Forecasting and Planning Systems Specialist

Posted: 25/09/2026

Closing Date: 30/10/2026

Job Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Dunedin, Cromwell or Christchurch

Job Category: Engineering

Job Description

A cold snap during the school holidays. More electric vehicles charging overnight. Solar changing how households use the network.

Behind every demand forecast are people, patterns and assumptions. Aurora Energy is looking for someone who can connect them, test their significance and build forecasts the business can confidently act on.

You do not need to be an electrical engineer. You do need the analytical depth and judgement to develop methods, explain uncertainty and take ownership of your work.

The Opportunity

In this newly created role, reporting to the Network Planning Manager, you will own the forecasting capability that supports Aurora’s electricity network across Otago and Central Otago. That includes the Queenstown and Southern Lakes area, one of the fastest-growing parts of New Zealand, and where major investment decisions turn directly on the quality of the forecast.

Your work will help determine where capacity is running short, when investment is needed and how the network can respond to changing demand.

You will:

• Develop demand forecasts using customer behaviour, smart meter data, weather and external trends
• Test scenarios and sensitivities, making forecast ranges, assumptions and uncertainty clear
• Build and improve data pipelines, analytical models and automated forecasting processes
• Keep methods and datasets documented, traceable, version-controlled and repeatable
• Connect planning and operational models to support capacity assessments and scenario testing
• Translate findings into clear advice for planners, operations, investment decisions and regulatory reporting

This is an opportunity to shape a developing capability, defining the methods and owning them, with responsibility for both the quality of the analysis and how it is used.

About You

You will have substantial experience developing forecasting methods, analytical models or planning systems that inform significant decisions. You will be comfortable choosing an approach, defending it and helping others understand its implications.

Your background could be in data science, statistics, applied mathematics, engineering or another closely related discipline. Experience in infrastructure or energy is valuable, but forecasting expertise gained in other sectors is also welcome.

You’ll demonstrate:

• Strong forecasting capability across different time horizons, including sensitivity analysis and confidence ranges
• Experience integrating large, varied datasets and maintaining clear data quality and governance
• Hands-on coding and database skills, using tools such as Python and SQL
• The ability to automate processes and explain complex findings to non-specialists

Experience with cloud-based data, FME, load flow and modelling tools, Power BI and smart meter or telemetry data would be useful. Electricity-sector knowledge can be developed with support from Aurora’s planners.

The Team Around You

You will join curious professionals who enjoy questioning assumptions and working through novel problems without an obvious answer.

Our Network Planning Manager gives people genuine ownership and expects them to defend their reasoning and work collaboratively to develop and test ideas. You will be expected to think deeply, follow the consequences through the wider system, weigh risk and effort trade-offs, and build the evidence behind your decisions and methods. You will have support when you need it, and your thinking will be tested constructively.

This will suit someone who enjoys building lasting capability, can make progress with imperfect information and takes responsibility for how their analysis affects decisions beyond their own desk.

About Us

Aurora Energy is one of the largest electricity networks in Aotearoa New Zealand. We own and manage the network that delivers electricity to some of the fastest growing areas and over the most diverse terrain in Te Waipounamu South Island. We deliver a safe, reliable and sustainable electricity supply to a population of more than 200,000 residents in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Central Otago/Wānaka and Tāhuna Queenstown. Our purpose is enabling the energy future of our communities.

What's in it for you?

• Competitive remuneration package
• Flexible, supportive, safety-first culture
• Genuine work-life balance with flexible hours
• Interesting work where no two days will be the same
• Relocation support to the successful candidate

Interested?

If you want to own the forecast, understand the behaviour behind it and see your work influence essential infrastructure, we would love to hear from you. There are so many great reasons to join Aurora Energy, such as:

• Influence major long-term decisions
• Work with complex, high-value, and critical data
• Help enable New Zealand’s energy transition
• Join a collaborative team where you are invited to innovate, challenge and improve how we work

We see diversity as a strength and welcome applications from anyone who has what it takes, regardless of gender, ethnicity or background.

Click the ‘Apply’ button to submit your application. Or for a confidential discussion around this position please contact Steph Richardson at Paragon Recruitment on 021 202 2809.

Please note that we may begin shortlisting as we receive applications. We encourage early applications as we may withdraw the advertising at any time.

To be considered for this position you must have the legal right to live and work in New Zealand.