New Zealand’s tech market remains attractive for international candidates because demand is steady in core infrastructure and security domains, and the immigration system is structured around employer-led hiring. For most overseas IT professionals, the practical route is straightforward: secure a role with an accredited employer, meet the wage and role requirements, and apply under the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV). From there, many people plan a longer-term pathway through residence options such as the Green List (where eligible) or the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC).
This guide focuses on three “sponsorship-friendly” clusters—Cloud, DevOps, and Cybersecurity—because these are the areas where New Zealand employers most commonly recruit internationally, and where job descriptions map well to recognised occupation categories.
1) What “visa sponsorship” usually means in New Zealand
In New Zealand, “visa sponsorship” typically means an employer is willing and eligible to hire you from overseas and support the steps needed for a work visa. In practice, that usually includes:
- The employer is accredited with Immigration New Zealand (INZ) (a common requirement for hiring migrants under AEWV). (Immigration New Zealand)
- The employer provides a compliant job offer/employment agreement and meets visa-related obligations for the role. (Immigration New Zealand)
- The offered role meets any relevant pay thresholds or visa settings (for example, wage-rate rules that tie into the median wage and Green List thresholds). (Immigration New Zealand)
Important note for applicants: from 8 December 2025, AEWV applicants must upload a valid police certificate with the application (INZ indicates receipts are generally not accepted, with limited exceptions). (Immigration New Zealand)
2) The main visa pathways for sponsored IT roles
A. Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV): the common entry route
For most overseas IT hires, AEWV is the “work-first” pathway. You typically need:
- A job offer from an accredited employer (you can verify employers using INZ’s accredited employer list). (Immigration New Zealand)
- Evidence you meet the role requirements (skills/experience) and standard character/identity requirements (including the police certificate rule referenced above). (Immigration New Zealand)
AEWV is often used even by senior professionals because it aligns well with how tech hiring works: employers want you in-seat quickly, and then you can plan your residence pathway once established.
B. Green List (where your role qualifies): faster residence pathways
New Zealand’s Green List identifies roles that are in demand and may offer a residence pathway immediately or after working in New Zealand for a period (depending on the role and stream). (Immigration New Zealand)
Green List rules often connect to wage thresholds. INZ’s wage-rate guidance indicates that for Green List jobs without a specific pay threshold, pay must be at least NZD $33.56/hour from 18 August 2025. (Immigration New Zealand)
Your job title alone is not enough—what matters is the role’s matching occupation and the Green List requirements (qualifications/registration/experience) for that occupation. (Immigration New Zealand)
C. Skilled Migrant Category (SMC): points-based residence
SMC is a points-based residence pathway. INZ states you must be able to claim 6 points (through a combination of qualification/registration/income and eligible NZ skilled work experience). (Immigration New Zealand)
In late 2025, INZ also announced changes that reduce the maximum New Zealand work experience required for most migrants from 3 years to 2 years (as described in INZ communications). (Immigration New Zealand)
3) Where the best sponsored IT jobs show up (with practical search links)
You will get better results by searching in places where New Zealand employers actively recruit and where you can filter for “visa sponsorship” or identify accredited employers.
High-yield platforms:
- SEEK (Visa Sponsorship IT listings): useful because it aggregates roles tagged for sponsorship-friendly hiring. (SEEK New Zealand)
- SEEK (Visa sponsorship available—broader filter): helpful if you’re open to adjacent titles (e.g., platform engineer, SRE, security analyst). (SEEK New Zealand)
- LinkedIn Jobs (NZ cloud roles): strong for networking-led hiring and recruiter pipelines. (LinkedIn)
- Trade Me Jobs (IT roles): common for local hiring pipelines; sometimes less explicit about sponsorship, but valuable for market mapping. (Trade Me)
- NZ Government Jobs (IT & computing): relevant if you have niche experience (data platforms, monitoring, risk) and can meet eligibility/security requirements. (Government Jobs NZ)
Verification step you should not skip:
Before investing heavily in an application, confirm the employer is accredited (or ask the recruiter directly). INZ provides a searchable accredited employer list. (Immigration New Zealand)
4) What New Zealand employers expect in Cloud, DevOps, and Cybersecurity
New Zealand tech hiring is pragmatic. Employers tend to screen for (1) evidence you can deliver in production environments, (2) collaboration and incident discipline, and (3) security and reliability thinking. Below are role-by-role expectations that consistently show up.
Cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP): what gets you shortlisted
Common sponsored titles
- Cloud Engineer / Cloud Platform Engineer
- Cloud Security Engineer
- Cloud Architect (typically senior)
- Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) with cloud focus
Core skills employers look for
- Hands-on cloud builds: VPC/VNet design, IAM, networking, logging/monitoring, backup/DR
- IaC: Terraform (most common), CloudFormation/Bicep
- Container platforms: Kubernetes (EKS/AKS/GKE), Helm, service mesh exposure is a plus
- Observability: Prometheus/Grafana, CloudWatch/Azure Monitor, ELK/OpenSearch
What to show in your CV
- 2–4 quantified achievements (e.g., “reduced deployment time by X%”, “cut cloud spend by Y%”)
- Architecture diagrams or sanitized case studies in a portfolio (even a one-page PDF can help)
- Security-by-design examples: IAM least privilege, key management, secrets handling
Salary signal (market reference)
Randstad’s role profile cites an average cloud engineer salary range around NZD $110,000–$130,000 (experience-dependent). (randstad.co.nz)
DevOps / Platform Engineering: the fastest “sponsorship fit” for many candidates
Common sponsored titles
- DevOps Engineer
- Platform Engineer
- SRE
- CI/CD Engineer
Core skills employers look for
- CI/CD: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps, Jenkins
- Containers + automation: Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform/Ansible
- Release discipline: blue/green, canary, rollback strategy
- Reliability: SLOs/SLIs, incident response, postmortems
Salary signal (market reference)
Randstad’s DevOps profile places typical salaries around NZD $105,000–$125,000 (varying with level and credentials). (randstad.co.nz)
Other aggregators may show different bands depending on methodology and sample size (for example, SEEK’s role salary pages can trend lower in some snapshots). (SEEK New Zealand)
What helps you stand out
- Evidence you’ve run production workloads (even at mid-scale)
- A “security DevOps” angle (policy-as-code, secrets, pipeline hardening)
- Cost control experience (FinOps basics): rightsizing, reserved instances/savings plans, spend dashboards
Cybersecurity: high trust, high scrutiny, strong demand
Common sponsored titles
- Security Engineer / Security Analyst (often with specialization)
- Cloud Security Engineer
- SOC Analyst (varies; sponsorship depends heavily on employer)
- GRC / Risk / Security Compliance roles (policy-heavy—less common for offshore sponsorship unless senior)
Core skills employers look for
- Detection and response: SIEM (Splunk, Sentinel), EDR, incident handling
- Vulnerability management: scanning, prioritization, remediation orchestration
- Identity and access: IAM, PAM, conditional access, MFA strategy
- Cloud security: CSPM concepts, guardrails, key management, secure networking
Watch-outs in cybersecurity hiring
Some security roles—especially in government or intelligence-adjacent agencies—can involve stricter eligibility and security vetting that may limit options for new arrivals. Use those listings as “market intelligence” but read requirements carefully. (jobs.nzic.govt.nz)
5) A practical salary-and-skill snapshot (Cloud / DevOps / Cybersecurity)
Below is a simplified, market-aligned view using commonly referenced NZ recruitment sources and job-market aggregators.
| Role cluster | Typical NZ salary band (indicative) | What most often drives higher offers |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud Engineer | ~NZD 110k–130k (randstad.co.nz) | Multi-cloud depth, IaC maturity, production governance, cost control |
| DevOps Engineer | ~NZD 105k–125k (randstad.co.nz) | Kubernetes + IaC + incident discipline + secure CI/CD |
| DevOps Engineer (alt snapshot) | ~NZD 90k–110k (SEEK New Zealand) | Aggregated listings may skew by region/level; verify role seniority |
| IT industry (broad benchmark) | Trade Me cites average IT salary around NZD 112k (Trade Me) | Role mix and sample differ—use as a general sense-check |
Use salary figures as guidance, not guarantees. Your city (Auckland/Wellington/Christchurch), seniority, and whether the role includes on-call, security clearance needs, or niche platform ownership can shift the offer materially.
6) How to target employers that can actually sponsor you
Step 1: Start with accredited employers (reduce wasted applications)
Use INZ’s accredited employer list as a screening tool, then build a shortlist. (Immigration New Zealand)
Step 2: Apply where sponsorship is explicitly surfaced
SEEK’s visa-sponsorship listings reduce guesswork. (SEEK New Zealand)
Step 3: Use LinkedIn for recruiter pipelines
LinkedIn’s NZ cloud job hubs are active and frequently recruiter-led. (LinkedIn)
Step 4: Use job descriptions to map your role to the right category
Even if your title is “Platform Engineer,” the duties might map closer to DevOps/SRE. Align your CV language to the job’s actual outcomes: uptime, deployment, security posture, incident response, cost.
