# Senior Full Stack Engineer - Practice Engineering
**Company:** [Xero](https://scaleengineer.com/companies/xero)
Senior Full Stack Engineer responsible for Practice Tools infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring at Xero, with a focus on AI-driven automation and mentoring. This role balances hands-on full stack development (React, TypeScript/JavaScript, Java/.NET) with architectural leadership, overseeing critical foundational systems including staff permissions, practice provisioning, and system deletion capabilities. Ideal candidates possess proven DevOps expertise, AI/agentic systems experience, and demonstrated mentoring capabilities.
**Role:** Full Stack Engineer
**Seniority:** Senior
**Locations:** NZ: Auckland: Xero 4 (96 St Georges Bay Rd, Level 2 & 3)
**Salary:** 120000–180000 NZD
[Apply](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/xero/ed5a038f-8109-4a3d-b4d2-0386875ee12a)
Canonical: https://scaleengineer.com/jobs/xero/senior-full-stack-engineer-practice-engineering
---
## Responsibilities

- Infrastructure & DevOps Ownership: Design, build, and maintain critical infrastructure supporting the Practice Tools ecosystem including CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Spinnaker. Implement robust monitoring and alerting systems to ensure high availability and reliable foundational systems that wider product teams depend upon.
- Full Stack Feature Delivery: Develop and deliver key billing changes and features within the Practice Tools domain using React for frontend interfaces and backend technologies (Java or .NET). Execute end-to-end delivery cycles from requirements through production deployment.
- Xero Partner Hub Rollout: Lead the global rollout of the Xero Partner Hub across all regions, coordinating with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless deployment, feature adoption, and user experience consistency. Manage transition planning and regional customization requirements.
- Legacy System Retirement: Drive systematic deprecation and retirement of legacy HQ components following successful Partner Hub deployment. Optimize system reliability and reduce operational costs through thoughtful migration planning and execution.
- OAuth & Authorization Standards: Align authorization models with industry-standard OAuth protocols to enhance security posture and facilitate integrations. Lead architectural discussions and implementation efforts to establish modern authentication frameworks.
- AI & Agentic Systems Integration: Spearhead the transition toward an agentic software development lifecycle by building upon existing prototype agents and experimenting with AI-assisted workflows. Drive implementation of AI automation across the delivery pipeline to improve efficiency and reduce manual processes.
- Team Mentorship & Technical Leadership: Mentor junior engineers and guide team members through new technical methodologies and frameworks. Foster a collaborative environment that encourages knowledge sharing, skills development, and progressive technical growth within the engineering team.
- Architectural Decision Making: Participate in critical architectural decisions affecting the Practice Tools platform. Balance technical debt management with feature velocity while considering scalability, maintainability, and operational excellence across the system.

## Requirements

### education

- {"name":"Computer Science or Related Field","description":"Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent professional experience demonstrating strong foundational knowledge."}

### technical

- {"name":"Full Stack Web Development","description":"Proficiency in React for frontend development, combined with either Java or .NET for backend services. Ability to architect and implement complete features across the entire technology stack."}
- {"name":"CI/CD Pipeline Implementation","description":"Hands-on experience building and optimizing continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines using tools such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Spinnaker. Knowledge of automated testing, deployment strategies, and release management."}
- {"name":"Monitoring & Observability","description":"Expertise in implementing comprehensive monitoring, logging, and alerting systems. Familiarity with tools and practices for distributed tracing, metrics collection, and incident response automation."}
- {"name":"DevOps & Infrastructure Practices","description":"Practical knowledge of modern DevOps principles including infrastructure-as-code, containerization, orchestration, and cloud platform administration. Experience managing production systems at scale."}
- {"name":"AI & Machine Learning Systems","description":"Direct hands-on experience building with AI and agentic systems beyond basic prompt engineering. Understanding of AI model integration, prompt optimization, agent workflow design, and LLM-powered automation."}
- {"name":"OAuth & API Security","description":"Understanding of OAuth 2.0 standards and modern authorization frameworks. Experience implementing secure API authentication and managing identity federation."}

