Software Engineer, People Ecosystem
Halter · Auckland
About Halter
At Halter, we’re on a mission to enable farmers and graziers to run the most productive and sustainable operations. Our customers are using Halter to break free from the time-intensive constraints of conventional practices. Imagine watching 500 cattle stand up and walk calmly towards their next break?
No quad bikes, no dogs, no fences. Just a group of cattle walking at their own pace. People say it looks like magic.
Our customers are revolutionizing grazing with Halter. It's changing lives and transforming an industry. People join Halter to do meaningful work.
By joining us you’ll be solving challenging problems within a talented team and a culture built for high performance. Our team out-think, out-work and out-care. We’re committed to delivering real change in the world - this isn’t easy, and in truth, we love that it’s hard.
We’re backed to deliver on a mission that matters by Tier 1 investors including Founders Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, BOND, DCVC, Blackbird, Promus Ventures, Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck and Icehouse ventures.
To find out more, visit our LinkedIn & Instagram.
Background
Almost no company builds its own people and performance products. Halter does, and we're hiring our first software engineer to bring these ambitions to life.
Most companies run hiring, performance and people data on a stack of vendor tools, and accept whatever ships. The result is products that feel out of step with the culture and what the company cares about, and a place that feels less human and less unique the bigger it gets. We think that's backwards.
You'll build people and performance products that put our people and culture at the centre. This role underpins our ability to scale two things we care about a lot: our people, and how well we perform together.
Why now
We've grown quickly and we're on track to double again, soon. We're laying new foundations for our people systems right now, so you won't be inheriting someone else's mess. You'll be shaping what Halter's people stack looks like from the ground up, and we think that's pretty exciting.
And we're not stopping at Halter. We want to change how people products get built, inside our four walls and well beyond them.
A People team that's backed
Halter puts serious investment into its People team. Not a couple of HR tools and a spreadsheet, but a dedicated team building product, data and engineering for the people who work here. That almost never happens.
We do it because our culture is one of our biggest advantages, and culture is the first thing to crack when a company scales fast. The clarity, the pace, the high standards, the sense that someone actually cares how your career is going and sees you as an individual. Keeping all of that at 1,000 people (and well beyond) doesn't happen by accident. It gets built with intention.
That's your job. The things you ship will shape what it feels like to work at Halter for everyone who joins after you. Not many engineers get to say their product is the culture.
What you might build 👀
We're not going to hand you a backlog (but we'll absolutely build it with you). To give you a feel:
Think a tool that turns performance calibration from a week of spreadsheets into something leaders run themselves.
Think knowing which hiring channels produce the people who go on to do their best work, not just the most applications.
Think a new starter's first 90 days that runs on rails, with the right nudges landing at the right moment.
Think a single, trusted view of every person's journey, from first application to promotion, that leaders actually open.
Or think of something we haven't. Bring it.
What you'll be doing
Build and ship full-stack products across Talent and People, from React front ends to Python services and data pipelines
Design and build the backend services, APIs and data structures that connect hiring, HR, payroll and performance data into one trusted view
Build clean, intuitive front ends that leaders, managers and our People team actually want to open
Take the features you build from start to finish: scoping, architecting, building, testing, deploying and iterating
Look after the engineering foundations, like repos, pull requests, code reviews and CI/CD pipelines, so what you ship stays reliable and easy to change
Use AI as a tool in your toolkit, building it into well-designed systems where it creates real leverage, not novelty
Treat people data as the most sensitive data in the company, with access, retention and audit designed in from the start
Help our product managers for Talent and People become more technical, just by working with you
About the role
You'll be the first software engineer in People Ecosystems, the team building the product, data and analytics layer underneath People and Performance at Halter. Our people data lake went live earlier this year, and there's a long list of things that should be beautiful product rather than process.
You'll get the intent and the constraints, and real freedom on how. We'll collaborate on what matters and why, you'll build, and we'll shape it together as it comes to life.
You won't be on an island. You'll report to our Manager, People Ecosystems, who owns the roadmap and will coach you directly, and you'll tap into Halter's engineering and product teams for code review, architecture and learning.
