Lead Engineer

At Xero, our purpose is to make running a business beautiful. By delivering smart, efficient tools to millions of small businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers worldwide, we empower communities and help build a stronger global economy. As a **Lead Engineer** , you will model the standard for engineering excellence at Xero. You will balance hands\-on technical execution with strategic engineering leadership—guiding technical design, mentoring a high\-performing team, and delivering multi\-quarter product and platform goals. This is a unique opportunity to lead a team through a significant **AI transformation** . You will lead the charge in harnessing **agentic AI** to optimize software development workflows while embedding intelligent, agentic features directly into our customer\-facing products. **What You’ll Do** * Drive AI \& Modernization Initiatives: Lead technical design and implementation, balancing legacy code modernization (C\# / .NET, React) with cutting\-edge agentic AI integration across internal workflows and customer features. * Hands\-on Technical Leadership: Guide system architecture, simplify complex technical designs, and write clean, scalable, maintainable code. * Elevate Engineering Excellence: Identify technical blockers, champion modern quality and testing strategies, optimize CI/CD deployment pipelines, and maintain system resilience. * Incident Management \& Reliability: Recognise failure patterns, participate in the team on\-call roster, lead incident responses, and facilitate post\-mortems. * Mentor \& Lift Team Capability: Actively coach and mentor engineers, establishing a psychologically safe, inclusive, and high\-performing culture focused on continuous learning. * Cross\-Functional Collaboration \& Strategy: Build strong cross\-functional relationships, break down operational silos, and influence technical roadmaps to achieve wider organizational goals. **What You’ll Bring** We value problem\-solving ability, adaptable thinking, and hands\-on capability over rigid formal checklists. * Technical Expertise: Strong background in C\# and .NET environments is preferred (or expertise in similar OO languages like Java with a language\-agnostic mindset and quick adaptability). * Distributed Architecture \& Scale: Proven experience designing, building, and maintaining scalable distributed systems and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS). * AI Enthusiast / Forward\-Thinker: Genuine interest or hands\-on experience in leveraging AI tools, LLMs, or agentic AI systems to transform engineering workflows and user experiences. * Diverse Environmental Exposure: Experience navigating complex codebases, legacy modernization, or fast\-paced technical environments (e.g., consulting, fintech, banking, SaaS, or regulated sectors). * Pragmatic Leadership: A track record of coaching engineers, managing technical trade\-offs, and resolving complex technical challenges with clear communication. * Note: A formal Computer Science degree is not mandatory—we prioritize real\-world experience, skills, and impact. **Where \& How You'll Work** We offer a flexible **hybrid working model** designed to balance autonomy, focus, and connection. You can split your time between working remotely from home and collaborating in\-person with your team at our vibrant offices in **Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane** . **Why Join Xero?** Apply even if your experience isn't a perfect match! At Xero, we hire based on your skills, passion, and the unique perspective you bring to our team.