### experience

- {"name":"Senior-Level Software Development","description":"5+ years of professional software development experience with demonstrated progression to senior technical levels. Proven ability to own complex systems and drive technical initiatives."}
- {"name":"Full Stack Product Development","description":"Substantial experience developing complete web applications using modern frameworks and backend platforms. Track record of shipping features from conception through production."}
- {"name":"Infrastructure & DevOps Leadership","description":"Multi-year experience with infrastructure design, CI/CD implementation, and operational excellence. Demonstrated ability to build and maintain systems serving high-traffic production environments."}
- {"name":"AI/Machine Learning Integration","description":"Practical experience integrating AI capabilities into production systems or building agentic workflows. Beyond theoretical knowledge, hands-on implementation of AI-assisted development tooling or automation."}
- {"name":"Team Mentorship & Leadership","description":"Demonstrated track record of mentoring junior engineers and guiding team members through technical growth. Evidence of patience, clear communication, and ability to elevate team capabilities."}

## Skills

### required

- {"name":"React","description":"Advanced proficiency in React for building scalable, component-based user interfaces with modern patterns like hooks, context API, and state management."}
- {"name":"TypeScript or JavaScript","description":"Strong expertise in either TypeScript (preferred for type safety) or JavaScript for frontend development and potential backend scripting."}
- {"name":"Java or .NET","description":"Production-level backend development experience with either Java (Spring, Quarkus) or .NET (C#, ASP.NET Core) ecosystems."}
- {"name":"CI/CD & Automation","description":"Hands-on experience with pipeline orchestration tools including GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Spinnaker for automated build, test, and deployment workflows."}
- {"name":"Monitoring & Alerting","description":"Practical knowledge of observability tooling such as Prometheus, Grafana, DataDog, New Relic, or ELK stack for system health management."}
- {"name":"Cloud Platforms","description":"Experience with major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) or cloud-native infrastructure patterns and deployment models."}
- {"name":"AI/LLM Integration","description":"Hands-on experience with large language model APIs, prompt engineering at production scale, or building AI-powered applications and automation workflows."}
- {"name":"OAuth & Modern Security","description":"Understanding of OAuth 2.0, JWT token management, and modern authentication/authorization patterns for distributed systems."}

### preferred

- {"name":"Agentic Systems & Autonomous Workflows","description":"Experience building or working with autonomous agents, multi-step reasoning systems, or AI systems that make decisions and take actions without direct human intervention."}
- {"name":"Infrastructure-as-Code","description":"Familiarity with IaC tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, or ARM templates for reproducible infrastructure provisioning and management."}
- {"name":"Containerization & Orchestration","description":"Hands-on experience with Docker, Kubernetes, or container orchestration platforms for managing complex distributed systems."}
- {"name":"SaaS Platform Architecture","description":"Experience designing or maintaining multi-tenant SaaS platforms with considerations for scalability, data isolation, and operational efficiency."}
- {"name":"Accounting or FinTech Domain","description":"Previous experience in accounting software, FinTech, or financial services domain providing context for business requirements and compliance considerations."}
- {"name":"Scala or Functional Programming","description":"Experience with functional programming paradigms or Scala, valuable for building resilient, concurrent systems."}
- {"name":"Event-Driven Architecture","description":"Knowledge of event streaming platforms like Kafka or event-driven design patterns for asynchronous, scalable system architectures."}

## Tech stack

### tools

- {"name":"GitHub Actions","description":"Continuous integration platform for automating build, test, and deployment pipelines (primary CI/CD tool)."}
- {"name":"Jenkins","description":"Alternative enterprise CI/CD orchestration platform for complex workflow management and legacy system integration."}
- {"name":"Spinnaker","description":"Advanced continuous deployment platform for managing multi-region deployments and complex release strategies."}
- {"name":"Docker","description":"Container platform for packaging and deploying applications in consistent, reproducible environments."}
- {"name":"Kubernetes","description":"Container orchestration platform for managing production deployments, scaling, and operational excellence."}
- {"name":"Grafana & Prometheus","description":"Observability stack for metrics collection, visualization, and alerting on system health and performance."}
- {"name":"Git","description":"Version control system for collaborative development and code management."}

