Lead Engineer - Front End Platform & Design System

Xero; Canberra; Hybrid; AUD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Xero is seeking a senior frontend leader to shape the technical direction of the Front End Platform. You will work across multiple teams to deliver shared tools, design systems and standards that accelerate frontend work, improve safety, and increase consistency.

The role blends hands-on work with strategic influence and mentoring across engineers. You will build relationships across engineering, product and design, identify gaps, and champion modern frontend practices while guiding teams toward

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in front end engineering, with the ability to pick up new languages and tools as needed.
• Experience with large-scale shared platforms and developer experience.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD concepts and automated testing.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical direction of Xero's front end platform across multiple teams.
• Guide a modern front end stack (React, TypeScript) and associated tooling.
• Influence CI/CD and delivery pipeline improvements at a platform level.
• Shape the longer term roadmap for front end performance, accessibility and developer experience.
• Leverage Harness to modernise legacy front end pages and components.
• Coach engineers toward their next level and mentor others.

Skills

Front end engineering

Large-scale platforms

CI/CD

Secure scalable systems

Roadmap influence

Mentoring engineers

AI tooling awareness

Job description

The role and it’s impact

You’ll help shape the technical direction of our Front End Platform, working across multiple teams to deliver the shared tools, systems and standards that make front end development at Xero faster, safer and more consistent. This is a role for someone who enjoys tackling open-ended, multi-team problems, and who can move comfortably between hands-on technical work and broader strategic influence.

The role and it’s impact

You’ll help shape the technical direction of our Front End Platform, working across multiple teams to deliver the shared tools, systems and standards that make front end development at Xero faster, safer and more consistent. This is a role for someone who enjoys tackling open-ended, multi-team problems, and who can move comfortably between hands-on technical work and broader strategic influence.

You’ll build deep relationships across engineering, product and design, breaking down silos and helping teams reach the best outcome regardless of level or title. You’ll guide technical design, identify the technical gaps holding teams back, and champion modern front end practices, all while coaching engineers toward their next level.

The Team And How How They Connect

The Front End Platform team builds and maintains the shared foundations, from component libraries and design systems to developer tooling, that product engineering teams across Xero rely on daily.

We work in close partnership with design, product engineering and infrastructure teams to keep what we build genuinely useful and well adopted. It’s a team that thinks in multi-year horizons while staying grounded in the everyday realities of the teams we support.

Initially, you will focus on

• Leading the technical direction of Xero's front end


• Guiding a modern front end stack (React, TypeScript, and associated tooling) across multiple teams


• Influencing CI/CD and delivery pipeline improvements at a platform level


• Shaping the longer term roadmap for front end performance, accessibility and developer experience


• Leveraging Harness Engineering to modernise legacy front end pages and components

Where And How You Can Work

This role can be either hybrid or fully remote anywhere across the East Coast of Australia.

For those that are looking for a hybrid role, we have beautiful offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. We come together in the office for connection, collaboration and our regular boost days, with flexibility to work from home the rest of the time.

Here are some of the things we're looking for, for this role

• Deep expertise in front end engineering, with the ability to pick up new languages and tools as needed


• Proven experience and genuine interest in large scale shared platforms and developer experience


• Solid grounding in CI/CD concepts, automated testing and TDD, and enjoy helping others build good habits around them


• Skilled at designing secure, scalable and maintainable systems, including distributed architectures


• You’ll bring a track record of influencing roadmaps and technical direction across multiple teams, not just your own


• Comfortable balancing strategic thinking with hands-on problem solving when a team needs it


• Experience coaching and mentoring engineers, with a genuine interest in helping others grow toward senior roles


• A collaborative approach to disagreement, able to work through different viewpoints to reach the best outcome for the wider team


• A track record of using AI tools and principles to work more efficiently and solve problems within a development team