Date: 23 Apr 2025
Location: Auckland Wide, NZ, 1010
Company: Auckland Council

He angitūtanga: The opportunity
We are seeking a Cloud & Infrastructure Technical Product Owner who can balance strategic vision with hands-on technical expertise. This role requires a forward-thinking individual to establish and articulate a compelling roadmap aligned with organisational strategy, all while ensuring our teams remain focused on delivering value.The ideal candidate will advocate for our technical teams, champion best practices, and create a clear, resonant narrative around how cloud and infrastructure initiatives support our broader business goals


Ngā kawenga matua: Key responsibilities
Strategic Roadmap & Vision

• Work with Product Management and Architecture to develop and communicate a robust, multi-year roadmap for cloud and infrastructure services, ensuring alignment with overarching business and technology strategies.
• Translate strategic objectives into tangible product increments and deliverables that are clearly prioritised and actionable.
• Craft a compelling story around the roadmap to secure stakeholder buy-in and maintain momentum.

Technical Leadership

• Leverage deep expertise in cloud platforms (Azure and AWS) and infrastructure technologies (such as VMware, containerization, CI/CD pipelines, storage and backup) to support architectural decisions.
• Stay current on emerging technologies and trends, ensuring continuous evolution in our thinking around our cloud and infrastructure landscape.

Advocacy & Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the primary liaison between technical teams, business stakeholders, and leadership, articulating the value of cloud and infrastructure initiatives in clear, outcome-focused terms.
• Understand and clearly articulate the current state of the environment and the need to invest in stability and foundations to drive strategic direction.
• Champion the needs and achievements of cloud and infrastructure teams, ensuring they receive the resources and support necessary to succeed.
• Facilitate open dialogue, gather feedback, and make data-driven decisions to refine product direction and priorities.

Backlog & Execution Management

• Own and maintain a well-defined product backlog, ensuring that high-level objectives are broken down into clear user stories or epics with well-documented acceptance criteria.
• Collaborate with delivery teams to plan sprints, manage dependencies, and remove roadblocks, without getting trapped in day-to-day tactical details.
• Continuously evaluate progress against key metrics, adjusting priorities as necessary to maximise value delivery and meet strategic goals.

Risk Management

• Identify potential risks related to cloud and infrastructure projects, developing mitigation strategies to minimise impact on scope, schedule, and budget.
• Maintain clear documentation of decisions, assumptions, and trade-offs to ensure transparent communication of spending rationale.

Delivery Execution
Lean into delivery where needed to ensure we are delivering to committed outcomes.

Ngā pūkenga me ngā wheako: Qualifications & experience
Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience). Advanced degree a plus.

Technical Experience:

• 5+ years in a Product Owner or Product Management role with a deep focus on cloud and infrastructure.
• Proven expertise in at least one major public cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP); broad understanding of virtualization, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and DevOps practices.
• Familiarity with networking, security, monitoring, and backup/disaster recovery best practices in cloud environments.

Methodologies:
Strong understanding of Agile principles, and sAFE, and associated tooling (e.g., ADO).

Soft Skills:

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to create and articulate long-term vision while balancing short-term needs.
• Communication: Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, adept at tailoring messages to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Comfortable working with diverse stakeholder groups, including executives, architects, engineers, and external partners.
• Problem-Solving: Capable of analyzing complex technical challenges and driving innovative solutions.
• Leadership: Servant leader mindset, with the ability to influence without authority and build consensus around shared objectives.