Work in Canterbury New Zealand

What is it like to work in Canterbury?

Being the South Island’s largest city, Christchurch is the focal point for employment in the Canterbury region with one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the OECD.  The strong economy means that there are plenty of jobs for skilled workers, making it the destination for the most diverse range of job opportunities in the South Island.  Along with Auckland, Canterbury leads New Zealand for growth in employment. In 2013 over 19,000 new jobs were added, representing 5.9% growth. 

While the $40 billion rebuild is undeniably boosting the city's economy, other parts of the economy are also experiencing strong growth including the IT and Manufacturing sectors profiled below, as well as Retail, Finance and Insurance, Health Care and Accommodation. 

It is the underlying economy (all the businesses and services not directly involved in the recovery and rebuild work), that will see the city and surrounding region continue to flourish and provide a diverse range of employment opportunities long after the rebuild is complete.

The unemployment rate in Canterbury is 3.2% for the September quarter 2014. 

IT Jobs in Christchurch

Christchurch, New Zealand has a reputation for being a world-class hub for IT innovation.  The City’s vibrant and innovative IT sector is New Zealand’s third largest region for IT businesses. Nationally, the IT sector is the country’s third biggest exporter after dairy and tourism and is predicted to be New Zealand’s number one export industry by 2020.

The sector is known for developing innovative products and services to meet niche markets, and for being flexible, resilient and entrepreneurial. It creates a broad range of IT solutions and services for multiple local and offshore markets – from Australia to Afghanistan.

Some of Australasia’s most inventive and successful software, hardware, electronic, telecommunication and service companies call Christchurch home, from local iconic firms who are now global leaders, including Jade Software, Tait Communications and Dynamic Controls, through to blue-chip multinationals who have their development facilities here, such as Sungard, Trimble, TE Connectivity, Eaton, Vodafone and Hewlett Packard.  Supporting these larger organisations is a multitude of smaller, niche businesses that foster an industry culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. 

Christchurch has a well-connected and active IT community. There are regular meet-ups, supportive industry organisations and a dedicated home base for high-tech entrepreneurs in the heart of the city.

Many companies are hiring staff there is increased demand for a range of roles, from software engineering, database administrator and telecommunication engineer through to business analysts, project managers and business development.  Many roles are recognised on the Immigration New Zealand Skills Shortages lists.

Software jobs in Christchurch

Christchurch has a large, vibrant, well-connected software sector that employs thousands of staff, across more than one hundred organisations.

Locally developed software has a reputation for being innovative, flexible, resilient and entrepreneurial. Often operating in highly niche segments and utilised around the world.

Telecommunications jobs in Christchurch

The current rollout of ultra-fast broadband in Christchurch is driving significant telecommunications activity in the city. Adding to this is the large number of new subdivision and infrastructure projects as the city rebuilds and grows.  Telecommunications is one of the largest sub-sectors, employing 16% of the total local workforce and generating 48% of the region’s gross domestic product (GDP).  It covers the full range of telecommunications functions – from installation and maintenance of phone and broadband, to internet and phone retailers, systems integrators, call centres, infrastructure providers and data centres.  As cloud-computing continues to grow, Christchurch has an increasing number of data centres, serving clients around the country and offshore. 

Electronics and electrical jobs in Christchurch

Christchurch's electronics and electrical equipment manufacturers collectively contribute about 30% of New Zealand's total electronics output.

Gaming jobs in Christchurch

Games studios in New Zealand are renowned for creating original intellectual property (IP) with creative flair. They are growing at a phenomenal rate – 86% in the year to March 2013.  Christchurch is home to a number of world-leading gaming companies.

Health and medical IT jobs in Christchurch

Health IT is a fast growing sector globally and is highly developed in New Zealand.  Medical devices and software are designed, manufactured and marketed to the world, from Christchurch.  Products range from mobility controls in wheelchairs, to wound imaging, rehabilitation games and custom orthopaedic implants.

Primary industry & agri-tech jobs in Christchurch

New Zealand’s primary sector is shifting away from its traditional base of producing commodities to investing in higher value processed and packaged foods.  IT is a vital component of this sector, with a focus on tools that can provide information for intelligent decision-making to increase productivity, reduce waste and optimise results.  For example using IT to help predict crop yield and date of maturation, improve water usage, effluent output and manage frost mitigation.  Precision technologies are also offering opportunities for New Zealand in economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture.  Canterbury is also home to New Zealand’s premier agricultural university, Lincoln University, which actively supports the development of new IT for the agricultural sector.

IT service jobs in Christchurch

Christchurch has a wide range of organisations specifically focused on supporting and providing services to the wider IT sector, as well as a number who use IT to support the wider business community.  Services include training and consultation, quality improvement and productivity, strategic marketing and technology strategic planning and scaling.

Manufacturing jobs in Christchurch

Christchurch is New Zealand's second largest manufacturing centre after Auckland and the second largest contributor to the Canterbury regional economy. Collectively the sector supplies a broad range of national and international markets.  

If one thing defines the sector’s competitive advantage it is its specialization, a focus on developing products for global niche markets combined with a relentless pursuit of innovation and product development, quality and value-for-money.

Collectively, the sector supplies a broad range of national and international markets that include food processing, electronics, marine, communications, commercial refrigeration, horizontal infrastructure, construction, and the primary sector.

The increasing sophistication and automation of Christchurch’s manufacturing sector means that many of the jobs most in demand include IT skills. These include not only computer numerical control (CNC) programmers, technicians and operators but also computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) designers, process design engineers, production engineers, electronics technicians, senior mechanical and electrical engineers,  research and development engineers, and sales engineers.

In addition, the requirements of the Christchurch rebuild mean that there are growing job shortages in the heavy engineering and structural steel sector. These include structural engineers, structural/quality surveyor engineers, CAD designers, as well as fitters, fabricators and welders.

Food & beverage jobs in Christchurch

The Canterbury region produces 1.5 billion of primary products each year and more than $4.5 billion of primary products are exported via Christchurch annually. It is the largest sub-sector in Christchurch by both number of companies (over 270) and employees (over 5,000). Almost 80% of food produced in New Zealand is exported, and as a whole the industry has seen a growth rate of more than 8% over the last 16 years.

Machinery & equipment jobs in Christchurch

The heart of Christchurch’s manufacturing is its engineering sector and its machinery and equipment manufacturers — engineering companies that have specialised in developing products for global niche markets. Collectively they employ nearly 3500 staff.

Many evolved from servicing the rural hinterland and collectively they produce a diverse array of equipment and machinery for the primary sector ranging from timber mill processing, grain stackers and bulk materials handling, quarry and mining equipment, earth moving equipment through to post-harvest vegetable handling equipment. Other companies have specialised in food and beverage processing and handling.

Plastics, polymers and rubber jobs in Christchurch

There are around 100 plastics manufacturers in Christchurch, representing about 25% of all plastics manufacturers in New Zealand. It is a dynamic industry with an annual national turnover in excess of $2 billion. The industry also produces a higher proportion of packaging products compared with other developed nations due to the high proportion of food exports that the sector supports. The sector’s largest employer is Skellerup Industries, which makes a wide range of rubber products mainly for the global dairy industry and employs over 700 people worldwide.

Heavy engineering and fabrication jobs in Christchurch

Supporting the wider manufacturing sector in Christchurch is a sophisticated supply chain of more than 350 sheet-metal fabrication and heavy engineering companies supplying sub-assemblies, components and parts to local, national and international customers in a wide range of industrial markets.  Many of the heavy engineering companies are now supplying structural steel components to the rebuild of the Christchurch commercial business district.