Lead Software Engineer

Southern Cross is guided by purpose, powered by people and technology. We exist to help our members live well for longer.

We serve almost one million members across Aotearoa New Zealand – which means the work we do carries real scale, real responsibility, and a genuine opportunity to improve health outcomes for our nation.

As we grow to be a more proactive partner in our members’ health – we’re investing in the digital products and platforms our members and teams rely on every day.

We’re looking for a Lead Engineer to be the technical anchor in a squad that supports key customer journeys, helping remove friction for members while strengthening the systems and platforms behind the experience.

This is hands-on technical leadership: you’ll code most days, make the architectural calls, and help your squad ship small, frequent, confident releases.

About the role

You'll be at the technical heart of your squad. You'll code daily and help the squad make the technical calls that balance product priorities with long-term engineering quality. This is a hands-on technical leadership role with no direct reports. Your influence comes through the decisions you shape and the engineers you help grow. You'll help your team navigate trade-offs, build testing in from the start and ship small, frequent, confident releases. CI/CD optimisation, modern tooling and ephemeral environments are how you work.

What you’ll do

• Write, review and design code across services and UI as part of your everyday work
• Make and guide technical and architectural decisions that balance delivery with long-term quality
• Own engineering quality and delivery flow, helping the squad ship small, frequent, confident changes
• Keep services reliable, observable and maintainable, and pipelines fast and green
• Manage technical health and debt alongside delivery priorities
• Work closely with Platform, Architects and Principal Engineers to apply the right patterns.
• Partner with Product to slice work well, manage risk, and explain trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Coach developers and testers in a way that builds independence and technical craft
• Use AI responsibly to accelerate development, and share what you learn with the wider team

What you’ll bring

Technical depth matters here, but so does how you bring people with you. We’re looking for someone who’s equally at home in the code and in the conversation about the trade-offs behind it.

• Deep proficiency in JS / TS with React, Angular or Node.js; working knowledge of Git/GitHub, Azure cloud services and SQL; familiarity with .NET and C#.
• Strong knowledge of secure coding, identity management, and testing across unit, contract, component, API and end-to-end layers.
• A CI/CD mindset: reliable pipelines, golden paths over bespoke solutions, ephemeral environments.
• Design experience across services and UI with diagnosability and operability baked in.
• Practical experience with dependency management, secrets handling and least-privilege access.
• Strong experience building observable systems: SLOs, alerts, dashboards, and runbooks.
• A cross-functional approach towards iterative delivery.
• Pragmatic story slicing, estimation and risk management skills.
• A leadership style based on partnership, not gatekeeping.
• Experience creating a space where people challenge assumptions

Why join us

We're investing – in people, in technology, and in the mission. At a time when the market is hesitant, we're continuing to invest in strengthening our foundations and building our capabilities. You’ll work alongside Product, Platform and Architecture colleagues and other Leads across Digital Platforms, with real ownership over the technical direction of your squad.

We're building something worth joining. Our teams are growing, our employer brand is gaining real traction in market, and the way we show up for our members and each other is being noticed. This momentum has also been reflected externally – in 2026, Southern Cross placed 8th in the Kantar Corporate Reputation Index and 5th in New Zealand for Trust.

Who we are

Ngākau nui. Āhurutanga. Tikanga.

Join a proud, diverse team that's always there, always real, always true. If you thrive in a caring, honest and open culture, we think you'll love working with us.

We know our team's culture and wellbeing drive us forward. That's why we prioritise not only professional development but opportunities to thrive personally. We offer exceptional work/life balance, and our people are encouraged – and rewarded – for living well.

Southern Cross employee benefits include:

• Five days of wellbeing leave per year
• Health insurance for you and your immediate whānau
• Life insurance cover and discounts on pet and travel insurance
• Extra parental leave benefits and financial wellbeing support
• Participation in our workplace wellbeing programme
• The option to purchase flexi leave for study, volunteering, or supporting your whānau
• An annual volunteer day to contribute to a cause with your team

This role is Auckland based. While we appreciate interest from candidates in other locations, we're not able to consider remote options at this stage. If this sounds like the kind of work you want to help shape, we'd love to hear from you. Have questions? Check out our FAQs for help with the application and recruitment process.