Technical Product Owner - Communications

New Zealand Police is working with the community to make New Zealanders be safe and feel safe. With over 13,000 staff, we provide policing services 24 hours a day, every day. We operate by land, sea and air, manage over 860,000 emergency calls a year and are always actively preventing crime and crashes.

We’re working towards specific goals and targets that highlight our intent to work collaboratively with iwi and communities, other government sectors and business partners to deliver ‘Our Business’ and achieve long-term change.

Technical product Owner Communications - Delivering resilient and secure voice communications!  

• Based at Royal NZ Police college Porirua Wellington
• Grade 21
• Police Employee
• Permanent/ Full Time
• NAV
• JR 5172400

E tῡ ki te kei o te waka, kia pakia koe e ngā ngaru o te wā.

Stand at the stern of the canoe and feel the spray of the future biting at your face

Mō te tūnga | About the role

We seek a visionary leader to manage and modernise our nationwide large-scale enterprise and mission critical communications platforms. NZ Police are looking for an experienced technical leader to drive both modernisation efforts and to manage a team of communications engineers to deliver the Communications Product as the Technical Product Owner – Communications.

We require a unified communications technology professional with the drive and passion to ensure that; New Zealanders can call NZ Police in an emergency, and can call police in a non-emergency, whenever they need it.

We seek someone with strong experience in modern voice communications technologies, including cloud-based technologies who can advocate for and modernise the capability within Police. This includes leading continuous improvement across a range of existing technology products

The technologies that you will provide to your customers nationally as Technical Product Owner, Communications include: -

• Emergency and Non-Emergency Call Centre platform
• Corporate IP Telephony platform
• Voice recording platforms
• Voice console technologies
• Secure Voice Communications
• Collaboration technologies

The Technical Product Owner is a key member of a product development team. They are responsible for managing the product backlog and overseeing the development of products from start to finish to ensure they meet the customers’ needs and priority. They determine the overall vision of their product(s), in accordance with the customers’ future needs.

The Technical Product Owner will track key performance indicators for their products to measure the success, including user engagement and customer satisfaction, identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions about future product development. They manage the delivery of maintenance/sustainment, break/fix and enhancements, utilising the team of networking and security engineers and vendor support contracts.

The Technical Product Owner provides day-to-day delivery leadership to the product team, including the tasking of responsibilities and feedback to Practice Leads on the delivery performance of people within their product team. They also provide advice and feedback to Practice Managers to support the ongoing development of the required technical capability and capacity to meet customer demand.

Additionally, the Technical Product Owner will communicate and collaborate with stakeholders, customers, and the development team to ensure that the product backlog is aligned with business goals and objectives.

Key Accountabilities:

The key accountability of the Technical Product Owner role is to be the technical conduit between the customer, the product manager, and the product team. 

• Proven ability and product knowledge in this product area to be able to provide leadership and mentor the team, 
• Strong leadership and interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with other cross-functional teams, 
• Ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with stakeholders, customers, and the product team to ensure that the product backlog is aligned with business goals and objectives, 
• Strong planning and organising skills, including knowledge of Agile practices, to provide feedback and guidance to the product team, 
• Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with people at all levels of an organisation, 
• Ability to lead and manage a team of highly skilled, technical experts in this field. 

He aha taau e kawe mai | What you’ll bring

Whilst we are looking for skills, knowledge and experience relevant to the role, we also place high importance on your state of mind, the alignment of your values with ours, your ability to contribute to and build high performing teams, and the way that you lead yourself or others.

To be successful an applicant would need to demonstrate the following skills to various levels of expertise: 

• A technical understanding or appreciation for the product. 
• The use and future technical direction of travel related to the product
• Experience leading cross functional teams that include suppliers
• Strong understanding of Agile methodologies, principles, and practices
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and leadership skills
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills
• Ability to prioritise and manage multiple tasks and deadlines in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. 

Whakaritenga motuhake | Special requirements

This role is based in the Wellington area. Some travel may be required.

Applicants will be required to undergo reference, prior to any written offer being made.  

This role is set at Strategic Leader level, this means your key purpose is “to lead the strategy, Our Business, and enable our people to deliver it”.

To view the position description for this role please copy and paste this link into a new browser:

https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/pd/03-2024/technical_product_owner_3.pdf

Mo tātou | About us

New Zealand Police is the lead agency responsible for preventing crime and enhancing community safety. It works in partnership with individuals, communities, businesses, and other public sector agencies towards the vision of making New Zealand the safest country. Police is the government’s largest front-line response agency with around 15,000 staff in large and small communities all over New Zealand and in liaison and policing development roles overseas.

Your development is highly valued at NZ Police. Our employees enjoy significant investment in their development not only at an individual level, but also at the team and community practice level. We work hard to match you with work that will both play to your strengths and challenge you in new ways.

The work you’ll be engaged in is real, tangible work that directly benefits our frontline and communities. Taken all together, this means we can offer you career path opportunities to progress in your chosen profession and become a more well-rounded, experienced leader, with opportunities across the range of work we support.

To view more detailed information about our recruitment process along with further details about requirements please click below link:

Applicant Information Pack (Internal)

Tono ināianei | Apply now

If this position sounds like you, click apply now and submit a tailored CV. You will be required to submit an application form. Before confirmation of hire, pre-employment checks will be undertaken which include reference, drug and alcohol testing  and police vetting prior to any written offer being made.

For further information on the application process, please copy and paste this URL: https://www.police.govt.nz/careers

All applications must be submitted online and will not be accepted directly via email. All applicants must have the right to work in New Zealand.

If you are an internal applicant, you must apply internally through the police system. You must provide an alternative contact email address and state your future commitments should you be successful in the next stage of the recruitment process. 

Please note: Deadline for applications is 5:00 pm on 2nd April 2025. Applications may be reviewed prior to the close date as well as contact made with candidates.

Interviews are tentatively scheduled for end of April 2025

If you have any questions about this vacancy, please contact deepa.shankar@police.govt.nz