Platforms Lead

Tonkin + Taylor is New Zealand's leading engineering and environmental consultancy, renowned for our technical excellence in solving complex challenges. We are proudly a New Zealand, employee-owned company and our collective mission is to create and sustain a better world.

Mō te tūranga / The opportunity

We have an exciting opportunity for a Platforms Lead to lead the evolution of Tonkin + Taylor’s core technology platforms, spanning cloud and on-premises infrastructure, Microsoft 365, identity, networking, DevOps platforms, EUC platforms and operational tooling.

You will lead Infrastructure and Platform engineers to deliver secure, resilient, scalable and cost-effective platforms that support business operations, transformation and innovation. Working with Technology leadership, Information Security, Architecture, Service Delivery and business stakeholders, you will shape platform strategy, deliver key roadmaps and build team capability. You will bring people together to modernise platforms, turn strategy into action, and help shape the future of technology at T+T.

The core purpose of the Platforms Lead is to provide operational ownership, leadership and direction for Tonkin + Taylor's technology platforms, while enabling specialist engineers to deliver secure, reliable and modern services.

This is a practical leadership role, combining technical involvement in key initiatives with a strong focus on delegation, cross-team collaboration, governance, prioritisation and coaching.

Ka Aha Koe / What You’ll Be Doing

Platform strategy and leadership:

• Own the operational lifecycle of enterprise technology platforms, roadmap and continuous improvement.
• Lead hybrid infrastructure evolution and translate strategy into standards and delivery plans.
• Drive secure, reliable, scalable and cost-effective services.

• Provide oversight for platform architecture, solution design and engineering standards.
• Review key technical decisions and lead complex initiatives and major incident response.
• Empower specialists through effective delegation, coaching and technical leadership.

• Lead, coach and develop Infrastructure and Platform Engineers
• Build a high-performing, collaborative and client-focused team.
• Grow capability across cloud, infrastructure, automation and emerging technologies.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement across platform teams.

• Ensure platforms meet security, performance, availability and service-level objectives.
• Maintain secure connectivity, VPN, certificate, network access control and segmented network services across office, data centre and hybrid environments.
• Strengthen operational resilience through service management, monitoring, backup, disaster recovery and continual improvement.

• Oversee Azure, Microsoft 365, identity, networking and endpoint platforms.
• Maintain secure, compliant and supportable environments.
• Manage lifecycles, patching, upgrades and technical debt reduction.

• Champion platform engineering, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automation and reusable platform patterns across deployment and operations.
• Partner with delivery teams to improve integration, reliability and delivery outcomes.

• Manage suppliers, service providers and technology partners.
• Support budgeting and monitor infrastructure licensing, cloud consumption and operational costs.
• Identify opportunities to optimise spend and maximise value.

• Ensure platforms meet security, governance and compliance requirements
• Prioritise remediation of technical debt and platform vulnerabilities.
• Partner with Information Security to strengthen controls and security posture.

• Lead platform contributions to infrastructure, cloud and technology transformation programmes.
• Coordinate cross-functional resources to deliver platform outcomes on time, within budget and to quality standards.
• Balance strategic delivery with operational priorities and service stability.

• Values-led technology leader experience leading teams in complex hybrid environments.
• Proven ability to lead modernisation, manage competing priorities and integrate hybrid environments.
• Broad expertise across Azure, Microsoft 365, virtualisation, enterprise infrastructure and networking (Aruba, Checkpoint, Veeam), cloud governance, DevOps, automation and IaC (Terraform).
• Experience managing hybrid data centre environments, enterprise storage platforms and hardware lifecycle planning.
• Skilled in architecture standards, security, compliance, observability and operational resilience.
• Clear, pragmatic communicator focused on service excellence, continuous improvement and team performance.
• Strong commercial, vendor and major incident management experience.
• Able to assess emerging technologies and translate them into practical outcomes.
• Desirable: experience with data, analytics, AI platforms, agile delivery and service transition.

At T+T, you’ll be joining a people-focused business where learning, wellbeing, flexibility, and career development matter. 

• Supporting wellbeing: An annual wellbeing allowance, access to 24/7 free nurse consults, free annual flu vaccinations, fresh fruit baskets, and additional leave support when you need it. 
• Inclusion and sustainable by design: Cultural capability training, accessible ways of working, Gender Tick and Rainbow Tick accreditation, and a clear commitment to sustainability, including Net Zero Carbon certification. 
• Investment in your growth: Access to mentoring and leadership development, exposure to a wide range of professional experts and projects, professional memberships, and funded training aligned to your development goals. 
• Support through life’s big moments: Primary carer salary top‑ups for 26 weeks, paid partner leave up to 4 weeks, back‑to‑work coaching, and long‑service leave. 

At T+T, you'll be part of a collaborative and supportive environment where people are encouraged to grow, innovate, and make an impact.

Our value ‘Everyone Matters’ is at the heart of what we do. We’re proud to be an Immigration New Zealand Accredited Employer and a member of Diversity Works. We warmly welcome all applicants, your voice and perspective are valued here.

Apply now 

If you want a role where your work has a visible impact, and where care, judgement, and continuous improvement are valued, we’d love to hear from you.