VP Product and Engineering

VP Product & Engineering - Job Advert

About the opportunity 

Lead the product strategy behind one of New Zealand's most successful global technology companies.

First Table is entering an exciting new chapter of growth. With operations across New Zealand, Australia, the UK and Ireland, a loyal customer base, and a proven marketplace model, we're now investing in the next evolution of our platform.

This is a rare opportunity to join our Executive Leadership Team and shape the future of a business where product and technology sit at the heart of our competitive advantage. You'll influence company strategy, define our product vision, and lead the teams responsible for building the experiences that thousands of diners and restaurant partners rely on every day.

You'll inherit established Product, Engineering and Data functions with a strong foundation already in place. Your challenge is to unite them behind a clear vision, accelerate delivery, embed AI where it creates real value, and build a platform that can scale globally.

If you're a commercially-minded product leader who enjoys turning customer insight into growth, loves building high-performing teams, and wants genuine influence over the direction of a business, this is an opportunity to make a lasting impact.

About us

At First Table, our vision is simple: to be the first place diners go to book a table.

Proudly established in Queenstown, New Zealand, we've been leading the charge in the hospitality tech industry for over a decade, with operations spanning New Zealand, Australia, UK and Ireland.

First Table is a dining discovery platform that connects diners to restaurants through their love of food.  Through our clever tech, we help restaurants get their night off to a great start and give diners a compelling reason to try somewhere new. It’s a win-win situation. From early bird offers to last table reservations, we make discovering and booking great dining experiences fast, easy, and rewarding.

At the heart of everything we do are our values: Win-Win-Win, Own It and Grow Together.  These guide how we show up for each other, our restaurant partners, and our diners and they’re a big part of what makes First Table a great place to work.

Learn more about our story here:
www.firsttable.co.nz/our-story

About the role

As VP of Product & Engineering, you'll lead our Product, Engineering and Data functions and sit on the Executive Leadership Team alongside the CFO, CMO, VP Sales ANZ, GM UKI and Head of People. You'll own the strategy, execution and performance of our technology platform, ensuring every investment delivers meaningful value for our customers and supports First Table's international growth ambitions.

You'll work closely with leaders across the business to define priorities, improve delivery, strengthen our engineering capability, and use data and AI to create better customer experiences and better commercial outcomes.

What you’ll be doing

• Define and execute the product strategy and roadmap to drive customer value, marketplace growth and international scalability.
• Prioritise product investment using customer insights, data and commercial outcomes to maximise business impact.
• Lead the successful delivery and continuous optimisation of product initiatives, measuring results and iterating based on performance.
• Drive AI innovation across both the customer product experience and internal business operations.
• Provide strategic leadership of the engineering function, establishing clear governance, delivery disciplines and scalable operating practices.
• Build a high-performing technology organisation by developing leaders, strengthening capability and supporting future team growth.
• Enable data-driven decision making by improving access to trusted business insights and supporting the evolution of the company's BI capability.
• Partner with the Executive Leadership Team to align product, technology and data strategy with First Table's commercial objectives and long-term growth.
  
  

Who you are

• The Scale-up Leader: You have a proven track record leading a Product function through a significant growth phase ($10M–$50M ARR), ideally within a B2C/B2B2C marketplace or transactional platform. 
• Commercially Obsessed: You view technology and product features through a commercial lens (CAC, LTV, conversion loops). You easily translate technical milestones into tangible business outcomes.
• Pragmatic Builder & Optimiser: You excel at managing multiple stakeholder inputs across a matrixed ELT, acting as the strategic bridge between local commercial needs and global platform scalability. You are energised by the challenge of transforming a messy data ecosystem into an elite, insight-generating engine.
• An Empathetic Manager: You enjoy building high-trust, multi-disciplinary cultures. You know how to guide senior functional leads, give them space to execute, instrument delivery pipelines to maximise throughput, and help them unblock technical or operational friction.
  
  

Why This Role?

• Global Impact: Influence a global platform that is actively changing the way diners experience hospitality and helping restaurant partners optimise their inventory.
• Strategic Influence: Direct influence over the company’s trajectory, shaping the technology and product strategy that will define our next phase of international growth.
• Collaborative Culture: Join a high-performing, collaborative leadership team where agility is valued, bureaucracy is minimal, and your contributions have immediate, visible impact.
• Build & Scale: A rare opportunity to build and scale a multi-disciplinary tech organisation from the ground up, providing significant career growth and leadership experience.
• Perks like free First Table bookings, referral incentives, team recognition, and regular opportunities to celebrate wins
• A purpose-led, award-winning consumer brand with strong momentum and exciting international growth ambitions
  
  

What’s next? 

If this role sounds like you, we’d love to see how you think.

Include your CV and a cover letter, we genuinely read them, so make it count: why First Table, why this role, and what kind of growth challenge gets you excited?

We’re reviewing and progressing applications as they come in, so don’t wait to apply.