Senior Software Engineer - Platform

About Halter

Halter is dedicated to empowering farmers and graziers to maximize productivity and sustainability, transforming traditional practices through innovative technology. Our customers experience the remarkable ease of managing livestock without the conventional constraints such as quad bikes, dogs, or fences—visualizing cattle moving calmly and autonomously. Our mission-driven team is focused on creating impactful solutions alongside a high-achieving and caring culture, backed by prominent global investors.

Role Overview

Join Halter's Platform team and become integral in building and maintaining the foundational systems that support hardware, software, and AI operating live on farms worldwide. This platform ensures reliable, secure, and scalable infrastructure that underpins every collar, grazing management, and alert system.

Key Responsibilities

• Advance internal AI tools from engineering usage to company-wide adoption by developing guidelines and identifying effective use cases.
• Create streamlined development tools, guardrails, and standardized pathways that empower engineers to deliver quickly and securely.
• Guide technical decisions around cloud infrastructure architecture balancing speed, expense, security, and ease of operation on a global scale.
• Implement robust security practices integrated into platform engineering—including identity and access management, network policies, secret handling, and supply chain safeguards.
• Ensure continuous reliability and scalability of core computing and orchestration systems vital to farm operations.
• Enhance observability and incident response capabilities so engineers can proactively identify and resolve issues before impacting users.
• Automate infrastructure management using Infrastructure-as-Code, continuous delivery pipelines, and internal automation tools to reduce operational burden.
• Participate actively in cross-team architecture discussions to evolve practices focusing on sustainable yet pragmatic delivery.
• Mentor teammates through collaborative design reviews, code critiques, and sharing extensive context.
• Engage in on-call rotations to address incidents quickly while establishing preventative actions.

Candidate Profile

• Extensive experience with large-scale AWS deployments, including containerization, cloud networking, and Infrastructure-as-Code expertise (Terraform experience preferred).
• Proven history of delivering impactful platform or infrastructure solutions in dynamic, fast-growing environments.
• Strong appreciation for developer experience with a track record of creating accessible internal platforms or "golden paths" that encourage best practices.
• Security-first mindset with hands-on experience fortifying cloud platforms against threats.
• Enthusiastic about AI's role in software development, with insights on optimizing benefits and mitigating risks; bonus for AI tooling or agent creation experience.
• Proficient in building observable, testable, and maintainable systems at scale.
• Excellent communication skills for cross-team collaboration, design, and code review.
• Calm under pressure, humble, and committed to elevating teammates through clear knowledge sharing.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguous problems with pragmatic judgement.
• Bonus: Backend product development background to better connect platform impact with product needs.
• Formal software engineering degree preferred but not mandatory.

Why Work at Halter?

• Be part of New Zealand's fastest-growing technology company with a mission to positively transform farming livelihoods and sustainability.
• Collaborate with a talented, diverse, and passionate team dedicated to tackling meaningful challenges.
• Enjoy autonomy and continuous learning supported by a $1,000 personal growth budget annually.
• Work in a modern, dog-friendly office in central Auckland featuring thoughtful design and a welcoming atmosphere.
• Comprehensive health insurance partnership to support well-being.
• Parental leave benefits including six months paid leave for primary caregivers and four weeks for secondary caregivers, along with additional family support.
• Flexible leave policies including unlimited paid holiday and wellness leave.
• Competitive remuneration including salary, benefits, and employee stock ownership plans.
• Free daily snacks and drinks to keep you energized.

Commitment to Diversity

Halter fosters an inclusive environment where all individuals are encouraged to apply even if they do not meet every criteria perfectly. We value unique perspectives and are eager to find candidates who will excel and thrive in our culture.