Scale Engineer

Lead Engineer - Front End Platform

Lead Engineer - Frontend Platform · Lead · Full Time

AU: Melbourne: (260 Burwood Rd)AUD 155k – 210k1mo ago
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Role

What you'll do.

Lead a technical platform that powers front-end development across Xero's engineering organization. This role combines hands-on expertise with strategic influence, requiring you to guide modern front-end architecture (React, TypeScript), champion best practices, mentor senior engineers, and shape multi-year technical roadmaps. Ideal for an engineer who thrives balancing platform engineering with cross-team leadership and can drive adoption of CI/CD improvements, design systems, and developer experience initiatives.

Responsibilities

  • Technical Direction & Architecture Leadership: Shape and guide the technical direction of Xero's front-end platform, establishing architectural standards and modern practices that multiple product teams adopt and rely upon daily
  • Platform & Developer Experience Strategy: Own the vision and roadmap for front-end platform services including component libraries, design systems, developer tooling, and CI/CD improvements that enhance developer productivity and code quality
  • Cross-Team Technical Guidance: Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers across product teams, establishing best practices in React, TypeScript, testing, CI/CD, and accessibility; identify technical gaps holding teams back and develop solutions
  • Modern Stack Implementation: Lead adoption and evolution of Xero's modern front-end stack (React, TypeScript, associated tooling), ensuring consistency across teams while adapting to new tools and patterns as the ecosystem evolves
  • Performance & Accessibility Initiatives: Champion multi-year initiatives to improve front-end performance metrics (Core Web Vitals, bundle optimization), accessibility standards (WCAG compliance), and overall code quality across the platform
  • Legacy Modernization Leadership: Leverage engineering practices and tools to plan and execute gradual modernization of legacy front-end components and pages, managing technical debt while keeping teams productive
  • Mentorship & Talent Development: Invest in coaching and mentoring senior and staff-level engineers, identifying high-potential talent, creating growth opportunities, and establishing clear paths for advancement within the platform and product teams
  • Hands-On Technical Contribution: Balance strategic responsibilities with hands-on work on platform infrastructure, code review, architecture decisions, and critical technical problems; model best practices through personal technical work
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Build deep relationships with design, product, and infrastructure teams; break down organizational silos by collaborating on shared tools, standards, and outcomes that serve the entire engineering organization
  • AI-Driven Development Excellence: Establish and champion AI-assisted development practices within the platform team and across product teams, leveraging AI tools to improve efficiency, solve complex problems, and accelerate delivery

Qualifications

What we look for.

Technical

  • React Proficiency

    Advanced proficiency building production React applications with deep understanding of hooks, state management, performance optimization, and modern patterns

  • TypeScript Mastery

    Strong expertise in TypeScript for building type-safe, maintainable systems; ability to design effective type hierarchies and leverage advanced type features

  • CI/CD Pipeline Architecture

    Understanding of continuous integration, deployment automation, testing pipelines, and ability to identify improvements in delivery infrastructure

  • Distributed Systems Knowledge

    Foundational understanding of distributed architecture patterns, scalability considerations, and system design principles applicable to large-scale applications

  • Testing & Quality Assurance

    Expertise in establishing testing strategies including unit testing, integration testing, end-to-end testing, and test-driven development methodologies

  • Design Systems & Component Architecture

    Ability to design, build, and maintain scalable component libraries and design systems that multiple teams depend on

  • Performance Optimization

    Capability to identify performance bottlenecks, optimize bundle sizes, improve Core Web Vitals, and implement rendering strategies for large applications

  • Frontend Tooling Ecosystem

    Strong knowledge of modern build tools, bundlers, linters, and development utilities; ability to evaluate and improve developer tooling

Education

  • Computer Science or Related Field

    Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience demonstrating mastery of computer science fundamentals

Experience

  • Senior Front-End Development

    Minimum 8+ years of professional front-end development experience, with at least 3-4 years in senior or lead engineering roles working on large-scale systems

  • Platform or Infrastructure Leadership

    3+ years of experience leading, architecting, or significantly contributing to platform teams, shared infrastructure, or developer experience initiatives

