Principal Developer

Principal Developer!!

• Based at Porirua CBD (Wellington)
• Grade 21
• Police Employee
• Permanent/ Full Time
• NAV
• JR

E tῡ ki te kei o te waka kia pakia koe e ngā ngaru o te wā.

Stand at the stern of the canoe and feel the spray of the future biting at your face

Mō te tūnga About the role

With a primary hub in Wellington and a presence throughout the country NZ Police ICT delivers new and enhanced solutions directly and through specialist vendor partnerships. We provide expert advice on how technology can be leveraged to support Polices strategies and turn concepts into reality through collaborative development.

We are currently seeking a Principal Developer who will direct and carry out the technical delivery across multiple product teams ensuring the provision of high-quality policing solutions.

The Principal Developer will work closely with Product Managers Solution Architects and Lead Developers to ensure our applications meet NZ Police standards and business requirements. This includes the delivery of appropriate design documentation and the consideration of industry best practices.

The Principal Developer is a critical role to ensure that not only are we building the right tools for our people but we are building them the right way. They provide mentorship and guidance to other members of the team and wider ICT community. This will include directing work and providing support and feedback for developers in the product teams where no Lead Developer is assigned. They will promote learning and continuous improvement practices by sharing your knowledge of delivery in the Police SDLC.

Key Accountabilities:

• Lead the technical design and direction for complex strategic software products and systems ensuring scalable secure and maintainable solutions.
• Define and champion modern engineering practices including coding standards automated testing CI/CD and security-by-design.
• Embed and promote a DevOps culture driving automation continuous delivery observability and shared ownership of quality and operational outcomes.
• Ensure alignment with architectural guardrails technical strategies and organisational standards influencing design decisions across teams.
• Select and advocate for effective engineering tools design approaches and platform capabilities that enhance developer productivity flow and resilience.
• Shape and maintain the engineering technical roadmap ensuring alignment with product vision and long-term architectural goals.
• Provide strong technical leadership and mentoring uplifting engineering capability and fostering a cohesive high-performing engineering culture.
• Collaborate closely with Product Owners designers and stakeholders to translate business challenges into robust future-ready technical solutions.
• Lead technical reviews architecture discussions and engineering forums to ensure high-quality engineering outcomes and consistent quality practices.
• Identify and manage technical risks including technical debt and system constraints supporting teams to build operable resilient systems with strong monitoring telemetry and incident review practices.

He aha taau e kawe mai What youll bring

Whilst we are looking for skills knowledge and experience relevant to the role we also place high importance on your state of mind the alignment of your values with ours your ability to contribute to and build high performing teams and the way that you lead yourself or others.

• Extensive knowledge of programming languages software development methodologies and relevant technologies.
• Extensive experience leading multiple software development teams.
• Excellent critical thinking analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Comprehensive understanding and proven experience with design patterns and software architecture.
• Ability to work collaboratively across the organisation including working with product leaders.
• Ability to mentor and coach other members of the practice including senior members of the team.
• Proficiency in Agile methodologies and product development including working with product leaders.
• Ability to think strategically planning for the long term as well as today.
• Excellent customer and stakeholder engagement skills able to break technical concepts down into simple terms for a range of non-technical audiences.
• Be an effective communicator and strong technical leader.

Whakaritenga motuhake Special requirements

• This role is based at Walton Leigh Porirua CBD
• Applicants must be a NZ Citizen Resident or have valid work rights for NZ in order to apply.
• The successful applicant must reside or willing to relocate to Wellington.
• A relevant tertiary qualification is preferred.

This role is Individual Contributor/Emerging Leader level. You can refer to Indicators for Success for further information on the requirements

To view the position description for this role please copy and paste this link into a new browser:

tātou About us

New Zealand Police is the lead agency responsible for preventing crime and enhancing community safety. It works in partnership with individuals communities businesses and other public sector agencies towards the vision of making New Zealand the safest country. Police is the governments largest front-line response agency with around 15000 staff in large and small communities all over New Zealand and in liaison and policing development roles overseas.

Your development is highly valued at NZ Police. Our employees enjoy significant investment in their development not only at an individual level but also at the team and community practice level. We work hard to match you with work that will both play to your strengths and challenge you in new ways.

The work youll be engaged in is real tangible work that directly benefits our frontline and communities. Taken all together this means we can offer you career path opportunities to progress in your chosen profession and become a more well-rounded experienced leader with opportunities across the range of work we support.

To view more detailed information about our recruitment process along with further details about requirements please click below link:

Applicant Information Pack (External)

Tono ināianei Apply now

If this position sounds like you click apply now and submit a tailored CV. You will be required to submit an application form. Before confirmation of hire pre-employment checks will be undertaken which include reference drug and alcohol testing and police vetting prior to any written offer being made.

For further information on the application process please copy and paste this URL: applications must be submitted online and will not be accepted directly via email. All applicants must have the right to work in New Zealand.

If you are an internal applicant you must apply internally through the police system. You must provide an alternative contact email address and state your future commitments should you be successful in the next stage of the recruitment process.

Please note: Deadline for applications is 5:00 pm on 02/04/2026. Applications may be reviewed prior to the close date as well as contact made with candidates.

If you have any questions about this vacancy please contact @