People Development Manager

At Halter, we're tackling the core issue of lifting production on farms for our growing population whilst decreasing emissions. We do this by turning real-world farming problems into software with the use of smart hardware, and a cloud-based system to more efficiently run these farms. Our world-first technology helps farmers break free from the time-intensive constraints of conventional farming and empowers a more sustainable future for farmers, their animals, and the land. Halter gives farmers the freedom to spend more time with their families, the technology to increase production and meet the growing demand for food, and the data to help them care for their animals.

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Founded in 2016, Halter has developed a revolutionary farm management system. We fit our solar-powered GPS-enabled smart collars to every cow on the farm. We then equip farmers with a simple app for managing their cows. This system enables farmers to remotely shift, virtually fence and proactively monitor their cow’s health, feed and behaviour - all through their phones. Scaling rapidly onto farms across New Zealand, we have the privilege of working together with exceptional farmers including some of the largest farms in the country. We care deeply for our farmers and their animals, with our customers heavily involved in product development and animal welfare core to our culture.

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Our work is turning heads. In 2021, Halter won in two categories at the NZ Hi-Tech Awards. Our Board comprises tier 1 Silicon Valley investors who have backed the world's best technology companies such as SpaceX, Tesla, Airbnb and Spotify. We’re also fortunate to have Rocket Lab CEO, Peter Beck, as an investor and Board member. We hire the world's best people and provide an epic environment for them to thrive in. Our culture is unique; we care about high performance, about each other, and we're passionate about making a difference for our customers.

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About the role

Our Product & Engineering teams build and maintain the platform that supports this transformation of our customers’ farms. Our success depends on world-class leadership of the amazing humans on our Engineering teams. However, too often in our industry we hear of great technical contributors moving into people leadership roles in order to progress in their careers, only to realise it’s a different job requiring very different skills.

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At Halter, we strongly believe that everyone deserves to experience both world-class technical leadership as well as world-class people leadership, and recognise that these often come from different sources. We also want to create opportunities for talent at Halter to grow into technical or people leadership roles, with no benefit or penalty for choosing either path.

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We’re looking for an incredible people leader to join our Product & Engineering team to ensure that all our people have access to phenomenal people leadership. As our People Development Manager, you’ll provide that leadership for our teams, and coach those wanting to set out on the people management path.

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Success in this role will see you form great relationships with your peers to ensure our teams deliver on their commitments to delivery and quality. You’ll enable and empower our people to do the right thing for Halter, mediate conflicting demands, facilitate productive two-way feedback, and have hard, constructive and respectful conversations when required.

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You’ll be an ambassador of the Halter culture and values, designing and executing initiatives to bring these to life within our Product & Engineering teams. You’ll be a visible ambassador for Halter culture both internally and externally, including representing the company at industry and community events.

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You’ll build ​great high-trust relationships​ with your team. You’ll provide focus, guidance and support to allow people to do their best work and be open and honest in your interactions. You’ll give specific, detailed and actionable feedback, and enable the right level of freedom for your people. You’ll coach new People Leaders, allowing them to learn and grow with your support.

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You’ll be responsible for recruitment ​across Product & Engineering. You’ll work with our recruitment team to advertise and organise other initiatives to attract the right people. You’ll proactively find and contact people who could be a good match for our roles and run the recruitment process with support from your peers and our recruitment team. It’s important that you ensure potential Halter employees who reach an interview stage have an excellent experience, and those who do not reach the interview stage still have a positive experience.

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Finally, we believe building diversity at Halter enhances our workplace and helps us drive the success of our business. It not only provides us with a broad range of perspectives that leads to healthy discussion and better decisions, but it also means our workforce better reflects our hugely diverse community. We therefore conscientiously work to encourage and support employee diversity across Halter. You’ll be an energetic, positive, and contributing member to the diverse Halter community, leading and participating in diversity initiatives within Product & Engineering.

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What your day could look like

• Line manage up to 20 Engineers and Engineering People Leads.
• Recruitment, onboarding, personal development planning, performance reviews, performance management, recognition, learning and development of your people.
• Recommending and managing remuneration and role changes.
• Collaborating with other leaders across Product & Engineering to provide clear direction of what success looks like for each of your team members, with regular honest feedback on their performance.
• Providing constant opportunities for your reports to learn and extend themselves within their roles and across Halter.

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What we’re looking for

• Strong experience leading technical teams by promoting freedom, pragmatism, and getting commitment to achieve results.
• Energy, drive and enthusiasm for world-class results and a genuine desire to help engage and motivate people.
• Outstanding communication skills: explains ideas simply and clearly, and listens carefully to others.
• Exceptional facilitation skills.
• Technical skills are not required for this role, but it’s essential that you identify as someone who is deeply part of tech culture, with an excellent understanding of tools, terminology, and practices used within world-class Engineering teams.
• Experience working in an agile environment and familiar with lean engineering philosophies.
• Deep understanding of risk and value, and how to evaluate and prioritise based on these factors.
• 5+ years in a leadership position, with at least 3 years of line management, and ideally managing a large number of direct reports.

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Why our team loves working at Halter

• A genuine and shared connection to our mission to make a difference in the world.
• The excitement, risk, and reward of a high-growth technology scale-up.
• The pride of joining an iconic New Zealand technology company growing successfully on the global stage.
• The opportunity to work with and grow together with an enthusiastic, and highly gifted team with diverse backgrounds.
• The opportunity to supercharge your career in a supportive and caring environment.
• Our ideas are truly valued, we are able to move fast, and our impact is real.
• Delicious snacks and drinks are available for your daily flow.
• Healthy body, healthy mind. We’re partnered with Southern Cross to support your well-being.
• We offer 6 months of fully paid parental leave for primary caregivers, 4 weeks of fully paid secondary caregiver and many other parental benefits that support you and your family.
• Our personal growth is important. Halter offers an annual $1,000 self-development budget to be used for anything that fuels personal growth.
• Our time to recharge is valued, we’re offered wellness leave and unlimited paid annual leave.
• Importantly, we offer an inclusive and attractive remuneration package made up of salary, benefits and an employee stock ownership plan.

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Halter is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace — a place where we can each be ourselves and do the best work of our lives. Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the requirements, women and under-represented groups of candidates tend to only apply when they meet every requirement. If you think you have what it takes but don’t necessarily tick every requirement on this job description, please still get in touch and apply to Halter. We’d love to chat to see if you’ll be an epic fit!

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