  • Multi-Team Technical Influence

    Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction and roadmaps across 3+ product engineering teams without direct managerial authority

  • Mentorship & Team Development

    Track record of mentoring junior and mid-level engineers into senior roles, with investment in their technical and leadership growth

  • Agile & Cross-Functional Collaboration

    Experience working effectively across engineering, product, design, and infrastructure teams in fast-paced, collaborative environments

Skills

Required

  • Front-End Engineering Expertise

    Deep, demonstrated proficiency in modern front-end development with a track record of architecting scalable web applications and component systems at enterprise scale

  • React & TypeScript

    Advanced experience building production systems with React and TypeScript, including performance optimization, state management patterns, and type-safe architecture

  • Platform Engineering & Developer Experience

    Proven experience designing, building, or leading shared platform infrastructure, design systems, component libraries, and developer tooling that multiple teams depend on

  • CI/CD & Testing Architecture

    Strong foundational knowledge of continuous integration and deployment pipelines, automated testing strategies (unit, integration, E2E), test-driven development practices, and pipeline optimization

  • Technical Leadership & Cross-Functional Influence

    Demonstrated ability to shape technical direction across multiple teams, influence roadmaps, drive architectural decisions without direct authority, and build consensus among engineers at varying seniority levels

  • Systems Design & Scalability

    Capability to design secure, maintainable, and scalable systems including understanding of distributed architecture principles, performance considerations, and system reliability patterns

  • Mentorship & Coaching

    Genuine track record of coaching and developing engineers into senior roles, with ability to provide constructive feedback, identify growth areas, and invest in long-term team development

  • Collaborative Problem Solving

    Approach technical disagreements constructively, navigate different viewpoints across product, design, and engineering perspectives to reach optimal outcomes for the broader organization

  • AI-Assisted Development

    Experience using AI tools and establishing AI-driven development practices within engineering teams to improve efficiency and solve technical problems

Preferred

  • Cloud-Based SaaS Architecture

    Nice to have

    Experience building or maintaining systems on cloud platforms with understanding of scalability challenges in multi-tenant SaaS environments

  • Design System Governance

    Nice to have

    Familiarity with building and scaling design systems, maintaining component consistency across large codebases, and measuring design system adoption metrics

  • Accessibility Standards

    Nice to have

    Knowledge of WCAG standards, accessible component design, and experience implementing accessibility-first approaches in large platform systems

  • Performance Optimization at Scale

    Nice to have

    Experience identifying and implementing front-end performance improvements (Core Web Vitals, bundle optimization, rendering strategies) across large applications

  • Legacy Modernization

    Nice to have

    Track record of successfully planning and executing gradual modernization of legacy codebases, managing technical debt, and coordinating migration efforts across teams

  • Monorepo Management

    Nice to have

    Experience managing monorepo architectures, shared tooling, and coordinating multiple teams working in unified code repositories

Tech stack

Languages

TypeScriptJavaScript (ES6+)

Frameworks

React

Tools

Component Libraries & Design SystemsCI/CD PlatformsTesting FrameworksBuild Tools & BundlersVersion Control & Monorepo ToolsAI Development Tools

Other

Web Performance OptimizationAccessibility Standards (WCAG)Distributed Architecture & Scalability Patterns

Compensation

Pay and benefits.

Base·AUD 155,000 – 210,000

Equity·Stock options

Benefits

  • Flexible Work Arrangements

    Work hybrid or fully remote across the East Coast of Australia; leverage beautiful offices in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane for collaboration while maintaining flexibility to work from home

  • Professional Development & Learning

    Access to continuous learning opportunities, conference attendance budgets, technical certifications, and investment in professional growth at a leading global SaaS platform

  • Mentorship & Leadership Growth

    Work with experienced engineering leaders and access coaching resources to develop leadership and mentoring capabilities

  • Impact & Influence

    Shape technical direction across Xero's engineering organization; your decisions and guidance directly affect thousands of engineers and the platform's technical future

  • Collaborative Engineering Culture

    Join a culture that values collaboration across teams, respectful disagreement, and working toward optimal outcomes for the broader organization rather than individual silos

  • Competitive Compensation Package

    Competitive salary, equity participation, and comprehensive benefits reflecting the strategic importance of this leadership role

Process

Interview steps.

