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ZURU

Data & AI Engineer

Auckland | New Zealand
Level
Mid
Work type
On-site · Auckland

Not stated in the posting: salary, visa.

Open. First seen 2 October 2026.

Apply on the company's site →

About the role

Own the data platform behind a global business, shape how ZURU uses data and AI, and build systems that directly drive real-world decisions.

ZURU's standard text

About ZURU

ZURU is a reimagination company. We look for categories that have stood still, then we build next-generation products and brands that set the new standard. ZURU Toys is reimagining play. ZURU Edge is reinventing everyday consumer brands. Rhodes Pet Science is reimagining pet science. ZURU Tech is leading the next building revolution.

ZURU started in 2003 with two brothers from New Zealand, and we're still founder-owned and operated today. Since then we've become the world's second-biggest privately held toy company, and nearly half of all Gen Y and Gen Z households with kids in the US own a ZURU product. Today we're 5,000 people in 34 offices, selling into more than 150 markets, backed by over 100 acres of fully automated manufacturing. And we're only getting started.

YOUR ROLE

As a Data & AI Engineer, you'll own data pipelines that power real business decisions across ZURU's global operations. Working with Databricks, dbt, Fivetran and AWS, you'll design and run production systems end to end, from ingestion through to the models the business actually reports on. You'll take full ownership of your domains and help shape how the platform evolves.

This role sits at the centre of data-driven decision-making at ZURU. You'll build reliable, well-modelled data products, drive up data quality, and make the platform easier and safer for everyone to build on. Your work determines whether commercial, marketing and logistics teams can trust and act on their numbers, and you'll have a direct hand in the direction of ZURU's data platform and AI capability.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Design, build and own production data pipelines ingesting from SAP, retail POS systems, logistics platforms and marketing channels
  • Lead migrations of legacy pipelines into modern, scalable architectures, including the design decisions and cutover plan
  • Model data for analytics and AI use cases, setting the standards others follow
  • Build observability, testing and alerting into pipelines so issues surface before the business finds them
  • Improve platform infrastructure and tooling, and reduce operational toil through automation
  • Partner directly with commercial, marketing and logistics stakeholders to turn ambiguous asks into well-scoped datasets
  • Review others' work and mentor junior engineers on SQL, Python and pipeline design
  • Contribute to governance, documentation and platform standards, and to AI-assisted workflows across the team

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

  • 3+ years of experience building and running data pipelines in production
  • Advanced SQL, including performance tuning on large datasets
  • Strong Python for pipelines, automation and tooling, with a working knowledge of software engineering practice (version control, testing, code review)
  • Hands-on experience with dbt and a cloud data platform (Databricks, Snowflake, BigQuery or Redshift)
  • Proven experience with orchestration, and a track record of debugging and hardening pipelines that fail in production
  • Comfortable owning delivery end to end and working through ambiguity without close direction
  • Clear communicator who documents decisions and can explain trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders

Bonus

  • Spark, streaming, or large-scale distributed processing
  • AWS (or equivalent) and infrastructure-as-code such as Terraform
  • CI/CD for data, data contracts, or data quality frameworks
  • Exposure to LLM or AI-driven data workflows
  • Experience mentoring engineers or leading a workstream
ZURU's standard text

Who thrives at ZURU

This isn't a 9-to-5. We move fast, think big and set goals most companies would call impossible, then go after them. The people who thrive here are entrepreneurs at heart. They own their work, chase bold ideas and never stop raising the bar.

At ZURU, you drive your career, and we give you the platform to take it as far as you can. There are opportunities here that you won’t find anywhere else, and you'll be surrounded by talented people who make things happen. We're a true meritocracy: we reward impact, not tenure.

How we work

Big ideas happen when great people work side by side, so we're office-first by design. Being together means faster collaboration, sharper decisions and stronger teams, and it's where the real learning happens. Some flexibility may be available depending on the role, location and business needs, but most roles are office-based.

Want to see what life at ZURU really looks like? Follow LIFE@ZURU on Instagram or www.zuru.com

ZURU's standard text

ZURU – Reimagining tomorrow 🚀

ZURU may use AI tools to help screen, assess or select applicants.

What this role asks for

Standard for data science / ML roles

LLM · Python · SQL

Common in data science / ML postings at any company.

66% of this description is written for the role. The rest is ZURU's standard text, folded away below.

Compared with ZURU's other open jobs.

The team: IT HIRES STEADILY

This role is one of 4 open in IT. 3 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in May: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

AWS (3 of 4), Databricks (3 of 4), dbt (3 of 4), Python (3 of 4), BigQuery (2 of 4), CI/CD (2 of 4), Fivetran (2 of 4)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on ZURU's own job board.

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