The role and its impact
We are seeking an Engineering Manager for our Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) team. In this leadership role, you will own and drive our reliability programme, focusing on high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) testing and incident management across our Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions.
You will lead a growing team through a critical period of expansion, building a culture where reliability is woven into the DNA of the business, not treated as an afterthought.
Your work will have significant impact on Xero's customer experience and operational resilience. By partnering with platform teams, observability specialists, and cross-functional stakeholders, you will close systemic reliability gaps and help reduce customer-detected incidents by 70–80%. You will also shape how our engineering culture evolves, mentoring engineers and fostering an environment where thoughtful problem-solving and ownership are valued.
The team and how they connect
The Australia-based SRE team currently comprises two skilled engineers and is growing to at least four by year-end. The team operates collaboratively with Cloud Engineering, Observability, Database Reliability Engineering, and Shared Services to elevate Xero's reliability posture across our platform. You will report to the Head of Engineering for Reliability and partner closely with a US-based Engineering Manager who owns incident management for the EMEA/US time zone, ensuring seamless global coverage. Together, you will run Xero's reliability programme, working in lockstep to deliver measurable improvements in how the business detects, responds to, and prevents incidents.
The team is currently working on
• Building and maturing a continuous HA/DR testing cadence, moving from ad hoc to reliable weekly execution
• Establishing and optimising incident command protocols across APAC and EMEA regions, with a focus on time-to-mitigation against clear targets
• Closing cross-team reliability gaps identified between Observability, Tooling, and product engineering through structured collaboration
• Growing the team from two to four engineers whilst maintaining high incident response standards and driving a reliability-first mindset
Where and how you can work
We have no standing office attendance requirement; we expect you to join us in person approximately once per quarter. We offer the flexibility to work in a way that suits your rhythm and your team's needs, whilst maintaining the collaboration and connection that makes us stronger together.
Here are some of the things we are looking for
• You bring proven SRE or infrastructure leadership experience, ideally managing incident command at scale, with a demonstrable track record of building or maturing HA/DR programmes.
• You possess strong software engineering skills and are comfortable diving into code to solve reliability problems, not just process; fluency with AI-assisted tooling is a core capability, not a nice-to-have.
• Your agency and curiosity shine through—you think and act beyond the job description, bias toward independent problem-solving over waiting for direction, and bring a genuine enthusiasm for lifting reliability across the business.
• You excel at stakeholder management and can influence peer teams without formal authority, forging durable relationships across regions, platforms, and functions with both conviction and empathy.
• You are comfortable operating across time zones and managing distributed teams with ease, bringing calm and clarity to high-pressure incident response moments.
• You care about growing and developing engineers. You will shape the team's culture through structured onboarding, regular one-to-ones, and mentorship that helps people thrive and stay.
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.
Skills Required
- Proven SRE or infrastructure leadership experience
- Strong software engineering skills and ability to work directly in code
- Fluency with AI-assisted tooling
- Experience managing incident command at scale
- Experience building or maturing high availability and disaster recovery programs
- Strong stakeholder management and influence across teams
- Ability to operate across time zones and manage distributed teams
- Experience developing engineers through onboarding, one-to-ones, and mentorship
- Independent problem-solving, curiosity, and ownership mindset
Xero Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — U.S. materials cite about 21 days PTO, 10 wellbeing days, five Xtra days, a volunteer day, and 12 paid holidays, plus an end‑of‑year shutdown. Company descriptions position this package toward the upper tier among midsize/large tech employers in the U.S. market.
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Parental & Family Support — Primary caregivers are described as eligible for up to 26 weeks of fully paid parental leave, with partner leave in some markets. Family‑forming support via Carrot and access to Modern Health for employees and immediate family reinforce depth in this area.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Access to Modern Health, a funded ThrivePass wellbeing account (U.S.), and flexible/hybrid work are emphasized as part of a broader wellbeing strategy alongside ERGs and “Boost Day” events. Feedback suggests these programs contribute meaningfully to work‑life balance.
Xero Insights
What We Do
Xero is small business accounting software that provides a platform on which businesses can build a fully integrated solution. It’s designed to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. Xero minimises tedious admin by automating routine tasks, delivers valuable insights when needed, and brings together business data, trusted advisors, and powerful apps in one intuitive platform. By alleviating pain points, Xero empowers small business owners to supercharge their business, simplifying the complex and freeing up time from manual admin so they can focus on what really matters to build the business they’ve always envisaged.
Why Work With Us
Xero is a human-centric organization where you’ll have a tangible impact on the success of small businesses and their communities, globally. Our team of energised, forward-thinkers work to make life better for our customers and each other every day. We’re also always committed to supporting you with a flexible environment.
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Xero Teams
Xero Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
Join us from home or at one of our beautiful workspaces. Xero has offices in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Singapore, and South Africa.
