I've had more conversations about hiring in the past six months than in the previous three years combined. Every client, every partner, every peer in the NZ tech sector is saying the same thing: we can't find people. The talent shortage isn't new, but the combination of closed borders, growing demand, and an increasingly competitive global remote market has made it acute.
What You Need to Know
- NZ's tech sector has approximately 4,000 unfilled roles, with demand growing faster than supply
- Closed borders have removed the immigration pipeline that previously filled 30-40% of tech roles
- Global remote work means NZ talent can now earn overseas salaries without leaving home
- The answer isn't just "hire more people." It's rethinking how work gets done, what roles you actually need, and how you develop the talent you already have
The Numbers
4,000+
unfilled tech roles in New Zealand as of mid-2021
Source: NZTech Digital Skills Survey, 2021
New Zealand's technology sector has been growing at roughly 8% per year. The education pipeline isn't keeping up. University computer science enrolments have increased, but not at the rate the industry needs. Boot camps are producing junior developers, but enterprise clients need intermediate and senior engineers, and the path from junior to senior takes years.
37%
of NZ tech roles were filled by migrant workers prior to border closures
Source: Immigration NZ, Technology Sector Report, 2020
Border closures have cut off what was a significant source of experienced talent. Pre-COVID, New Zealand imported roughly a third of its tech workforce. Those people aren't coming, and the teams that depended on that pipeline are feeling it.
NZ Tech Workforce Pipeline Constraints
Source: NZTech Digital Skills Survey, 2021; Immigration NZ, 2020
The Remote Premium Problem
Here's the factor that's harder to talk about. The global shift to remote work means a senior developer in Auckland can now work for a company in San Francisco, London, or Sydney without relocating. And those companies are paying accordingly.
NZ tech salaries are competitive within New Zealand. They are not competitive globally. A senior full-stack developer earning $140-160K NZD in Auckland can earn $180-250K USD working remotely for a US company. Even accounting for exchange rates and tax differences, the gap is significant.
This creates a two-tier market. Developers who work for NZ companies at NZ salaries, and developers who work for overseas companies at overseas salaries while living in New Zealand. The second group is growing, and the first group is shrinking.
We're not just competing with other NZ companies for talent any more. And we're doing it with NZ salary budgets.
Isaac Rolfe
Managing Director
What's Not Working
Throwing money at it. Salary escalation helps in the short term but isn't sustainable for most NZ organisations. You can't match US compensation unless you have US revenue.
Lowering the bar. Hiring someone who isn't ready for the role because nobody else applied creates a different problem. They struggle, the team compensates, quality drops, and eventually you're hiring again.
Outsourcing everything. Offshore development works for some contexts but fails when the work requires close collaboration with NZ-based stakeholders, understanding of NZ regulatory environments, or integration with existing NZ systems.
What Might Actually Help
Invest in juniors seriously. Not as a PR exercise. Actually invest in structured development programmes that turn graduates into productive intermediate developers within 18-24 months. This requires senior developers spending time on mentoring, which means less time on billable work. Most organisations won't make that trade-off. The ones that do will have the best teams in three years.
Make the work worth staying for. The developers choosing NZ companies over overseas remote roles aren't doing it for the money. They're doing it for the work, the team, the culture, and the mission. If your enterprise project is genuinely interesting, your team environment is genuinely good, and people feel valued, that's a competitive advantage no salary can replicate.
Rethink what you actually need. Not every role requires a senior developer. Some of the work can be handled by well-supported juniors. Some can be automated. Some can be simplified so it doesn't need custom development at all. Before posting another job ad, ask whether the role needs to exist in its current form.
Support the education pipeline. Partner with universities and polytechnics. Offer internships that are genuine learning experiences, not free labour. Speak at events. Make the industry visible and accessible to people who might not have considered it.
The Longer View
The talent shortage isn't going away when the borders reopen. Global remote work has permanently changed the competitive dynamics of the NZ tech market. We either adapt, by building better development pathways, creating workplaces worth choosing, and being smarter about how we use the talent we have, or we keep losing people to companies that offer more money for less interesting work.
I know which one I'd bet on. But it requires investment now, not when it's convenient.