### others

- {"name":"OAuth 2.0","description":"Industry-standard authorization protocol for secure API access and identity federation across Practice Tools platform."}
- {"name":"Agentic AI Systems","description":"AI-powered autonomous agents and workflows for accelerating software development lifecycle and automation."}
- {"name":"Large Language Models (LLMs)","description":"Integration with LLM APIs and services for AI-assisted development, code generation, and intelligent automation."}
- {"name":"Cloud Infrastructure","description":"Modern cloud-native patterns, multi-region deployment strategies, and infrastructure-as-code practices."}
- {"name":"Distributed Systems Design","description":"Architectural patterns for building scalable, resilient systems handling Practice Tools ecosystem requirements."}

### databases

- {"name":"PostgreSQL","description":"Likely enterprise-grade relational database supporting transactional consistency and complex queries for accounting data."}
- {"name":"Redis","description":"In-memory caching layer for optimizing performance and managing distributed state across services."}
- {"name":"Elasticsearch","description":"Potential search and analytics platform for monitoring, logging, and observability infrastructure."}

### languages

- {"name":"TypeScript","description":"Strongly preferred modern JavaScript superset enabling static type checking and improving code maintainability at scale."}
- {"name":"JavaScript","description":"Core frontend language for React development and potential server-side applications."}
- {"name":"Java","description":"Enterprise backend development language with robust ecosystem (Spring, Quarkus) for building scalable microservices."}
- {"name":".NET","description":"Alternative backend platform using C# for building high-performance APIs and services integrated with Practice Tools infrastructure."}

### frameworks

- {"name":"React","description":"Primary frontend framework for building interactive user interfaces within the Practice Tools ecosystem and Partner Hub."}
- {"name":"Spring or Spring Boot","description":"Java-based framework (if Java backend selected) for rapid microservice development with built-in cloud-native features."}
- {"name":"ASP.NET Core","description":".NET framework alternative for building high-performance APIs and web services with modern cloud capabilities."}
- {"name":"Jest or Vitest","description":"Testing frameworks for JavaScript/TypeScript ensuring code quality and reliability across the frontend stack."}

## Benefits

### benefits

- {"name":"Flexible Working Arrangement","description":"Choose between fully remote work from home or access to modern office spaces in Wellington, Christchurch, or Auckland. Flexible schedule supports your preferred working style with occasional team connection opportunities."}
- {"name":"Collaborative Team Environment","description":"Join a close-knit, collaborative engineering team based across New Zealand with open communication, frequent collaboration, and a culture that values diverse perspectives and fresh ideas."}
- {"name":"Technical Leadership Opportunities","description":"Clear trajectory toward senior technical leadership with significant autonomy in decision-making, architectural input, and team influence. Shape the future direction of Practice Tools infrastructure."}
- {"name":"AI & Innovation Focus","description":"Lead the adoption of artificial intelligence and agentic systems within the organization. Spearhead transition toward AI-driven development lifecycle with resources and support for experimentation."}
- {"name":"Mentorship & Growth Culture","description":"Opportunity to mentor junior engineers, guide technical career development, and contribute to building a strong engineering culture focused on continuous learning."}
- {"name":"Cutting-Edge Technology Stack","description":"Work with modern, well-maintained technologies including React, TypeScript/JavaScript, Java/.NET, and cloud-native infrastructure. Regular opportunities for technical skill development."}
- {"name":"Global SaaS Impact","description":"Contribute to a globally-recognized cloud accounting platform serving small businesses worldwide. Influence product decisions affecting millions of users and their businesses."}
- {"name":"Practice Engineering Focus","description":"Work on critical foundational systems (staff permissions, practice provisioning, system deletion) that power the broader Practice Tools ecosystem, maximizing technical impact."}

