Product Owner

Ko wai mātou? - About us

As New Zealand's largest telecommunications and digital services company, Spark's purpose is to help all of New Zealand win big in a digital world. We provide mobile, broadband, and digital services to millions of New Zealanders and thousands of New Zealand businesses.

We operate in an exciting and constantly evolving industry, where the pace of change brings new and unique challenges every day, so we operate using Agile ways of working to allow us to meet the fast-changing needs of our customers. Agile replaces the traditional hierarchical organisational structure to produce a transparent, collaborative environment with highly productive teams who are empowered to deliver better outcomes for our customers, communities, and all of New Zealand.

Mō tēnei tūranga mahi - About the role

Spark is seeking a strategic, results-driven Product Owner to lead a newly formed Agile squad focused on transitioning customers and systems away from legacy cloud & infrastructure products. You'll set a clear strategic roadmap and drive execution across multiple complex workstreams.

In collaboration with the Tribe Lead, you will be responsible for establishing squads and developing roadmaps — an exceptional opportunity for an experienced Product Owner who excels in cross-functional settings and is prepared to drive commercial, customer, and operational results.

You'll join Spark's Product Owner chapter, where you'll be expected to demonstrate inspirational leadership, strategic vision, and a strong commercial mindset. You'll lead through influence, drive continuous improvement, and ensure the customer is at the heart of every decision.

Ngā mahi o ia rā – Daily tasks

Squad Formation & Leadership:

• Set up and lead high-performing Agile squads to deliver legacy transitions, in line with Spark's ways of working.

Strategic Roadmap:

• Develop and execute a squad strategy and vision aligned to portfolio objectives, with clear milestones and outcomes.
• Influence and input into portfolio strategy and vision.

Workstream Delivery:

• Oversee customer transitions, legal/property reviews, milestone planning, communications, channel management, and reporting.
• Lead the squad to map current services to future portfolios, manage database/systems updates, customer comms, and reporting.
• Partner with Technology and Network teams to execute key exits and manage customer impacts.
• Work closely with Service Line Leads and product management teams to support the evolution of service lines.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Build and maintain strong relationships across Spark, influencing and generating buy-in from key leaders and stakeholders.

Customer Experience:

• Take a true customer focused mindset into all initiatives.
• Ensure business needs are balanced with customer experience including clear, timely, and effective communications throughout all transition activities.

Performance Tracking:

• Drive a performance mindset, track and report on squad outcomes
• Continuously improve squad effectiveness to increase wider business value.

Agile Delivery:

• Facilitate Agile ceremonies, keep the backlog refined and prioritised, and ensure predictable squad delivery.
• Adapt Agile practices to squad context, remove blockers, and drive continuous improvement through retrospectives and other reflective practices.

Tō wheako- your experience

Minimum 5 years' experience delivering complex cloud or infrastructure projects with measurable commercial and customer impact.

Must-haves:

• Inspirational leader influencing direction of work within the portfolio and with a proven ability to confidently lead teams in an Agile environment
• Strong commercial acumen and business case development skills.
• Experience forecasting and managing project budgets or P&Ls
• Strategic vision and ability to set and operationalise strategy aligned to portfolio and company objectives.
• Advanced stakeholder engagement and communication skills, including experience presenting complex problems/opportunities to senior leaders.
• Experience managing product and service transitions in high pressure environments while maintaining positive customer outcomes.
• Analytical skills for performance tracking and reporting.
• Experience with database and systems management in a cloud context.
• Enables a culture of trust, shared ownership, and open communication within stakeholder networks.
• Can make proficient decisions in ambiguous environments.

He aha te take e uru ai koe ki a mātou – So, why choose us?

Te Kanorau me te Whakawhāiti mai

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Diversity and Inclusion

At Spark, we are constantly looking for ways to build a more inclusive culture. Our vision is for diversity and inclusion to be "how things are done at Spark", embedded into our day-to-day activities, standards, and business practices. We want you to feel totally comfortable bringing your whole self to work regardless of your gender, ethnicity, orientation, age, or ability.

Toitū - Sustainability

Sustainability is a key focus for us. We are dedicated to supporting Aotearoa New Zealand's recovery and economic transformation. The principle of equity is at the very heart of our approach, and we remain committed to working in partnership to make a positive contribution to digital equity in line with our focus on Diversity and Inclusion.

Ō tatou painga – our Benefits

Our people matter and we make sure we look after them. As a valued employee of Spark, we've got our people covered with a range of leading benefits including:

• Wellbeing
  – Comprehensive medical insurance, life and income protection. Access to wellbeing coaches, EAP and in-house Specialist Clinical support through our leading Mahi Tahi Wellness programme.
• Hybrid ways of working
  – for most teams at Spark this means being in the office for 4 days a week, with 1 day being flexible.
• Leave
  – in addition to four weeks annual leave, we offer purchased leave, enhanced parental leave payments & support, and study leave.
• Spark Credit
  – We provide permanent employees with $120 monthly Spark credit to use on any of our amazing products.
• Spark Share scheme
  – periodically we offer the opportunity to buy into our share scheme.
• Career Development
  – access to an internal marketplace that connects employees with experiential, on the job learning across Spark.

Ngā pūkenga Motuhake – the must haves

Due to the nature and urgency of this role, we are only considering applicants that are based in New Zealand with permanent residency, citizenship, or a valid work visa (with at least 18 months remaining)

Ready to be part of the team leading Spark's next chapter in cloud transformation? Apply now to join our Product Owner community and make a lasting impact.