Head of Strategic Finance

Te Tākinatanga | Our Story

Shape the future of energy in Aotearoa. Join Contact Energy at a pivotal moment as we reimagine Finance for a new era.

Contact Energy is building a better New Zealand – leading the energy transition through bold investment, customer connection, and unmatched commitment to renewable generation. We believe home is the most important place in the world; it's all part of our vision to leave Aotearoa better than we found it. Finance is at the heart of this ambition, and right now, we’re transforming how we work with a new vision, new structure, and new ways of enabling the business.

We’re a power, mobile, and broadband company, but we’re so much more than that. We are transforming the ways we mahi, and how Aotearoa is powered, leading the charge on renewable energy and digitising customer journeys in ways not yet seen here. A team of 1000+ from all walks of life who love what we do, look out for each other, and learn from one another every day, we’re stoked to be guided by our tikanga: we touch lives to make life better.

As a Head of Strategic Finance, you’ll step into a newly created role within a future-focused, empowered Finance team. This is your chance to help shape strategy, drive performance, and safeguard trust across the enterprise – all while growing your own career in a team that’s united, collaborative, and genuinely excited about what’s ahead.

Kōrero mō te tūranga | About the role

Why this is an exciting opportunity

• Be part of real change: Contact is in an exceptionally strong position, with positive momentum and more growth on the horizon. You’ll join a Finance function that’s positioning itself as a true enabler – freeing people up to do what they do best, removing roadblocks, and adding significant value to both the business and personal development.
• Senior influence: This is like a divisional CFO role for Retail – you’ll be the go-to person for our Chief Retail Officer on all finance and commercial matters, shaping initiatives and aligning financial priorities with enterprise goals.
• Matrix leadership: You’ll work in a connected matrix model, working and governing across technical disciplines and providing pastoral care and development for your direct reports, while enabling them to work flexibly across initiatives and value streams.
• Culture of growth: The team is united, supportive, and fun – bringing outstanding commercial nous and doing great things for Contact and Aotearoa. Flexible working is the norm, with a high-trust, people-first leadership style.

What you’ll do

• Act as a strategic partner to business units and leadership, embedding Finance early in decision-making and influencing outcomes.
• Represent Contact externally, maintaining trust and effective relationships.
• Lead and coordinate finance priorities, ensuring timely, high-quality delivery.
• Govern technical disciplines, develop capability, and uphold professional standards.
• Foster people development, coaching and mentoring team members.
• Steward the future Finance operating model, role-modelling change leadership.
• Shape policy and long-term strategy, contributing to enterprise-wide frameworks.
• Champion growth and inclusion, creating a culture of accountability and development.

What success looks like

• Influencing enterprise outcomes with commercial insight and financial discipline.
• Delivering value from every dollar, driving cost, quality, innovation, and resilience.
• Building trust across boundaries, engaging with senior leaders and cross-functional teams.
• Embedding governance and control, ensuring audit-readiness and compliance.
• Leading with agility, adapting to change and helping teams navigate complexity.
• Streamlining how we work, unlocking efficiency and leveraging technology.

Ko wai koe | About you

You’re commercially astute, collaborative, and bring a genuine growth mindset. You’re excited by change, comfortable with ambiguity, and passionate about enabling others to succeed. You value diversity, inclusion, and the opportunity to make a real impact – not just for Contact, but for Aotearoa.

What you’ll bring

Must-haves

• 15+ years post-qualification experience in finance, strategy, risk and control, or financial leadership within a large, listed company.
• Proven experience leading high-impact transformation within finance functions.
• Demonstrated leadership capability, including people development and cross-functional collaboration.
• Deep technical expertise at a senior level with governance responsibility in one or more finance disciplines (e.g. financial planning, investment analysis, risk, treasury, tax, capital management, performance reporting, commercial finance, investor relations, financial digital enablement).
• Experience in matrixed environments, with the ability to lead project teams, value streams, and technical disciplines.
• Strong stakeholder management, including Board, supplier relationships, industry engagement, and regulatory compliance.
• Strategic foresight, linking short-term business strategy to long-term success factors.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience working in a matrix model, or a genuine belief in its benefits – this is a rare set-up in New Zealand, so openness and adaptability are key.
• Breadth of commercial acumen across all finance disciplines, rather than deep expertise in one area.
• Familiarity with agile ways of working and a growth mindset.
• Ability to thrive in a culture of continual improvement and change.

Ready to shape the future?

If you’re looking for a senior role where you can make a difference, grow your career, and be part of a supportive, future-ready team, we’d love to hear from you.

We support our people to work how, where and when works the best. This role would be best placed in Auckland, Tauranga or Wellington; however this role can be fully remote, and we’re open to applications from all over Aotearoa.

Contact is not a place you’ll stagnate. We are growing and offer superb learning and development opportunities along with a bunch of other perks like free health insurance cover, boosted KiwiSaver, access to Contact Shares, a ‘Good to be Home’ annual payment toward your home set up & wellbeing, a trail-blazing parental leave policy, discounts on Contact Energy products, and more.

This ad will close automatically on Wednesday 5th November but we’re considering applications as they come in so apply now if you’re interested.

Here at Contact Energy (Te Mata Hiko), we know our strength lies in developing a sense of belonging - one that helps us attract and retain people with a broad range of perspectives and experiences.

We’re committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to bring their whole selves to work. Our goal is to reflect the diversity of our customers and communities to help build a better Aotearoa New Zealand.

We have a rich community of talented people that we support to thrive at Contact.

Our inclusive hiring process is designed to embrace the diversity of Aotearoa New Zealand, ensuring a wide range of perspectives are included in our decision-making and helping reduce bias along the way.

The wellbeing of our kaimahi is super important to us.

We use employee insights to offer a range of initiatives and resources to support physical, mental, financial and emotional wellbeing – including flexible working arrangements, employee network groups and a market-leading parental leave policy.

At Te Mata Hiko, we want everyone to thrive. We welcome applicants far and wide - of every age, stage, background, and pride. Join us and be part of a team that values your passion and attitude just as much as your experience and skills.

Please note, only candidates with the right to live and work in New Zealand will be considered for this role.

Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet 60% of the criteria, women and those in underrepresented groups tend to only apply if they tick every box. We're not about box ticking, so if you think you have what it takes but don't meet everything stated above, please still get in touch. We'd love to kōrero.

Te Mata Hiko (Contact Energy) does not accept any CVs received from recruitment agencies where a formal engagement has not been confirmed and agreed to with our Talent team. In the event that unsolicited CVs are submitted by recruitment agencies, Te Mata Hiko (Contact Energy) reserves the right to contact these candidates directly and consider them for current/future vacancies without any financial obligation to the recruitment agency in question. This will also apply to any CVs sent directly to line managers.