Engineering jobs

Here’s your chance to combine outstanding professional opportunities with a lifestyle you just won’t find anywhere else.

Imagine being able to apply and develop your skills in a busy and varied engineering environment – then in half an hour or less, be relaxing on a beach, hiking through beautiful native bush, pounding down a mountain bike track or just chilling with friends in your back garden over a fine New Zealand craft beer or wine.

That’s what you can look forward to when you bring your skills to New Zealand.

Infrastructure renewal creating jobs

New Zealand is investing heavily in infrastructure right now to modernise existing assets, prepare for climate change and to help grow the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

An estimated $129 billion is to be spent on capital projects between 2019 and 2029. 

The government in 2020 announced a $15 billion surge of infrastructure projects in a New Zealand Upgrade programme, with special emphasis on roading and transport, hospitals and schools.

This is in addition to already unprecedented infrastructure investment. An estimated $129 billion is expected to be spent on capital projects between 2019 and 2029.

New housing developments are also underway across New Zealand, needing skills in land development, traffic and water infrastructure.

Is your profession on the green list?

There are many engineering roles currently on INZ's fast-tracked Residency Green list.

The Green List | Immigration New Zealand

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A leading engineering recruitment agency has identified five particularly ‘hot’ skills in demand: civil engineers with land development experience; Stormwater and Three Waters engineers; Land Surveyors; Structural engineers; and Geotechnical engineers

The agency comments that Demand for engineering skills is particularly strong in the North Island. Activity in Canterbury/Christchurch is less, but there is still strong competition for civil, structural and building professionals there since many Canterbury firms are working on projects in other parts of the South Island.

Auckland also Waikato (Hamilton) and Bay of Plenty (Tauranga)

  • Civil Design Engineers
  • Civil Engineers with experience roads, rail, tunnelling or water and in land development
  • Geotechnical engineers
  • Land Surveyors and Survey Technicians
  • Planners, especially Resource Consent planners
  • Stormwater and Three Waters Engineers
  • Structural Engineers
  • Structural Revit Drafters
  • Transport Planners and Engineers

Wellington

  • Building Services Engineers (Mechanical and Electrical)
  • Civil Engineers experienced in land development
  • Civil Infrastructure Engineers
  • Geometric Designers
  • Site and Project Engineers
  • Structural Engineers, especially with seismic project experience

Christchurch / South Island

  • Civil Engineers across multiple sectors
  • Geotechnical Engineers 
  • Generation, Power Systems and Substation Design engineers
  • Land Surveyors
  • Qualified Mechanical/Electrical Engineers (Building Services, High Voltage)
  • Stormwater and Three Waters Engineers 
  • Structural Engineers, especially with seismic project experience

Hays Jobs Report| Hays Engineering

Engineering jobs
02:20
Engineers on construction site
View transcript

Engineering

Peter Mathewson:

Our business is an infrastructure business, we are involved with all aspects of infrastructure, development and maintenance.

So that could be buildings, roads, bridges, waste treatment plants, reticulation systems, what ever it takes I guess to support life, more or less.

In New Zealand we have about 1650 staff, we are the largest engineering consultant in New Zealand.

Infrastructure is a very important part to New Zealand economy. The Government in recession, to stimulate the economy it needed to stimulate infrastructure development. The engineering and construction marketplace generally has done reasonably well.

New Zealanders are just generally innovative, and inventive. We find that we can make a dollar probably last a little bit longer and go a bit further in New Zealand than people overseas just because we have to.

We’ve currently got a worldwide recruitment campaign on the go for structural and technical engineers and we’re marketing in across Europe, Ireland, through the UK, through Europe, Canada and USA.

So engineering is very transferable, we have a real diverse mix of staff within New Zealand, we 32 have different nationalities. Its neat that we have people with different engineering experiences from around the world its great it adds value. The different cultures add value as well too and make it an interesting mix of people to work with.

We have an interesting culture in our business; we have a very family oriented business. New Zealand businesses have slightly less formal structures to them, than we find in other parts of the world.

One of the fundamental differences that we see when people do come to New Zealand is, they come for lifestyle, so they come for the clean green image, they come for the quality of life, the access to beaches and to forests and it’s a different way of life, far more relaxed way of life I think.

New Zealand has got a nice friendly culture anyhow, we are just a welcoming sort of group of people, it’s just the way the nation is I guess. It’s an easy place to move around, the quality of life is pretty good, the standard of living is excellent.

Most people within New Zealand if they have to travel more than about 15 minutes think that’s a hardship. I think that’s what some people see when they do come to New Zealand – particularly from the UK where they might travel up to 2 hours to get to the office, that just doesn’t happen within New Zealand so you have more time.

End

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Engineers needed

Engineering skills are in chronic short-supply in New Zealand. 

We have approximately 74,000 working as engineers or in related roles. It is estimated we need 1,500 more each year just to match economic growth, let alone replace engineers who retire or move onto other jobs.

Getting started

The first step usually is finding a job.

Check out where your skills will fit best and which employers are looking for your expertise. 

Start by visiting the professional body’s own jobs website.

Engineering jobs | Engineering New Zealand

Other job sites to explore

Professional registration

Depending on your specialty, you may be required to register with a professional body in order to get a job and visa. In any case, getting a visa may be more straightforward if you are able to obtain professional registration in New Zealand.

More details are on Engineering New Zealand’s website.

Chartered Professional Engineer | Engineering New Zealand

Occupational registration | Immigration New Zealand

Migrant networking group  

Engineering New Zealand has set up a Special Interest Group for Immigrant Engineers  - SIGIE.

SIGIE aims to help settle migrant engineers into meaningful professional employment in New Zealand. Objectives include continued training, professional development, employment and career counselling and social and work opportunity networking. 

Special interest group for immigrant engineers | Engineering New Zealand

Visa options

There are various types of visas that you may be eligible to apply for. 

Work visas are for a temporary stay in New Zealand, but some can lead to residence.

Resident visas let you stay indefinitely and access more state-funded public services.

Visas for New Zealand

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