Principal Engineer

As a Principal Engineer, 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. Your impact will be significant: you will help teams build and manage software that solves engineering problems at scale, making data-driven decisions that deliver value early to customers. You will champion modern software and delivery practices and contribute to the technical roadmap and architectural direction across the product group.

You'll be working in collaboration with engineering pods across the UK Tax product teams, helping to define the standard for engineering excellence at Xero. This is a remote role, allowing you to work flexibly. The team comes together for in-person collaboration four times a year. There will be additional opportunities for team collaboration in one of our beautiful offices in Milton Keynes, Manchester, or London.

• Defining and implementing initiatives that span multiple teams to improve how Xero creates and delivers software, including guiding engineering practices.

• Resolving systemic issues by implementing practices and tooling that prevent failure in development or production, and proactively advocating for paying down technical debt.

• Contributing to the creation and promotion of Xero-wide engineering standards and frameworks, researching and implementing industry best practice.

• Guiding teams in delivering scalable and efficient infrastructure, balancing automation, performance, and customer experience.

• This is a fully remote role with occasional trips to the office and quarterly meet ups with all teams coming together. When you do get the chance to connect -all offices run Boost days, onsite barista made coffee, breakfasts, lunches and socials.

• You will bring extensive technical leadership experience on cloud-native platforms, with a strong focus on scalability, reliability, and performance.

• You will have proven experience in tech-leading large, complex projects to delivery, ensuring technical excellence and alignment with strategic goals.

• You will demonstrate an ability to mentor and coach engineers across all levels on technical challenges and career development.

• You will be skilled in developing and implementing techniques to quantify the cost of technical debt and determine when to address it.

• You will be able to advocate for and design automated processes and tooling that ensure product delivery is correct, secure, and safe to deploy.

• You will possess strong problem-solving skills, simplifying complex technical challenges into clear, actionable outcomes for teams.

We want you yo 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.