Principal Engineer

Xero; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Xero in Sydney, Australia is seeking Principal Engineers to drive technical excellence across distributed systems. You will shape architecture, mentor teams, and raise engineering standards to deliver reliable, scalable software powering millions of small businesses.

You will lead cross-team collaboration, push modern delivery practices, and influence strategic technology decisions while balancing hands-on delivery with high-impact guidance.

Qualifications

• Extensive software engineering background with cloud and distributed systems.
• Proven ability to refactor monoliths into modular microservices.
• Deep knowledge of automated testing, CI/CD, and domain-driven design.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and capability-building skills.
• Excellent communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Design, refactor, and modernise monolithic architecture into scalable microservices.
• Establish foundational CI/CD practices, automated testing, and robust testing frameworks.
• Collaborate with AWS, C#, React, Kubernetes, and distributed event-driven systems.
• Define architectural patterns and contribute to company-wide technical standards.

Skills

Distributed systems

Technical leadership

Mentoring

Architecting systems

Communication

Tools

AWS

Kubernetes

React

C#

Terraform

Job description

We are hiring a number of Principal Engineer roles across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane to join multiple teams at Xero. As a Principal Engineer, you will drive technical excellence and lead the evolution of complex, distributed software systems that power critical experiences for millions of small businesses. You will shape architecture, solve intricate engineering challenges at scale, and set new technical standards across the organization.

Your impact extends far beyond code. You will serve as a technical guide and mentor across multiple teams, influencing strategic decisions, championing modern delivery practices, and elevating engineering quality to ensure our products remain reliable, secure, and scalable.

The Team / How They Connect

You will join a collaborative engineering collective comprising cross-functional development teams, product managers, and architecture practice leaders. The team works together in a supportive environment focused on open communication, continuous learning, and shared technical governance. Together, you will bridge high-level product strategy with hands-on technical execution to deliver seamless digital tools.

The team is currently working on / Initially, you will focus on

• Designing, refactoring, and modernising monolithic architecture into highly scalable, resilient distributed microservices.
• Establishing foundational CI/CD practices, test-driven development methodologies, and robust automated testing frameworks across engineering groups.
• Working with AWS cloud infrastructure, C#, React, Kubernetes, and distributed event-driven systems.
• Defining architectural patterns and contributing to company-wide technical standards and best practices.

Where And How You Can Work

We offer a flexible, hybrid working style that balances working from home with collaborative in-office connection across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. You will have access to modern office facilities designed for teamwork and innovation, with designated boost days that bring teams together in person to build culture, hold planning sessions, and collaborate on strategic initiatives.

Here are some of the things we are looking for

• You bring an extensive background in software engineering, with expertise in architecting, building, and operating complex distributed cloud applications.
• Your experience demonstrates a proven ability to make major system design decisions and refactor monolithic code bases into modular microservices.
• A deep mastery of modern engineering practices, including automated testing, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and domain-driven design, defines your approach.
• You bring strong leadership qualities alongside a genuine passion for coaching, mentoring, and lifting the technical capabilities of engineers around you.
• Broad familiarity with modern tech stacks, cloud platform architecture, and containerised deployments will set you up for success.
• Excellent communication skills allow you to articulate complex technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.