Spark Home Page

Spark helps all of New Zealand win big in a digital world. As New Zealand's leading telecommunications company, we connect millions of New Zealanders and support thousands of businesses through our mobile, broadband, IT and cloud solutions.  

At the heart of our strategy, SPK-30, is our ambition: It’s better with Spark. Whether it’s our network performance, customer experiences, or the workplace culture we create with our people, we want it to be better with Spark.    

Our industry moves at pace, and so do we. Technology, customer expectations and business needs are constantly evolving. We embrace change, work together to solve problems that matter and focus on creating better outcomes for our customers, communities and Aotearoa. Our people are empowered to take ownership, keep learning and make a real impact.  

About the Role: 

We are seeking an experienced T-shaped Cloud Architect with deep expertise in Microsoft Azure to design, build, and optimise enterprise-scale cloud infrastructure and platforms. In this role, you'll be a key decision-maker, defining architecture blueprints, driving best practices, and collaborating with internal teams and partners to deliver secure, scalable and future-ready cloud foundations. You'll bring a modern engineering mindset treating infrastructure and documentation as code, and leveraging AI to accelerate how we design, build and document our platforms.

Day to day you will be involved in: 

• Designing and evolving Spark's core cloud infrastructure and platform including Azure Landing Zones, enterprise-scale architecture, advanced networking (vWAN/vHub, Private Link/Endpoints, DNS) and platform services aligned to the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and our cloud governance standards.
• Championing Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) and GitOps workflows, embedding automation, repeatability and self-service into the platform.
• Driving Documentation as Code (DAC), using AI to generate and maintain living architectural documentation (RFCs, ADRs, HLDs/LLDs, principles, naming and tagging standards) directly alongside the code.
• Embedding security and governance by design across the platform, identity and access, policy-as-code and cost optimisation.
• Driving best practices and technical governance through our Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE), reviewing designs and mentoring engineers and architects across the chapter.
• Collaborating with vendors, Microsoft and internal stakeholders to evaluate new cloud and AI services and shape the future direction of our platforms.

What experience you'll bring?

You're an experienced cloud practitioner with a strong track record designing and building enterprise-scale infrastructure and platforms on Microsoft Azure, ideally backed by relevant certifications (e.g. Azure Solutions Architect Expert). You bring deep, hands-on expertise across Azure networking, security, identity and governance, combined with excellent Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) and GitOps skills. You have a genuine engineering mindset you treat both infrastructure and documentation as code, and you actively leverage AI across the software development lifecycle, including using AI to build and maintain Documentation as Code (DAC). You're comfortable making pragmatic architecture decisions and communicating them clearly to both technical teams and senior stakeholders. As a T-shaped professional, you balance depth in cloud platform architecture with the breadth to collaborate across operations, engineering and security domains and you have a real passion for mentoring others, driving best practices and continuously learning as cloud and AI evolve.

WHY CHOOSE US: 

Diversity and Inclusion: Te Kanorau me te Whakawhāiti mai 

At Spark, diversity and inclusion are simply part of how we work here, built into our everyday decisions, behaviours and ways of working. We want everyone to feel totally comfortable bringing their whole self to work, no matter your gender, ethnicity, orientation, age or ability. 

Sustainability: Toitū 

As Spark, how we do business is just as important as what we do. We believe technology has a critical role to play in helping Aotearoa transition to a high-productivity low-carbon future, where all New Zealanders can thrive in a digital world. Equity sits at the heart of how we work, and we're focused on partnering in ways that makes a real difference to digital equity across the country. We support our customers and communities by being sustainable ourselves, investing in our people, minimising our environmental impact, and operating a responsible, ethical business.  

Benefits: Awhina 

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

Wellbeing - Medical insurance, life, income and trauma protection, wellbeing support and access to our leading Mahi Tahi Wellness program.

Hybrid ways of working - For most teams at Spark this means being in the office for four days a week, and one day being flexible.

Leave - Four weeks annual leave, plus purchased leave, leading parental leave support and study leave.

Spark Credit - $150 monthly Spark account credit for permanent employees to enjoy our products and services.

Spark Share scheme - Opportunities to share in Spark's success through our employee share scheme. 

Sustainable commuting - Salary sacrifice options to make public transport and cycling more affordable. 

Grow your career - Access learning, development and internal opportunities to build new skills and grow your career across Spark.

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).

At Spark, we’re committed to living our values, with tūhono (connection) at the heart of our mahi. Welcoming whānau into the recruitment process helps create a real sense of belonging and support for each candidate. We just ask candidates to let us know in advance if whānau will be joining, so we can prepare the space and make sure everyone feels comfortable.