7) Documents and readiness checklist (what slows people down)
For a smooth, sponsorship-led process, treat this as a project with dependencies.
Core readiness items
- Passport validity (obvious, but critical)
- Experience evidence: reference letters, contracts, payslips where needed
- Qualification evidence (degree, transcripts, certifications)
- Police certificates: for AEWV, INZ indicates you must upload a valid certificate with the application (and from 8 December 2025, receipts are generally not accepted, except certain cases). (Immigration New Zealand)
- A portfolio that does not breach confidentiality: anonymised architecture diagrams, sanitized Terraform modules, GitHub repos that demonstrate style and discipline
CV format that performs best in NZ tech hiring
- 2-page maximum for most candidates
- “Outcome bullets” (what improved, how measured)
- Tooling + scope: “AWS (EKS, IAM, CloudWatch), Terraform, GitHub Actions; supported 60 microservices; on-call rotation”
8) Application strategy that works for sponsored roles
Build a “two-track” application plan
Track A: sponsorship-explicit roles
Use SEEK’s sponsorship pages and apply quickly, tailoring your CV to each role’s must-haves. (SEEK New Zealand)
Track B: accredited employers + recruiter outreach
Identify accredited employers, then apply through their careers page and message internal recruiters with a concise pitch:
- Your target role (Cloud/DevOps/Sec)
- Your right-to-work plan (AEWV-ready; willing to relocate)
- Two quantified achievements
- A link to your portfolio or a one-page project summary
Tailor your keywords to NZ job language
New Zealand postings frequently emphasise:
- “automation,” “reliability,” “operational excellence,” “security posture,” “stakeholder management”
If your CV reads like pure tooling (lists of services) without operational outcomes, you will underperform.
9) Planning your longer-term pathway: Green List vs SMC
If your role and background match the Green List requirements, it can materially simplify your residence plan. Start by checking the Green List role requirements and matching them carefully to your occupation and credentials. (Immigration New Zealand)
If you’re planning SMC, understand the points structure and the requirement to reach 6 points through the allowed categories (qualification/registration/income plus eligible NZ work experience). (Immigration New Zealand)
Also note INZ’s announced adjustments in late 2025 around New Zealand work experience requirements for some pathways (a competitiveness-oriented change). (Immigration New Zealand)
Conclusion
If you want an IT job in New Zealand with visa sponsorship, focus on what the system actually rewards: an accredited employer relationship, a role that clearly meets visa settings (including wage rules), and a profile that demonstrates production-ready capability. Cloud and DevOps roles tend to be the most straightforward “sponsorship fit” because they map directly to operational needs (delivery, uptime, cost, platform stability). Cybersecurity can be equally viable, but it often demands a stronger trust profile, clearer evidence of incident competence, and careful navigation of roles that require extra vetting.
Start with sponsorship-explicit listings (SEEK), validate employers through INZ’s accredited employer list, and apply with a CV built around measurable outcomes—not just tooling. From there, plan your longer-term residence strategy through the Green List (where eligible) or the Skilled Migrant Category points framework.
FAQs
1) What is the easiest visa pathway for an overseas IT professional to start working in New Zealand?
For most candidates, it’s the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)—because it aligns with employer-led hiring and uses the accredited employer framework. (Immigration New Zealand)
2) How do I confirm a company can sponsor (hire) migrants?
Check whether the employer is listed on Immigration New Zealand’s accredited employer list. (Immigration New Zealand)
If they are not listed, ask the recruiter directly whether they are accredited (or whether they will hire through another valid visa route).
3) What salary level do I need for a sponsored IT job?
It depends on the visa and role settings. INZ publishes wage-rate guidance and thresholds; for example, Green List roles without a specific pay threshold must pay at least NZD $33.56/hour from 18 August 2025. (Immigration New Zealand)
4) Are Cloud/DevOps roles in demand, and what do they typically pay?
Yes, they are consistently advertised. Randstad’s NZ role profiles cite typical salary ranges around NZD 110k–130k for Cloud Engineers and NZD 105k–125k for DevOps Engineers (experience-dependent). (randstad.co.nz)
5) What common mistake causes AEWV delays?
A frequent issue is incomplete character documentation. INZ indicates that from 8 December 2025, AEWV applicants must upload a valid police certificate with the application (receipts are generally not accepted, with limited exceptions). (Immigration New Zealand)