Hybrid Staff/Principal Software Engineer

at Auror

• Job title: Staff/Principal Software Engineer
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Lead
• Salary: NZ$147,000 - NZ$190,000 per year
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: Cloud, Distributed Systems, React, TypeScript, .NET
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Auckland, New Zealand

About the role

• Staff/Principal Software Engineer developing software solutions to combat theft in retail. Join Auror's dynamic engineering team and leverage technology for social good.

Responsibilities

• We are hiring at two senior levels: Staff and Principal Software Engineer. During the process, we’ll assess with you where your experience and impact best align.
• Staff Engineer (IC4): At this level, you are a strong individual contributor who tackles complex technical challenges directly through the code you write. You'll act as a key technical leader and decision maker within your team, guiding and mentoring engineers to help them grow and succeed. Your expertise will be crucial in shaping the technical direction for your team and, on occasion, contributing to broader strategic initiatives that deliver significant business outcomes and raise the engineering bar across Auror.
• Principal Engineer (IC5): Building on the foundation of a Staff Engineer, you are a key driver of technical and strategic direction across the organization. You will bring clarity to Auror's most complex and ambiguous challenges, and your expertise will be essential in navigating high-stakes initiatives where you are accountable for directing the delivery of critical outcomes. You'll serve as a trusted thought leader and mentor, elevating the technical bar and empowering our engineering teams to navigate complexity and scale effectively, working closely with engineering leadership.

Requirements

• Bias to action & ownership: You take full ownership of complex problem spaces bringing urgency, focus, and accountability. You’re not afraid to make pragmatic calls, remove blockers, and drive initiatives forward, even in the face of ambiguity or lack of consensus.
• Technical mastery and judgment: Strong expertise in React, TypeScript, C# .NET Core, and cloud-native architectures. You know how to design distributed systems with clear domain boundaries that balance scalability, performance, security, and usability, and you can articulate trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strategic thinking: Ability to think holistically about the long-term impact of your work, guiding technical decisions that align with product and company strategy. You bring clarity to complex, ambiguous problems and help chart the course forward.
• Collaboration and communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to create shared understanding across engineering, product, design, and external stakeholders.
• Mentorship and leadership: A passion for growing others whether through direct mentorship, coaching, or by setting examples in technical excellence and pragmatic decision-making. You help raise the bar for the team and build a strong engineering culture.
• Execution in complexity: You break down large, ambiguous problems into tangible, incremental value. Applying strong domain-driven design, you build simple, evolvable architectures that balance speed and learning with resilience and quality.
• AI integration mindset: Curiosity and thoughtfulness in leveraging AI tools and LLMs as force multipliers accelerating delivery and enhancing engineering practices in responsible and scalable ways.
• Values-driven engineering: An interest in topics that extend beyond code, this includes privacy, ethics, security, and how technology can be harnessed for good. You care deeply about the societal impact of the systems you build.

Benefits

• Competitive salary Range: Depending on level of experience of IC4/IC5 ($147,000 - $190,000)
• Employee share scheme: You’ll own part of a company making a real difference!
• Flexibility: We are hard-working and outcome focused, but recognise there is more to life than work. We promote a healthy work/life blend.
• Shorter work weeks (at full pay): Everyone gets Friday afternoons off, so you can start your weekend early, and do more of whatever it is that makes you happy.
• Health Care Plan: In partnership with Nib, Auror covers 100% of the cost of your individual health insurance plan.
• Focus on mental and physical health: We understand how vital our health is and have policies to support your wellness, including: Wellness Days, and up to three expert sessions paid for every year.
• Family-friendly: We offer comprehensive parental leave and benefits for primary and non-primary caregivers, including a baby bonus and meals delivered to your door.
• Personal growth: We support our team to participate in courses, conferences, or events that will help them develop their skills.
• Team love: We have regular team lunches and social events where most (if not all) activities are during work hours.