## Compensation

- **max:** 180000
- **min:** 120000
- **currency:** NZD
- **stockOptions:** true

## Interview process

### steps

- {"name":"Initial Application & Screening","description":"Submit your resume, cover letter highlighting relevant experience with full stack development, DevOps, and AI systems. Initial screening focuses on technical background and alignment with Practice Tools infrastructure role requirements."}
- {"name":"Technical Screening Call","description":"Preliminary 30-45 minute conversation with recruiting team to discuss your background in React, backend development (Java/.NET), and CI/CD pipeline experience. Assess communication style and cultural fit with collaborative team environment."}
- {"name":"Coding & Architecture Assessment","description":"Take-home or live technical exercise evaluating full stack development capabilities. Problems typically assess React component design, backend system architecture, and practical DevOps scenario handling. Expected duration 1-2 hours focused work."}
- {"name":"Infrastructure & DevOps Deep Dive","description":"Technical interview exploring CI/CD pipeline design, monitoring strategy, and infrastructure decisions. Discuss your experience with GitHub Actions/Jenkins, observability tooling, and managing production reliability at scale."}
- {"name":"AI & Advanced Systems Discussion","description":"Conversation focused on hands-on experience building with AI and agentic systems. Discuss concrete examples beyond basic prompt engineering, your approach to integrating AI into workflows, and vision for AI-driven development automation."}
- {"name":"Senior Engineering & Mentorship Interview","description":"Leadership-focused discussion exploring your track record mentoring junior engineers, architectural decision-making, and approach to technical leadership. Assess alignment with senior-level expectations and team culture."}
- {"name":"Final Hiring Manager Interview","description":"Meeting with hiring manager to discuss role expectations, team dynamics, and your career growth goals. Opportunity to ask strategic questions about Practice Tools roadmap, company direction, and your potential impact."}
- {"name":"Reference & Offer Stage","description":"Reference checks from previous managers or senior colleagues validating technical capabilities and team collaboration. Offer discussion covering compensation, benefits, flexible working arrangements, and onboarding timeline."}

## Full description
**The role / impact**

This senior engineering post sits right at the core of Practice Tools, balancing hands-on delivery with leading the team's adoption of artificial intelligence. You will own crucial infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and alerting, ensuring reliable foundational systems that wider product teams depend upon.

Beyond core engineering, you will spearhead the transition toward an agentic software development lifecycle. By building on existing prototype agents, experimenting with AI-assisted workflows, and mentoring team members, you will shape how software is built while establishing a clear trajectory towards future technical leadership.

**The team / how they connect**

You will join a collaborative, close-knit group of engineers based across New Zealand who manage staff permissions, practice provisioning, and system deletion. The team operates with high autonomy, working closely together to deliver foundational capabilities that power the broader Practice Tools ecosystem. Communication is open and frequent, creating a supportive environment where diverse perspectives and fresh ideas are truly valued.

**Initially, you will focus on**

* Delivering key billing changes within the Practice Tools domain using React, JavaScript or TypeScript, and Java or .NET.
* Rolling out the Xero Partner Hub across all global regions to elevate the practice experience.
* Retiring legacy HQ components once the hub is live to improve system reliability and cost efficiency.
* Aligning authorization models with OAuth standards while advancing AI-driven automation across the delivery pipeline.

**Where and how you can work**

This position offers flexible working options for candidates based in New Zealand. You can choose to work fully remotely from home or access our modern office spaces in Wellington, Christchurch, or Auckland. Whether you prefer coming into an office daily or working entirely from home, our setup supports your preferred working style alongside occasional team connection opportunities.

**Here are some of the things we are looking for**

* Experience developing web applications using React alongside JavaScript or TypeScript.
* Solid background in backend development (Preferably either Java or .NET)
* Practical knowledge of modern DevOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines using tools like GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Spinnaker, along with robust monitoring and alerting.
* Direct hands-on experience building with AI and agentic systems beyond basic prompt engineering.
* A proven track record of mentoring junior colleagues and patiently guiding team members through new technical methodologies.
* A proactive, self-directed mindset with the drive to take ownership of complex technical challenges and grow toward senior leadership.

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.