Trade Me now hiring in Auckland
Since the early days, the technology team at Trade Me has been almost entirely based in Wellington (which is a lovely place, we won't hear a word against it.) That all changes today. … more
Meet the Tech Team
Our developers and testers work closely together to build great sites and features, and test them to the highest standards. It's a fast-paced environment, and we release new features daily.
Adi Dick
Designer
I spent hours as a child growing up in Upper Hutt waiting for my Dad outside the TAB in our families golden HQ Holden after thinking we were actually going somewhere fun for the afternoon. My brothers would be in Caesar's Palace still on their first life while I'd lost all three not long after the first challenging stage. Nowadays it's me who knows all the fancy computer tricks and my screen saver reminds me of the good old days when video games were only 20 cents, a can of coke was 50 cents and $1 was still made of paper.
Allister Maguire
After successful careers in professional wrestling and motion pictures, Allister “Dwayne” Maguire has made the logical leap into Systems Architecture. When he’s not delivering a nasty suplex to the Egyptian undead, Allister is making magic happen with our network.
Amy Burgess
Test Analyst
After 3 years in Customer Support at Trade Me I made the move to the Test team in 2008. I've worked on all sorts of changes on our sites, big and small, and am currently in the systems team testing things like the API, deploy tools and refactoring of various aspects of our sites. Out of work my top 3 pastimes are board games, drinking tea and enjoying movies.
Amy Chard
Developer
After finishing uni at the end of 2010 I started out at Trade Me as an intern through Summer of Tech. I'm now a full time developer and part of the Commercial team. My team works on the jobs, property and motors parts of the website. Outside of work I love movies, shopping and when the weather is nice I practically live at the beach.
Andi Parker
Designer
Having joined the Product Team at Trade Me in the tail-end of June 2011, I have been working with Treat Me pretty much non-stop. I do a bit of this and a bit of that – mostly web design and development. I'm trying to write a book and I love watching my favourite TV shows. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to watch much TV since starting here : ( Apart from all that, I spend time with my family and try to chill out on the weekends.
Andrew Schofield
Developer
I work for the Trade Me Travel team and keep the Travelbug website and BookIt booking engine humming (BookIt powers Travelbug and a network of travel websites throughout New Zealand). I joined Trade Me in January 2010 when I moved up from Dunedin to Wellington. Best thing about Trade Me? The endless coffees from the coffee machine.
In my spare time I’m usually in damage control mode around my 2 year old son.
Ashley Bryant
Developer
Started programming in Basic and Pascal writing little games and graphics demos. My first job was in Delphi but quickly moved on to .NET and web development and haven’t looked back since. Have only recently joined the Treat Me team bringing the developer head count up to two. Outside of work I enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee, playing guitar, tramping, running and playing around developing a number of websites at home.
Ben Amor
Senior Developer
I’m Ben, another great English import. I started programming on the BBC Micro back in the day and have been working on the Microsoft technology stack for the last fifteen years or so. Prior to Trade Me I’ve been involved in projects across a wide range of sectors – websites for the civil service, a trading systems for the nuclear energy industry, management information for a mass emailing company, and most recently a system for tracking high performance athletes for SPARC. My main interests are unit tests and sailing boats.
Brent Neave
Interaction designer
I signed up early in 2012 to do interaction and visual design for the Trade Me iOS and Android apps. I like old cars, shiny toys, and my wife and son. Give me a yell on Twitter.
Brian Kwang
Developer
I'm a born and bred Wellingtonian; I joined the Trade Me team in early 2011 and have been doing this software development thing for over six years now. In my work, I enjoy crafting code and crunching data in equal measure. Outside of work I play a healthy(?) dose of Ultimate frisbee, watch a lot of cricket (and wish the Black Caps were better at it), indulge in various geek pastimes and activities, and tinker away with computers (building, upgrading, fixing, and only occasionally breaking them).
Chris Pearman
Head of Corporate Support
Beneath his golden, crusty exterior, Chris “Pieman” Pearman is the warm, friendly (and dare we say “meaty”) embodiment of IT expertise at Trade Me. When you’ve got a problem and turning it off and on again doesn’t solve it, Chris is your man.
Daniel McClelland
Test Analyst
This is my sixth year working in Wellington's IT industry, and I'm four years into my career as a Test Analyst. When I'm not on a bug hunt at work, I'm making movies and music, or running film screenings around town.
