Lead Engineer

Responsibilities

• Drive AI and Modernization Initiatives: Lead technical design and implementation of agentic AI systems integrated into both internal development workflows and customer-facing products. Balance legacy code modernization in C# and .NET environments with cutting-edge AI integration, establishing best practices for LLM and autonomous AI agent deployment across the platform.
• Guide System Architecture and Technical Design: Design and simplify complex distributed system architectures for scalability. Make pragmatic technical trade-off decisions, establish architectural patterns that support the AI transformation roadmap, and ensure systems remain resilient while handling rapid evolution.
• Champion Engineering Excellence and Quality: Establish and enforce modern quality assurance strategies, comprehensive testing frameworks, and code review standards. Optimize CI/CD deployment pipelines, reduce deployment friction, and implement monitoring solutions that maintain system resilience across millions of concurrent users.
• Lead Incident Management and Reliability: Participate in on-call rotations, lead incident response efforts for production issues, and facilitate thorough post-mortems. Recognize failure patterns, implement preventative measures, and build a culture of reliability awareness across the engineering team.
• Mentor and Develop Engineering Talent: Actively coach and mentor engineers at all levels, establishing a psychologically safe and inclusive team environment. Facilitate continuous learning opportunities, conduct technical interviews, and develop career growth plans that build team capability and technical depth.
• Drive Cross-Functional Collaboration: Build strong relationships with product, design, operations, and other engineering teams. Break down operational silos, influence technical roadmaps across the organization, and ensure alignment between engineering decisions and broader business goals.
• Establish Technical Vision and Strategy: Define multi-quarter engineering roadmaps, set team technical objectives aligned with company goals, and communicate clear rationales for technology choices. Balance strategic initiatives with tactical execution, ensuring team velocity doesn't compromise long-term system health.

Benefits

• Flexible Hybrid Work Model

  Balance between remote work and in-person collaboration at Xero offices in Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane. Work autonomously from home while maintaining team connection through regular in-office days tailored to your team's needs.

• Professional Development and Learning

  Access to continuous learning resources, technical training budgets, conference attendance opportunities, and mentorship from senior leadership. Support for skill development in emerging technologies including AI and cloud architecture.

• Inclusive and Psychologically Safe Culture

  Work environment that prioritizes psychological safety, welcomes diverse perspectives, and encourages respectful challenge. Commitment to creating space for personal wellbeing alongside professional growth.

• Global Impact and Scale

  Lead technical initiatives that directly impact millions of small businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers worldwide. Influence product strategy and engineering practices across a global fintech platform trusted by major enterprise customers.

• Competitive Compensation Package

  Comprehensive total rewards including base salary, performance-based bonus, and equity participation in Xero's publicly listed company. Package reflects market rates for senior technical leadership roles in Australia.

• Health and Wellbeing Support

  Comprehensive health insurance coverage, mental health and wellness programs, fitness benefits, and employee assistance programs supporting overall wellbeing.

• Collaborative Engineering Culture

  Work alongside talented engineers across distributed teams with transparent communication and collaborative decision-making. Influence technical direction and build systems with significant technical complexity.