanders by leading the transition to a low carbon future. We do this by developing, operating, and optimising some of the country’s most important energy assets and by putting people, safety, and sustainability at the heart of everything we do. Our geothermal portfolio plays a critical role in delivering reliable, renewable energy to Aotearoa, today and for generations to come.

Based in the heart of the Taupō region, our Wairakei and Ohaaki geothermal assets are iconic, complex, and technically fascinating. These sites combine decades of operational knowledge with an ongoing focus on optimisation, investment, and innovation. They are living systems that require thoughtful leadership, strong partnerships, and a deep respect for both the resource and the people who care for it.

Te āhua o te tūranga | The nature of the role

As Business Lead, Wairakei Group, you’ll step into a pivotal leadership role within our Geothermal Generation team. This is about setting direction, bringing clarity, and enabling teams to do their best work. You’ll lead a team of teams, working closely with capability leads to align strategy, priorities, and resources so that outcomes are delivered safely, efficiently, and with purpose.

Day to day, you’ll balance big picture thinking with practical decision making. You’ll help shape strategy, translate it into clear outcomes, and empower squads to operate autonomously within agreed guardrails. By removing blockers, managing dependencies, and navigating competing priorities, you’ll create momentum and whakakotahi people around shared goals. You’ll also play a key role in managing risk to generation earnings, identifying opportunities to lift performance through smarter processes, optimisation, and continuous improvement.

Ko wai koe | About you

You’re a people focused leader who enjoys solving complex problems and making decisions that stand up to scrutiny. You bring credibility, calm, and clarity to challenging situations, and you know how to bring others along on the journey. Ideally, you’ve led operational or asset intensive teams before and understand what it takes to deliver outcomes through others in technically complex environments.

There are a few must haves for this role. You’ll have strong leadership experience, the ability to influence and engage senior stakeholders, and confidence making commercially sound decisions with limited oversight. Experience in the energy sector, utilities, or heavy industrial environments, particularly around plant operations, maintenance, or optimisation, is important. A relevant qualification in engineering, science, trade, business, or similar is valued, but equivalent experience is just as welcome.

Nice to haves include experience with geothermal or generation assets, familiarity with the NZ energy market, and exposure to investment or optimisation programmes. Most importantly, we’re looking for someone who is curious, resilient, and values collaboration, someone who leads with integrity, supports their people to thrive, and is motivated by creating long term value. If you don’t tick every box but feel a strong pull towards this mahi, we’d still love to hear from you.

There are a bunch of perks to being a permanent Contact kaimahi. Along with great leadership, teammates, development, and growth and progression opportunities, free health insurance cover, better-than-your-average leave, access to Contact Shares, a ‘Good to be Home’ annual payment toward your home set up & wellbeing, a trail-blazing parental leave policy, bi-annual payments towards Contact Energy products, and more!

Applications close 9am Monday the 20th of April

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.