Senior Engineer - Mobile
Xero5 days ago
Location
AU: Melbourne: (260 Burwood Rd)
Type
Full Time
Salary
AUD 130,000 – 180,000
Level
Senior
Role
Mobile Engineer
Posted
Jul 14, 2026
Full TimeSenior
The role
Summary
Senior Engineer - Mobile role at Xero, focused on developing and maintaining the Xero Accounting App (XAA), a flagship mobile experience for small business accounting. This position requires proven expertise in React Native and native mobile development at scale, combined with cloud infrastructure knowledge (AWS, Kubernetes, CI/CD) and strong software design principles. The role emphasizes high-velocity product delivery, operational excellence, and mentorship within a collaborative, hybrid team environment based in Melbourne or Sydney.
What you'll do
Mobile Application Development: Design and develop high-impact mobile workflows using React Native and native technologies for critical customer features including banking, invoicing, payments, and file management within the Xero Accounting App (XAA). Lead by example in code reviews, establishing technical standards and ensuring delivered software consistently exceeds customer expectations across iOS and Android platforms.
System Architecture and Technical Design: Architect scalable, maintainable mobile solutions by applying proven software design patterns and distributed architecture principles. Make data-driven decisions on major code design choices that solve engineering problems at scale, ensuring applications remain performant and secure as they grow to support millions of small business users globally.
Operational Excellence and Reliability: Champion availability, accuracy, security, and scalability of the mobile platform. Proactively identify failure patterns, automate manual processes to reduce operational burden, and lead incident response and post-mortem activities. Implement monitoring, logging, and observability solutions to detect issues before they impact production and customer experience.
DevOps and Infrastructure Optimization: Leverage cloud infrastructure expertise in AWS and Kubernetes to optimize deployment pipelines, CI/CD processes, and mobile app delivery. Streamline build and release processes, improve automation, and ensure reliable infrastructure supports rapid iteration and global scale delivery of mobile features.
Team Mentorship and Culture Building: Actively mentor and coach junior and mid-level engineers on best practices in mobile development, software design, and operational excellence. Foster a psychologically safe, collaborative team environment by sharing technical knowledge, soliciting feedback, and promoting continuous learning. Model professional standards and demonstrate a growth mindset when navigating technical challenges.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Product, Design, Web, Platform, and Domain teams to deliver seamless mobile experiences that integrate across all Xero channels. Translate business requirements into technical specifications with clarity, communicate complex technical constraints with data-driven evidence, and ensure consistent user experience across mobile and web platforms.
Efficiency and Delivery Optimization: Identify and implement opportunities to increase development efficiency by simplifying technical complexity and automating delivery processes. Leverage modern practices including AI-assisted development tools to accelerate feature delivery while maintaining code quality. Champion lean, effective development processes that enable the team to release value to customers faster without accumulating technical debt.
Customer-Centric Engineering: Maintain deep focus on customer obsession by ensuring customer needs drive technical decision-making. Take a bias for action approach, favoring incremental steps and learning through execution over over-analysis. Prioritize practical progress, momentum, and early value delivery, connecting technical work directly to solving real customer problems in accounting and financial management.
Platform Health and Scalability: Take responsibility for maintaining platform health as the application scales globally. Work to ensure software is scalable, secure, and maintainable through thoughtful architectural decisions, comprehensive testing, and proactive quality assurance. Address scalability challenges early through load testing, performance optimization, and infrastructure planning.
AI and Modern Development Integration: Explore and integrate AI capabilities into mobile workflows to enhance productivity and deliver innovative customer value. Stay current with emerging technologies and best practices in AI-assisted development, mobile frameworks, and cloud platforms. Evaluate new tools and techniques that enable faster, more efficient delivery without compromising quality or security.
What we look for
Technical
React Native DevelopmentAdvanced proficiency in React Native framework for cross-platform iOS and Android development. Experience building and shipping robust mobile applications at global scale, with deep understanding of React Native architecture, performance optimization, and native module integration.
Native Mobile DevelopmentStrong experience with native iOS (Swift) and/or Android (Kotlin) development, including platform-specific APIs, lifecycle management, and performance considerations. Ability to write efficient native code and bridge between React Native and platform-specific implementations.
Software Design Patterns and ArchitectureProven expertise applying SOLID principles, architectural patterns (MVC, MVVM, Redux, etc.), and clean code practices to mobile applications. Experience designing testable, maintainable codebases that scale with team size and feature complexity.
Distributed Systems and Cloud InfrastructureSolid understanding of distributed architecture principles, microservices patterns, and cloud-native development. Hands-on experience with AWS services, Kubernetes orchestration, containerization, and cloud deployment strategies relevant to mobile backends.
CI/CD Pipeline DevelopmentExperience designing, implementing, and optimizing continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines for mobile applications. Familiarity with CI/CD tools, automated testing frameworks, and deployment automation that enables rapid, reliable releases.
Scalable System DesignAbility to design and build systems that scale reliably to millions of users globally. Understanding of load balancing, caching strategies, database optimization, and observability patterns that support high-volume production applications.
Code Quality and TestingCommitment to code quality through comprehensive unit testing, integration testing, and end-to-end testing practices. Experience with testing frameworks, test automation, code coverage analysis, and quality metrics that ensure production reliability.
Performance OptimizationExperience optimizing mobile application performance including app startup time, memory management, network efficiency, and battery consumption. Proficiency with performance profiling tools and metrics-driven optimization approaches.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related FieldPreferred foundational education in computer science, software engineering, or related discipline, though equivalent professional experience and demonstrated expertise may substitute for formal qualifications.