Day to day, you'll work side by side with our product managers for Talent and People. You'll work across both, so you'll get to see (and shape) the whole employee lifecycle.
What we're looking for
We're after someone with around 4 to 5 years' experience, real craft, and plenty of room left to grow.
Technically
Strong full-stack engineering skills, ideally TypeScript and/or React on the front end and Python and/or Node on the back end
Solid experience designing and building production-grade APIs, services, data structures and data pipelines
Hands-on with the engineering foundations: managing repos and pull requests, reviewing code, and building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines
You build for the long run: maintainable code, with reliability, observability and performance in mind from day one
Comfortable working across the stack. You're not precious about where a problem lives, you just want to solve it well
You care whether what you build gets used. A feature nobody adopts isn't a win
As a person
Self-aware. You know what you're great at and where you're still growing, and you say both out loud
Empathetic. You'll be building with data about people’s experience and performance. You feel the weight and sensitivity of that, and it shows in how you build
Coachable. You take direction well and you don't need to have had the idea to be all in on it. You also read between the lines, because not everything in this space can be written down
A good teacher. You explain things in a way that leaves people feeling more capable, not less
A simplifier. You love taking something complex and making it simple enough that everyone can understand it and have a say
Collaborative. You enjoy working tightly with non-technical teams and bringing people along with you
Bonus points if you have
Experience building with AI, like vector databases, embeddings or retrieval systems
Exposure to workflow tools like n8n, Temporal or Airflow
Experience with data engineering, ETL pipelines or event-driven architecture
Built with HR, recruiting or payroll systems and their APIs
A love for fast-paced, ambiguous environments. You actually enjoy the uncertainty
Sky's the limit 🚀
This is a brand new seat, which means there's no ceiling on what it becomes. As Halter grows, so does this role. You'll get first look at every new problem across Talent and People, build the foundations everyone after you works on, and have a real runway to grow as fast as you can take it.
Our Benefits
Delicious snacks and drinks are available for your daily flow.
Healthy body, healthy mind. We're partnered with Southern Cross Health Insurance to support your well-being.
We offer 6 months of fully paid parental leave for primary caregivers, 4 weeks of fully paid secondary caregiver leave and many other parental benefits that support you and your family.
Our personal growth is important. Halter offers an annual $1000 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.
Our Office First Approach
Humans are wired for connection. Being office first is a core pillar of our culture because in-person connections drive your growth, learning, impact, and relationships. Strong relationships make it easier to disagree, give feedback, and do meaningful work together.
We're office first, not office only. Working from the office is our default, but we flex when needed. We have a high-trust culture where everyone is trusted to do what's best for Halter.
Our office vibe is special, the high energy and spectacular people make work enjoyable. Your growth and impact are unlimited here, coming from solving problems, innovating, and constantly learning from each other.
Join our team
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!
If this opportunity sounds like you, please apply below by sending through your cover letter explaining why you’re excited about this role and working at Halter, along with your CV, and we’ll be in touch!
Please also feel free to check out the careers page for more information on working at Halter and don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn & Instagram.
Why our team loves working at Halter:
Work that genuinely matters. Every now and again a company comes along that transforms an entire industry and leaves the world in a better place. Our team gets to be part of something truly meaningful, helping farmers improve their livelihoods, spend more time with their families, and build more sustainable operations.
Spectacular people solving hard problems. Our culture is designed for talented people to do work that changes lives. The team is filled with diverse, kind, and driven people who push each other to do their best work. You'll be thrown into the deep end, tackling complex challenges and building something tangible that solves real problems.
You'll grow here. Autonomy, mastery, and learning define how we work. You'll have the freedom to work on interesting problems, master new skills, and continuously develop yourself, both through your role and our personal growth fund.
This isn't easy, and we love that it's hard. Working at Halter will be the most rewarding and the most challenging work of your life. We move fast, take bold bets, and work hard to reshape an entire industry. As one team member put it: "Joining Halter is a bit like strapping yourself to a rocket ship, but it's an epic journey to be a part of!"