Daniel McKenzie
Developer
I’ve been at Trade Me now for over three years, after spending my time getting a Comp Sci degree at Waikato University. My first lesson in cross-browser issues was when I created a Javascript game on Geocities when I was 12 – Netscape 2.0 didn’t support Framesets. Recently moved to the General Items team, but not a stranger to almost every other nook and cranny of the site. Outside of work I’m a bit of a gamer, beer appreciator, Nyan cat lover, and code tinkerer.
Dave Curlewis
Head of Database
Bred in the wilds of South Africa, I eventually got tired of fighting with lions every other day and moved to New Zealand in 2003. I’ve been at Trade Me since 2007, and now head up the database team. When I’m not up to my neck in SQL Server stuff, I can be found lifting heavy things in the gym, blasting around on my motorbike, or at home with my wife and 3 daughters.
Dave Marquis
Database
I joined the Trade Me team in March 2011. The first things I noticed when I joined were how there is literally always something going and how friendly the people are around here! Not many jobs I’ve had in the past can say “You could be doing anything!” from day to day but here in the database team it’s a way of life. In my spare time I spend a lot of time with friends and family after that the rest is spent coaching and playing a bit of netball around Wellington.
Dave Wasley
Head of Technology
Lover of fine wines and strolls down the beach, Dave spends his day knitting up a storm (hugely beneficial during the recent cold snap) and keeping a watchful eye over the growing tech empire at Trade Me. If you need a scarf knitted, Dave’s your man.
David Williams
Developer
Started off learning Fortran 77 during a Physics degree. Haven't used it since. Over the past decade, have worked for a number of large organisations in the UK developing systems using VB4 through to .NET 4. Joined Trade Me in June this year after moving to Wellington from South Wales.
Emma Carryer
Test Analyst
I’m a recent convert to the Test lifestyle. After working in a variety of places around the world and in a variety of roles I started work for Trade Me in 2008 in Customer Service. I eventually convinced them to hire me as a Test Analyst and since then it’s all been pretty hectic but I love working at Trade Me. I work in the General Items team which takes care of the core selling function of the site. In my spare time I’m a writer, a beginner mandolin player and I am pretty sure I make the best brownies in the office.
Jay Nielson
Developer
I’ve been at Trade Me now for three years. At the beginning of 2011 I took over development of the FindSomeone site. I love geeky things like Lego, Xbox and gadgets. With a bunch of friends and other Trade Me peeps, I helped start a Wellington Beer drinking group called H.O.P.S where we enjoy and learn about great beer. I can also be found checking the Twittersphere.
Jeremy Lake
Developer
When I was 11 years old my Dad got a second-hand Commodore Vic 20 (1k of ram) later I saved for a 48k ZX spectrum, later a friend came to visit from Auckland, he had the coding chops, I had the technical literature so together we transitioned away from a 6502 based C64 and started a basic platform scroller game on a newly acquired Amiga 500, it was written in 68000 assembler. I’ve spent many hours making music in tracker software (now it’s called chiptune). I’ve worked for government agencies, contracted services to consultancies, written software for a coin operated peepshow… I always have a preference for embedded over web and for t-shirts over ties!
Jimmi Corbishley
Developer
While studying Software Engineering at Weltec I gained an internship at Trade Me through the Summer of Tech programme, which lead to a job. Currently working in the General Items team, maintaining and enhancing the core selling functions of the site. When I’m not working I’m playing sport, watching sport or talking about sport and Star Wars.
Jonathan McArthur
Designer
I made my first website in 1996. It was on GeoCities and featured an animated dog that ran across the page infinitely. Since then, I've enjoyed stints as a would-be musician, economist and philosopher, but the siren song of the Web never let up. I finally relented in 2007. I've been with Trade Me ever since, where I am employed to keep our developers on their toes by randomly yelling such useful phrases as "Pixel-perfect in all browsers!" and "Unleash the tables!". Off the clock, I write songs and bake bread. Efforts to improve Trade Me via dog-based .GIF animations are ongoing.
Jono Elkin
Test Analyst
After doing nothing even slightly IT related at Otago Uni (MBus, BCom, BA), I started working as a tester in Wellington. Not what I was expecting to occur after Uni! After doing the Test Consultancy thing for a few years, I joined Trade Me in July. Work-wise, moving from rigid, waterfall projects, to being on the KanBan team has been awesome. The best thing about this place though, is the culture. Absolutely loving it! While not here I play Rugby and Golf, enjoy cooking, fine Ales, and may be slightly addicted to a couple of iPad games.