Continuous Learning and Technical DevelopmentDemonstrated commitment to staying current with evolving mobile development technologies, frameworks, and best practices through ongoing professional development, certifications, or independent technical projects.
Experience
7+ Years Professional Software EngineeringMinimum 7+ years of professional software development experience building production systems, with demonstrated progression to senior-level technical contributions and leadership responsibilities.
5+ Years Mobile Development SpecializationAt least 5+ years focused on mobile application development, including experience shipping production apps at scale. Demonstrated expertise across multiple mobile platforms or frameworks with proven ability to make architectural decisions.
2+ Years in Senior Technical LeadershipA minimum of 2+ years in a senior engineering role involving technical mentorship, architecture decisions, and cross-functional collaboration. Experience leading design reviews, establishing technical standards, and guiding team technical strategy.
Global Scale Product ExperienceExperience building and shipping mobile products that serve millions of users globally. Understanding of challenges at scale including performance optimization, reliability management, and international compliance considerations.
Cloud Infrastructure and DevOps ExperiencePractical experience with AWS, Kubernetes, or similar cloud platforms in production environments. Understanding of CI/CD automation, infrastructure-as-code, and modern deployment practices for mobile or backend services.
Cross-Functional CollaborationProven ability to work effectively across Product, Design, Backend, and other engineering disciplines. Track record of translating business requirements into technical specifications and communicating technical trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
Skills
Required skills
React NativeExpert-level proficiency building cross-platform mobile applications with React Native, including performance optimization, native module integration, and managing complex state management at scale.
iOS DevelopmentStrong experience developing for iOS platform using Swift, including native APIs, platform-specific UI patterns, and optimization for Apple devices and ecosystems.
Android DevelopmentSolid experience developing for Android platform using Kotlin, with understanding of Android-specific patterns, APIs, and performance considerations for the platform.
Software ArchitectureProven ability to design scalable, maintainable software architecture using established patterns, domain-driven design principles, and architectural decision frameworks.
Cloud Infrastructure (AWS)Hands-on experience with Amazon Web Services including compute, storage, networking, and managed services relevant to mobile application backends and infrastructure.
KubernetesExperience containerizing applications and orchestrating deployments with Kubernetes, including configuration management, scaling strategies, and production operations.
CI/CD Pipeline DevelopmentExpertise building and maintaining continuous integration and deployment pipelines for reliable, automated software delivery to production environments.
Performance OptimizationDemonstrated ability to profile, identify bottlenecks, and optimize mobile application performance across memory, CPU, network, and battery consumption metrics.
System DesignStrong capability designing distributed systems, APIs, and scalable architectures that maintain reliability and performance under high load conditions.
Mentorship and Technical LeadershipAbility to guide junior engineers through code reviews, design discussions, and technical problem-solving. Demonstrated impact on team technical culture and capability growth.
Nice to have
Artificial Intelligence and Machine LearningExperience integrating AI/ML capabilities into mobile applications, including working with language models, predictive analytics, or ML inference frameworks for improving user productivity.
Fintech or Accounting Domain KnowledgeUnderstanding of financial software, accounting practices, payments processing, or regulatory compliance requirements relevant to accounting applications.
Open Source ContributionsActive participation in open source projects, demonstrating commitment to code quality, community collaboration, and transparent software development practices.
Mobile Security and PrivacyExperience implementing security best practices in mobile applications including secure data storage, authentication/authorization patterns, and privacy-preserving techniques.
GraphQLExperience building or consuming GraphQL APIs for efficient, flexible data querying in mobile applications.
Advanced State ManagementExpertise with advanced state management solutions including Redux, MobX, Riverpod, or similar approaches that scale with application complexity.
Incident Response and Post-Mortem FacilitationExperience leading incident response activities and blameless post-mortems to drive continuous improvement in production systems and team processes.
Accessibility and Inclusive DesignKnowledge of mobile accessibility standards and inclusive design practices ensuring Xero apps serve users with diverse needs and abilities.
Developer Experience (DX) OptimizationTrack record improving developer tooling, documentation, and processes to increase team velocity and code quality.
A/B Testing and AnalyticsExperience designing and implementing A/B tests and analytics tracking to validate product decisions and measure feature impact on user behavior.
API Design and REST/GraphQL PatternsExpertise designing clean, scalable APIs that mobile clients consume efficiently, with understanding of API versioning, backwards compatibility, and developer experience.
Compensation & benefits
Salary
AUD 130,000 – 180,000 (annual)
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Xero
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Xero is a global cloud-based accounting software platform for small businesses, offering accounting, payroll, invoicing, and more.
Wellington, New ZealandFounded 2005xero.com
Tech Stack
Languages
SwiftKotlinJavaScript/TypeScriptJavaScript (Backend/Node.js)
Frameworks
React NativeUIKit/SwiftUIAndroid FrameworkReactRedux or MobXExpress.js or similar
Databases
PostgreSQLDynamoDBRedisSQLiteElasticsearch
Tools
AWS ServicesKubernetesDockerGit and GitHub/GitLabXcodeAndroid StudioJenkins or CircleCIFastlaneNew Relic or DatadogJira
Other
Observability and MonitoringTesting FrameworksIncident Management and Post-MortemsAgile and Scrum PracticesCloud-Native Development PatternsAPI Design StandardsSecurity and ComplianceAI/ML Integration