Aaron Power

Experience

• 

  Weta Workshop Ltd

  Mar 2015 - Apr 2015

  Intern Designer

  As an Intern Designer at Weta, I assisted Sir Richard Taylor and an international team of artists and designers to complete research, create ideas and developed detailed design concepts.

• 

  Creative HQ

  Jun 2016 - Jun 2021

  Alongside my role as an Innovation Specialist, I was also a product designer and team lead who developed products that improved Creative HQ's impact and profitability. Within the role I lead a team to use lean and agile to create online courses, facilitation materials, and remote delivery platforms. As an Innovation Specialist, I delivered a wide range of innovation services such as: facilitating Design Sprints, Hackathons, workshops, and coaching Startups & Project Teams through accelerator programmes. Most notably, I coached four startups and two Government teams through Lighting Lab's Tourism, KFA 3.0 and Govtech 2.0 programmes. As an Innovation Coordinator, I supported the delivery of a range of innovation services such as: Design Sprints, Innovation programmes and Hackathons. Within the role, I worked alongside Innovation Specialists and Senior Innovation Specialists. As an Assistant Manager, I supported the growth and development of 1st Assembly — Creative HQ's Hardware Startup Incubator & Co-working Space. Within the role, I pivoted between multiple responsibilities from sales, startup coaching, compliance and, event management.

  • Product Designer

    Feb 2020 - Jun 2021

  • Innovation Specialist

    Dec 2018 - Jun 2021

  • Innovation Coordinator

    Oct 2017 - Dec 2018

  • Assistant Manager

    Jun 2016 - Oct 2017
• 

  Lightning Lab

  Aug 2018 - Oct 2019

  As a Programme Manager, I designed, delivered and promoted Venture Up 2018 & 2019, accelerators that fostered New Zealand's entrepreneurial youth. During the 2018 Govtech Accelerator programme, I was a member of Wellington NZ's project team which had the aim of improving Wellington's business support. I conducted customer interviews, created solution prototypes, crafted pitches and acted as the team scrum master.

  • Programme Manager

    Oct 2017 - Oct 2019

  • Accelerator Participant

    Aug 2018 - Nov 2018
• 

  Redvespa Consultants Limited

  Jun 2021 - Aug 2022

  Consultant

  As a consultant, I helped clients improve their way of working during 3-6 month assignments, like documenting best practices for professional divers. I also used design thinking to support Redvespa’s product team to create new offerings that increased profitability. Most notably, I facilitated 14 online design thinking workshops to help Auckland Transport rethink the way they coordinated infrastructure projects.

• 

  Springload Te Pipītanga

  Aug 2022 - Nov 2022

  Alongside my role as a Team Facilitator, I also negotiated delivery contracts with clients, managed practitioner resource, oversaw project budgets, and invoicing. This aspect of my role was heavily based in project management, which setup my squad for success. As a Team Facilitator, I helped a squad of designers transition from a Waterfall to Agile way of working. The goal was to remove silos between the delivery practices, like Design and Technology, and give everyone more autonomy and control. I helped my squad to rebuild their team culture, mature how they worked, and coached them on modern delivery practices. I was at the heart of the change management process.

  • Delivery Manager

    Aug 2022 - Nov 2022

  • Team Facilitator

    Aug 2022 - Nov 2022
• 

  Contact Energy Ltd

  Jan 2023 - now

  Within my current role, I lead the agile delivery of the Digital Generation workstream. The workstream has delivery squads, product owners, subject matter experts, and architects. We solve problems for the Generation Team by making digital tools that improve their experience and performance. My role is complex and dynamic. I serve the team by helping them reach their potential and be sustainable. One day I'm coaching teams, facilitating workshops, and leading continuous improvement. The next I'm working with external partners, overseeing budgets, and tracking our performance.I'm an agile coach for a team of teams. Show less As a Agile Team Facilitator, I coached two Data Engineering squads, working alongside a Product Owner. The squads made complex data easy to understand so Retail and Customer Service teams could make good decisions. I helped my squads work smarter not harder by blending Scrum, SAFE, and DevOps. While supporting my squads, I also helped Contact to become more innovative. Most notably, I was the lead facilitator for an internal AI Hackathon. The four-day event gave everyone in Contact the chance to explore the possibilities of AI and solve problems they experienced. Show less

  • Agile Delivery Lead

    Jul 2024 - now

  • Agile Team Facilitator

    Jan 2023 - Jul 2024