Engineering Manager (Platform)

Position Overview and Impact

As an Engineering Manager, you will lead a team of eight engineers responsible for developing and maintaining platform services that represent organizations within Xero. These services handle high usage and are critical to customers' daily operations, making your role vital to the company. Your leadership will foster team growth, ensure consistent delivery, and empower domain experts to excel.

In your first year, your focus will be driving stability forward. After an initial recovery phase, you will guide the team away from the legacy MyXero database toward a modern architecture designed for Xero’s next two decades. You will courageously challenge existing practices while respecting the deep knowledge within the team.

Team and Collaboration

You will join a platform team managing core, widely-used services. Engineers possess extensive system knowledge and are distributed across Auckland, Wellington, and Melbourne. The team values open communication and collaborative ownership regardless of location.

Initial Focus Areas

• Maintaining system stability following recent recovery efforts
• Planning transition away from the legacy database
• Defining and supporting a long-term platform architecture roadmap
• Building strong relationships and understanding team expertise across multiple cities

Work Environment

This role is preferably based in Auckland or Wellington, with remote work flexibility. A hybrid work model supports both onsite presence and remote work.

Desired Qualifications and Attributes

• Strong software engineering background with sufficient technical expertise to critically evaluate system design
• Experience in a sizeable tech or SaaS company, understanding team scaling challenges
• A bold inquisitive mindset that challenges status quo respectfully while leveraging senior engineers’ expertise
• Familiarity with managing high-traffic, mission-critical services; knowledge of infrastructure tools is advantageous
• Ability to translate architectural strategies into actionable team plans
• Proven skills in nurturing talent and fostering effective team dynamics across geographic locations and time zones

Additional Information

Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates, even if their experience doesn’t entirely match the role. Hiring decisions focus on skills, passion, and unique perspectives that enrich our culture.

Xero employs AI-assisted application screening tools to help recruiters identify qualified applicants. However, all hiring decisions are ultimately made by human recruiters.