Karol Tarka
Developer
Recently joined the mobile team enjoying the challenges of Objective-C and Cocoa. Originally from deep dark pagan forests of Slovakia moved to New Zealand more than a decade ago. So anyway, I'm a cat lover and I love to run. I'm also partial to quirky music, low brow art, hoppy beer, smokey whisky and feisty trout on a dry fly.
Malin Malliya Wadu
Developer
I'm Malin, a developer for Holiday Houses and a student at Vic Uni. I landed this job through an internship program called Summer of Tech in October 2011 and have been loving it since!
Outside of dev work I enjoy film, reading and wiling the hours away at coffee shops.
Matt van Deventer
Head of Infrastructure
Infrastructure guy. Good at fighting games, bad at driving games.
Moana Roberts
Database
I've been with Trade Me since 2007, working in the database team. I tend to poke my nose in most areas of tech: projects, operational stuff, reporting - every day is different. Outside of work I watch movies and bake, and am known to lurk where the Narwhal Bacons at Midnight. Love road tripping, and am a keen diver. The saying "If you can dive in Wellington, you can dive anywhere" is so true! I'm quite partial to diving the tropics though. No need to don a 7mm wetsuit, and there are turtles... TURTLES!
Nele Nikovic
Test Analyst
Originally from Montenegro, I’ve spent more than half of my life in NZ, so what am I? Though I’m a qualified sound engineer, I’ve turned to IT. Testing during daytime, coaching basketball in the evening, mixing music during weekends, so what am I? Definitely jack of all trades, and perhaps, master of some. Started working at Trade Me in January 2012.
Nick Parfene
Developer
I'm a mobile technology enthusiast who is lucky enough to be paid to do all kinds of mobile stuff every day. I love challenging existing "standards" in a continuous attempt to improve things. Amongst the technologies I play with you'll find AI, Linux, Macs, iOS, Android, Java, Ruby and several cloud frameworks. I consider myself very lucky: I have an amazing partner, great friends and a funny as dog. Call me crazy but I love Wellington weather. You can follow me on Twitter @nicktmro or if you want to stay up to date with what the mobile team is doing follow @trademe_mobile
Owen Symes
Developer
I've just recently joined Trade Me and relocated from Christchurch. I'm a drummer and love all things music. You can usually find me with a coffee or a beer in hand (depending on the time of day ... usually).
Patrick Te Tau
Developer
My life is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. JavaScript is a bit like Jiu Jitsu; you can get a lot done with little effort, I like that. I share a nerd circle; we cut up the finest of code while supping on hopped up budvars. Wellington, my home, is a weather ghetto. We built a culture of coffee and artisan beer to keep us cosy because mother nature won't, it’s a worthy trade, A++++
Paul Bartrum
Developer
I’m a relative newbie, having joined Trade Me in February 2011 to work on Treat Me. Prior to that I worked on digital mapping projects at a GIS company (I can still tell you the difference between a datum and an ellipsoid, though that knowledge is fading fast). I enjoy both front-end and back-end development and before my job at Trade Me I took a 6 month sojourn to work on the open-source project Jurassic. Why? To get 15 points on my résumé of course.
Paul Vickers
Developer
I've been part of the Trade Me dev team since the start of 2009, having returned to New Zealand from an extended OE of 12 years. I started my first development role over 16 years ago building VB3 apps and have stuck with Microsoft technologies since. When not working, or keeping my young son happy, I enjoy taking my kayak out along Wellington's south coast.
Richard Simes
Developer
I've lived in Wellington for all of my 26 years, was destined to be a chemist at Victoria University but accidentally finished a Comp Sci degree and fell in love with web development. I work in the Systems team and look after all things like source control and deployment.
Rob Buck
Test Analyst
Recently joined Trade Me as a test automation specialist. I’m originally from the UK, where I began my IT career in the 90s as a mainframe analyst programmer. Moved into testing and test automation about 6 years ago. I still miss COBOL, CICS, TSO and all those other redundant technologies and tools that everyone else here is too young to remember. I studied archaeology at Uni so that might explain my predilection for old things – in my spare time I enjoy fixing up old bicycles and playing retro games. I don’t do twitter or Facebook and my aging mobile phone has been carbon dated to the late Neolithic. I will eventually regress completely and will probably end my days as a grunting, club wielding troglodyte, living in a cave somewhere in Dorset.
