_{18th August, 2026}

 
Mō mātou | About us
 
Waikato Waters is a brand-new, publicly owned water utility bringing together water and wastewater services across the Waikato region — built from the ground up to deliver for communities today and for generations to come.
 
Te tūranga | The role
 
This is an opportunity to lead a maintenance planning function that will support one of New Zealand's newest water utilities.
 
Reporting to the Engineering Manager, you'll lead a specialist team responsible for planning, prioritising and optimising maintenance across our water and wastewater assets. Working closely with Operations, Asset Management and Capital Delivery, you'll ensure maintenance is risk-based, practical and aligned with operational priorities, helping improve asset reliability, reduce repeat failures and support safe, reliable services for our communities.
 
While the primary focus is maintenance planning and reliability, you'll work alongside engineering and operational teams to help troubleshoot complex operational issues and contribute to process optimisation initiatives that improve performance across our networks.
 
This is a leadership role for someone who enjoys combining technical expertise with people leadership, collaboration and continuous improvement.
 
Ō mahi | What you'll do

• Lead and develop a high-performing maintenance planning team.
• Work alongside maintenance engineers, process engineers and operational teams to identify recurring equipment and process issues, support troubleshooting, and implement practical improvements that enhance reliability, maintainability and operational performance.
• Develop and continuously improve preventative, predictive and corrective maintenance programmes.
• Translate asset condition, operational risk and maintenance strategies into practical, executable work programmes.
• Partner with Operations, Asset Management and Capital Delivery to ensure maintenance activities are prioritised and coordinated effectively.
• Monitor maintenance performance, asset reliability and programme delivery, using data and insights to drive continuous improvement.
• Balance planned maintenance with reactive operational demands to optimise resources and minimise customer impacts.
• Provide technical leadership that improves long-term asset performance, operational resilience and regulatory compliance.
• Help shape how maintenance planning evolves as Waikato Waters continues to grow.

Ō pūkenga | What you'll bring
 
You're an experienced maintenance, reliability or operations engineer who enjoys solving complex operational problems, leading people and driving continuous improvement.
 
You'll bring:

• A tertiary qualification in Engineering, Asset Management or a related discipline.
• Significant experience in maintenance planning, maintenance engineering or operational engineering within water, wastewater, utilities or other complex infrastructure environments.
• Experience leading technical teams and developing capability.
• Strong understanding of maintenance strategies, asset reliability and risk-based planning.
• The ability to work collaboratively across engineering, operations and asset management functions.
• Experience using operational data and asset performance information to improve maintenance outcomes.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence, prioritise and make sound engineering decisions.

Experience in water or wastewater operations will be highly regarded.
 
He aha ai mātou | Why join us
 
This is more than a maintenance planning role—it's an opportunity to lead a function that underpins the performance and reliability of critical water infrastructure across the Waikato.
 
You'll join a collaborative engineering team where your ideas will influence how maintenance is planned, prioritised and delivered.
 
Waikato Waters is being built once — and you'd be part of that. He waka eke noa, we are all in this together. The work is meaningful, the impact is visible, and the team we're building is genuinely exceptional. We offer competitive remuneration, health and life insurance, flexible working where the role allows, and the opportunity to make a genuine difference to our communities. To learn more about us, visit www.waikatowaters.co.nz
 
Me pēhea te tono | How to apply
 
If you're ready to move beyond day-to-day maintenance and into a role where you'll influence strategy, asset reliability and long-term engineering outcomes, we'd love to hear from you. Applications close Thursday, 17 September (unless filled sooner). For a full position description contact us via recruitment@waikatowaters.co.nz and we will respond as soon as possible.

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