Principal Engineer

The role / impact

You will work in collaboration with multiple teams within a product group to help create and deliver beautiful software to our customers, faster. By defining the standard for engineering excellence at Xero, you will lead initiatives to grow the technical capabilities of engineers and evolve the technical architecture of our software in support of the product roadmap. You will ensure technical decisions and implementations are aligned with strategic goals while breaking down silos across functions to maintain alignment with the vision.

Your influence will shape group-level technical strategy as you partner with senior leaders to identify and leverage opportunities across organisational boundaries. You will help teams build and manage software that solves engineering problems at scale, seeking clarity within technical complexities and demonstrating smart ways to simplify. By making data-driven decisions, you will ensure the team releases value early to solve customer problems more effectively.

The team / how they connect

You will lead the growth of a cross-functional environment, contributing to the technical roadmap and architectural direction across the product group and the wider business. This team thrives on establishing a high level of trust and credibility with stakeholders, ensuring that everyone has effective relationships with supporting teams across Xero. We focus on creating a psychologically safe and inclusive environment where teams are empowered to experiment, learn, and thrive.

Find out more about the different engineering teams we recruit for here.

The team is currently working on / Initially, you will focus on

• Refactoring complex, monolithic systems into scalable, cloud-native distributed architectures.

• Advocating for a modern DevOps culture and the adoption of new technologies like AWS, Kubernetes, and React to support product requirements.

• Creating and promoting portfolio-level engineering standards and frameworks that lift the quality capabilities of all teams.

• Guiding teams in defining and implementing SLOS while ensuring deployment pipelines are fit for purpose and safe to deploy.

Where and how you can work

This role is based in Sydney or Melbourne and offers a hybrid working model that balances office-based connection with the flexibility of working from home. You will have the opportunity to utilise our modern office spaces and participate in boost days, which are designed to enhance team connection and collaboration.

Here are some of the things we are looking for

• You bring proven experience leading large, complex technical projects to delivery on cloud-native platforms with a focus on scalability and performance.

• Your background includes a strong ability to mentor and coach engineers across all levels, helping them navigate technical challenges and career development.

• A talent for simplifying complex technical challenges into clear, actionable outcomes is essential for this role.

• You possess the skills to develop techniques that quantify the cost of technical debt and determine the strategic timing to address it.

• Experience contributing to a long-term technical vision and advocating for engineering best practices across a wide portfolio is something you take pride in.

• Your commitment to fostering an inclusive environment ensures that collaboration and innovation remain at the heart of the team's work.

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.