Xero reimagined accounting software. Now we’re reimagining how small businesses get paid and how money moves. We're making a critical, multi-year investment in two connected engineering portfolios, Payments Products & Experiences and Payments Platform, and we're hiring a Principal Engineer for each. As our three-year payments strategy reaches a turning point, you'll help shape what comes next, with domain-level influence over the next two to three years.
You'll shape technical strategy across multiple teams, partnering with senior stakeholders to turn complex requirements into scalable, resilient systems. Staying close to the technical detail, you'll set the example for a portfolio of 40 to 50 engineers. You'll also join a global community of Principal Engineers across Xero, driving engineering standards, architecture, and best practices.
You'll Go Bold by setting long-term direction, and Go Together by bringing product, engineering and senior stakeholders with you.
Payments Products & Experiences: this portfolio is made up of our Get Paid and Growth teams, builds the checkout, payment methods, flexible payments and AI payment agents that help small businesses get paid on time.
Payments Platform: this portfolio is the engine underneath, with provider integrations, bill payments and a single, product-agnostic API that other Xero teams build on.
Together they move billions of dollars across more than 150,000 transactions a day, a number set to double as we grow into the UK and US.
Tech stack: microservices across web, API and data layers, built in languages such as C#, Java, Go or C++, running on AWS with SQL and NoSQL data stores.
Current focus: reviewing existing payments systems to work out what to extend, migrate or rebuild, alongside Growth experiments and AI-powered payment chasing.
Future focus: a multi-year payments architecture covering agentic payment workflows, payments inside AI assistants and recurring payments.
Global scale: replatforming payment methods and designing global rails and a ledger ready for new markets.
You'll be based in Sydney or Melbourne, working a hybrid model that blends time together in our modern offices with the flexibility of working from home. Boost days bring teams together to connect and collaborate in person. With colleagues across Australia and the US and payment flows that run around the clock, you'll also work across time zones.
You bring deep experience designing and running large-scale distributed systems in production, balancing reliability, performance and cost, and any payments or fintech experience is a real plus.
API-first thinking is second nature, and you're at home across web, API and data layers, with fluency in at least one modern backend language, SQL and NoSQL stores, and cloud-native platforms, ideally AWS.
Legacy-heavy systems are a puzzle you enjoy, and you make clear, practical calls on whether to extend, migrate or build while staying hands-on through pairing, spikes and code.
A strong interest in utilising AI tooling is essential, as you will model how to use these technologies to automate tasks and improve engineering outcomes.
Your background shows a deep curiosity for growth hacking and a proven ability to design and analyse A/B tests that drive product usage.
You'll Go Further by mentoring Staff and Senior engineers, shaping cross-team initiatives with Xero's Principal community and setting standards that lift engineering across 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 can bring to enhance our culture and team.
Skills Required
- Deep experience designing and running large-scale distributed systems in production
- Experience balancing reliability, performance, and cost
- Fluency in at least one modern backend programming language
- Experience with SQL and NoSQL data stores
- Experience with cloud-native platforms, ideally AWS
- Experience across web, API, and data layers
- API-first design experience
- Ability to evaluate legacy systems and decide whether to extend, migrate, or rebuild
- Strong interest in using AI tooling to automate tasks and improve engineering outcomes
- Curiosity for growth hacking and proven ability to design and analyze A/B tests
- Ability to mentor Staff and Senior engineers and lead cross-team initiatives
- Payments or fintech experience
Xero Compensation & Benefits Highlights
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is described as extensive, with multiple leave types including annual PTO, dedicated wellbeing days, extra “Xtra” days, year-end shutdown time, and a paid volunteer day. U.S. job postings and benefits pages consistently highlight breadth that emphasizes rest and wellbeing.
-
Parental & Family Support — Parental provisions are portrayed as particularly strong, including 26 weeks of fully paid leave for primary caregivers and fully paid partner leave. Family-forming support through Carrot is also highlighted.
-
Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is outlined as broad, with Cigna/Kaiser medical options plus dental, vision, FSAs, and Modern Health support for employees and families. U.S. sources also note subsidized plan options and HSA contributions.
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.
Gallery
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.
