Senior Design Specialist
Kia ora!
At Air New Zealand, we’re shaping the future of travel and reimagining what exceptional customer experiences look like. We’re looking for a Senior Design Specialist to join our Experience Design team to design and deliver high-value experiences that bring our unique brand of care and innovation to life across the customer journey.
This role is all about creating experiences that customers remember, and this role will lead initiatives that translate deep customer understanding into experiences that inspire loyalty and pride – experiences that reflect who we are as Air New Zealand. You’ll collaborate with internal teams, external partners and suppliers to shape the moments that make Air New Zealand truly stand out.
If you thrive at the intersection of creativity, strategy and delivery, and you’re passionate about turning insights into meaningful change, we’d love to hear from you.
About the role
You’ll play a key role in designing and optimising customer experiences across multiple touchpoints. You’ll bring design leadership to complex challenges, guiding teams and stakeholders to make decisions grounded in customer insight and business value.
This involves partnering across disciplines to turn customer insights into tangible improvements. From rethinking existing products and services to exploring future innovations, you’ll help ensure every decision reflects Air New Zealand’s commitment to care and Kiwi ingenuity.
You’ll balance creative ambition with operational and commercial reality by working with stakeholders across the business to bring ideas to life. You’ll embed design principles, lead collaborative workshops, and mentor others to elevate design practice and consistency. You’ll contribute to frameworks and processes that help us design and deliver experiences more effectively across the business.
You’ll also contribute to how we operationalise new experience concepts, considering everything from regulatory requirements to how innovations are commercialised and scaled across the customer journey. The work is varied, visible and high-impact – covering initiatives that touch every stage of the travel experience.
This is a highly visible role that influences how we innovate, test, and scale new experience concepts – balancing creativity with commercial and operational realities to ensure sustainable impact.
About you
You’ll have strong experience in advocating for, improving and creating the customer experience; ideally in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. You’re a natural collaborator who’s comfortable influencing, negotiating and aligning people behind a shared vision.
Key experience we’re looking for includes:
Proven ability to translate customer insights into actionable improvements
Experience delivering initiatives that improve customer engagement, satisfaction or retention
Strong understanding of end-to-end experience design and CX strategy
Ability to balance commercial, operational and brand priorities
Excellent communication and relationship skills with confidence engaging at all levels
A growth mindset, curiosity and adaptability to thrive in a fast-evolving environment
You’ll also bring the capability to embed consistent CX processes and frameworks, helping the chapter work more efficiently while supporting and coaching team members.
Why Air New Zealand
This is an opportunity to help define what great looks like for our customers. You’ll join a high-profile area of the business that’s central to our customer promise and future innovation roadmap.
At Air New Zealand, our people are what set us apart. We’re committed to creating a truly inclusive workplace that celebrates diversity of thought and experience where everyone can contribute, grow and thrive.
If this sounds like you, apply today and help us shape the future of customer experience at Air New Zealand.
Applications close 11:59pm Sunday 15 February 2026.
Additional Information
At Air New Zealand, we are proudly committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and believe in creating a truly inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves and thrive. Our people are our greatest asset – because while everything else we do in our operation can be replicated by our competitors, it is our people that truly set us apart. We are firm believers in celebrating the differences and diversity of thought our people bring to their roles. We encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds, including those with a disability, additional health and mental health needs, and/or are neurodiverse to apply for our roles.
If you have encountered any accessibility barriers and require further information or reasonable accommodations to our recruitment process, please reach out to the recruiter listed on this job advert so they are able to support you to freely participate equitably in our recruitment and selection process.
Whāia te pae tawhiti kia tata. Ko te pae tata whakamaua, kia tina.
"Seek to bring distant horizons closer. Once near, seize them and make them your reality."