Principal Water Specialist

Location

Auckland Central, New Zealand

Country

New Zealand

Contract type

Permanent

Work pattern

Variable Hours, Full Time

Market

Water

Discipline

Water

Job ref

Recruiter contact

Matt McKenzie

Monitoring Team Lead – Empower your team to deliver great results

At Mott MacDonald New Zealand, we're driven by a shared purpose : to improve society through innovation, integrity, and excellence. Our network insights team plays a vital role in safeguarding Aotearoa's water infrastructure by installing and managing water and wastewater network monitoring equipment with a particular focus on wastewater flow and level. Due to significant growth in workload we are looking for a Monitoring Team Lead to help lead this team into its next chapter of growth and impact.

This is more than a technical role — it's a leadership opportunity to guide a high-performing crew, mentor emerging talent, and ensure the safe, efficient, and high-quality delivery of water and wastewater monitoring programs that support major infrastructure upgrades and environmental stewardship.

Why this role matters

As a Monitoring Team Lead, you'll be at the helm of a team that delivers critical data and insights to engineers, scientists, and decision-makers. Your leadership will foster a culture of safety, collaboration, and excellence, ensuring our field operations are not only effective but also empowering and inclusive.

What you'll do

• Lead and manage a growing team of Water Technicians and field crew across multiple projects to install, calibrate, maintain and remove network monitoring equipment in water and wastewater networks with a focus on wastewater flow and level monitoring.
• Oversee team outputs, ensuring quality, consistency, and timely delivery of monitoring data
• Champion health and safety, especially in confined spaces and high-risk environments, with a strong focus on wellbeing and compliance
• Mentor and support new joiners, fostering technical growth and career development
• Coordinate field operations, including scheduling, logistics, and resource planning
• Review and interpret data trends, providing strategic insights to internal and external stakeholders
• Collaborate with engineers, scientists, and clients to deliver impactful project outcomes

What's in it for you

This principal-level role offers significant opportunities for leadership, influence, and professional growth :

You'll be supported with comprehensive training, safety equipment, vaccinations, and ongoing career development. We're committed to helping you grow your impact—professionally and personally.

About you

We're looking for someone who :

A background in hydrology, instrumentation, plumbing, drainlaying, building, or contracting is valuable. Experience leading technical or field-based teams is essential.

Our culture

At Mott MacDonald, we value diversity, collaboration, and wellbeing. We're committed to inclusive hiring and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive. If this role resonates with you—even if you don't meet every requirement—we encourage you to apply.

We offer :

Let's shape a better future together.

If you're ready to lead with purpose, inspire others, and contribute to projects that matter, we'd love to hear from you.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We put equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our business, seeking to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they have the opportunity to contribute.

Agile working

At Mott MacDonald, we believe it makes business sense for you and your manager to choose how you can work most effectively to meet your client, team and personal commitments. We embrace agility, flexibility and trust.