Ross Brown
Head of Systems Engineering
My first computer was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum, which I convinced my Dad to buy by saying it would help me with my homework. As it turned out, that was a big fat lie and I mostly used it for games, but it did introduce me to the joys of programming (and the pain of typing in programs printed in magazines using the crappy rubber keyboard). Skip ahead to the mid 90s, when I was put in charge of internet operations for the small company I was working for - a 128k ISDN line, a mailserver and a website written using Notepad. After a stint doing IT for an large insurance company in London, the promise of a decent coffee brought me to Wellington 4 years ago. These days I head up the Systems Engineering team at Trade Me, responsible for delivering fast, reliable websites and other services. When I'm not working I'm usually at at home with my wife and two daughters, mucking about with Ableton, or watching videos of popular culture set to a dance beat.
Rowena Knudsen
Front-end Developer
You could say I'm part of the Trade Me furniture. After finishing a BSC down at Canterbury Uni, I moved to the capital and landed a job in the same building as Trade Me, made some friends, joined the team and have been here ever since. When I started in 2003 there were only 7 other employees, as you can imagine, things have changed a bit since then! I've done a number of roles over the years but I’ve just shifted into a front-end development role, and I reckon it’s the most exciting yet. Trade Me is an awesome place to work... still.
Ruth Keiry
Designer
I am Ruth, I make up 1/5th of the design team here at Trade Me. Im the youngest of the bunch, and scored my dream job through a University program called Summer of Tech. I've been here for 10 months and I rather like it! I work within the product team. For fun we wear 3D glasses, play mini golf at the Tip, and learn SEO magic from the team Gimp.
Ryan Baker
Developer
I’m a dev over on the Travel side, working on Trade Me’s accommodation website Travelbug and the BookIt engine which operates a SaaS model booking system for a bunch of NZ tourism companies. I bash out stuff on all parts of the systems from graphics & UI, through the .NET application layers and also SQL db dev and reports. Never a dull moment. Still waiting for my call up to the NBA.
Sam Meikle
BA/Tester
I don’t always look like this much of a hipster or Apple fan, but since joining the Trade Me Mobile team two months ago it was an inevitability. When not immersed in all things mobile you will find me chasing round my kids or enjoying something amber and hoppy.
Sam Speight
Sean Cresswell
Test Analyst
I’ve been a Test Analyst since 2005, and have been at Trade Me since moving to Wellington in 2009. Before Trade Me I’ve spent time in Dunedin, as well as working in the UK. I’ve a degree in Comp Sci, and Anatomy and Structural biology, and in my spare time I enjoy cooking, boutique beers, movies and travelling.
Shanan Gough
Business Analyst
Originally from the Deep South I've been in Wellington at Trade Me for just on 3 years. Having spent the first 5 years of my working life as a Web Developer I switched to Business Analysis about a year ago. By day I juggle preparing specification documents for the Dev and Test teams with battling it out at the top of the Trade Me Pool ladder. Away from work I'm a big Basketball fan, have spent time as a Pro Wrestling promoter (not as easy as it sounds) and am currently finishing my fifth degree.
Simon Christie
SEO Specialist / Developer
I’ve been doing work around SEO since 2008. First at Cisco in Amsterdam where I lived for 10 years, and now at Trade Me, where I’ve been since late 2010. I also do web development. I don’t do the real stuff like .NET that real developers do– (although I do a little bit here), but mainly open source. I love to sing opera – used to be professional singer in Europe, and I’m a diehard Arsenal football fan. All Blacks are ok too.
Simon Cook
Developer
Joined the mobile team at Trade Me in May this year after 5 years at my previous job. I'm loving the change of pace and culture, and enjoying the challenges of the mobile stuff we're doing. Outside of mobile I'm probably either playing indoor soccer, gaming or watching TV shows/movies.
Simon Young
Head of Development
I've been at Trade Me ever since being lured back to New Zealand after many years in London. I’m responsible for the development and test functions at Trade Me and am lucky to be surrounded by people far smarter and better looking than I. Come join us!
Tim Wright
Developer
Recently joined the Dev team at Trade Me in May, after 3 years as a Perl developer and almost 2 years as a Java developer I’m Enjoying the challenges and opportunities so far that I’ve been presented with. When I’m not developing I can be found composing music, playing guitar or drums, or just enjoying a beer or coffee down at the Wellington waterfront
Willy Berger
Developer
I’ve been a developer at Trade Me since 2008, working on a variety of projects from the 09 Trade Me redesign to spending last year wrangling our website Travelbug into the .net fold. I’ve spent the majority of the last decade programming, mainly for the web and I think JavaScript is tops. In my previous lives I have captained an Ice hockey team, been a drain on the Swedish government and at one point performed regularly on stage to wide indifference.