  1. 01

    Initial Screening & Technical Conversation

    Phone or video call with a technical recruiter and potentially a senior engineer to understand your background, interest in the role, and core technical competencies in front-end engineering and platform thinking

  2. 02

    Technical Deep Dive Interview

    Detailed conversation with a platform or principal engineer on the team to assess your technical depth in React, TypeScript, system design, and your approach to solving platform-scale problems and cross-team technical leadership

  3. 03

    Platform & Architecture Discussion

    Discussion with the Front End Platform team lead or tech lead focused on understanding your experience building or leading shared platforms, design systems, or developer experience initiatives; your philosophy on technical decision-making and roadmap prioritization

  4. 04

    Leadership & Mentorship Conversation

    Interview with senior leadership or another principal engineer exploring your mentorship philosophy, track record developing others into senior roles, experience influencing technical direction across multiple teams, and collaborative problem-solving approach

  5. 05

    Cross-Functional Collaboration Discussion

    Conversation with product or design leadership to assess your ability to work effectively across disciplines, break down silos, and build relationships that drive better outcomes for the broader organization

  6. 06

    Leadership & Culture Fit Interview

    Final interview with senior engineering leadership or a director-level stakeholder to evaluate alignment on technical vision, leadership values, collaborative approach to disagreement, and fit within Xero's engineering culture

Full posting

Original listing.

The role and it’s impact

You'll help shape the technical direction of our Front End Platform, working across multiple teams to deliver the shared tools, systems and standards that make front end development at Xero faster, safer and more consistent. This is a role for someone who enjoys tackling open-ended, multi-team problems, and who can move comfortably between hands-on technical work and broader strategic influence.

You'll build deep relationships across engineering, product and design, breaking down silos and helping teams reach the best outcome regardless of level or title. You'll guide technical design, identify the technical gaps holding teams back, and champion modern front end practices, all while coaching engineers toward their next level.

The team and how how they connect

The Front End Platform team builds and maintains the shared foundations, from component libraries and design systems to developer tooling, that product engineering teams across Xero rely on daily.

We work in close partnership with design, product engineering and infrastructure teams to keep what we build genuinely useful and well adopted. It's a team that thinks in multi-year horizons while staying grounded in the everyday realities of the teams we support.

Initially, you will focus on

  • Leading the technical direction of Xero’s front end

  • Guiding a modern front end stack (React, TypeScript, and associated tooling) across multiple teams

  • Influencing CI/CD and delivery pipeline improvements at a platform level

  • Shaping the longer term roadmap for front end performance, accessibility and developer experience

  • Leveraging Harness Engineering to moderise legacy front end pages and components

Where and how you can work

This role can be either hybrid or fully remote anywhere across the East Coast of Australia.

For those that are looking for a hybrid role, we have beautiful offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. We come together in the office for connection, collaboration and our regular boost days, with flexibility to work from home the rest of the time.

Here are some of the things we're looking for, for this role

  • Deep expertise in front end engineering, with the ability to pick up new languages and tools as needed

  • Proven experience and genuine interest in large scale shared platforms and developer experience

  • Solid grounding in CI/CD concepts, automated testing and TDD, and enjoy helping others build good habits around them

  • Skilled at designing secure, scalable and maintainable systems, including distributed architectures

  • You'll bring a track record of influencing roadmaps and technical direction across multiple teams, not just your own

  • Comfortable balancing strategic thinking with hands-on problem solving when a team needs it

  • Experience coaching and mentoring engineers, with a genuine interest in helping others grow toward senior roles

  • A collaborative approach to disagreement, able to work through different viewpoints to reach the best outcome for the wider team

  • A track record of using AI tools and principles to work more efficiently and solve problems within a development team

Apply even if your experience isn't a perfect match! At Xero, we hire based on your skills, passion, and the unique perspective you can bring to enhance our culture and team.

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