Senior Software Engineer - AI

Xero; City of Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid leave

Health insurance

Dental reimbursement

Employee Share Plan

Flexible working

Job summary

Xero in Australia is seeking a Senior Software Engineer - AI to lead the development of the Internal AI orchestration platform, enabling teams to build and run AI agents safely at scale. You will set standards and patterns, translate complex requirements into scalable solutions, and stay hands-on.

You will collaborate with product owners, security teams and designers, contribute to governance and tooling, and contribute to a culture of learning.

Qualifications

• Produced production-grade software with hands-on frontend in React.
• Designed, built, deployed and ran APIs and backend services in containerised environments using Python/TypeScript.
• Implemented CI/CD pipelines, modern Git workflows and automated testing across the stack.
• Designed secure authentication and authorisation patterns including OAuth/OIDC.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of Xero's Internal AI orchestration platform and set engineering standards.
• Translate complex requirements into scalable technical solutions used by multiple teams.
• Champion emerging AI technologies to advance capabilities across Xero.
• Collaborate with product owners, security, design and business analysts to deliver trusted software.
• Build reusable patterns and templates to accelerate AI adoption across the engineering community.

Skills

React

Python

TypeScript

CI/CD

OAuth/OIDC

Agentic AI

Communication

Tools

pydantic-ai

LangGraph

Job description

The role and its impact

As a Senior Software Engineer - AI, you'll lead the development of Xero's Internal AI orchestration platform - the foundation that enables teams across Xero to build and run AI agents safely and at scale. This is where technical excellence meets real-world impact. You'll define the standards and patterns that keep our Internal AI solutions aligned with strategic goals and engineering best practices, all while staying hands-on. You'll translate complex functional requirements into robust, scalable technical solutions that other teams depend on, and you'll champion emerging technologies to help advance what's possible with AI at Xero.

The team and how they connect

Our team builds the AI platform and shared patterns that help teams across Xero work with AI safely and at scale - from internal tools that simplify everyday work to frameworks that enable other engineers to build faster. We're a collaborative group dedicated to delivering high-quality, trustworthy software through strong engineering practices and a culture of continuous learning. You'll work closely with product owners, business analysts, designers and security teams, sharing knowledge regularly and providing constructive feedback that lifts everyone around you.

The team is currently working on

• Internal AI platform architecture and agentic frameworks that enable cross-functional teams to build agents safely

• Secure agentic access patterns for data and tools across Xero

• Governance, cost tracking and evaluation tooling to build confidence in AI model quality

• Building the shared patterns and starter templates that help the wider engineering community ship faster with AI

Where and how you can work

This role is based in Sydney or Melbourne, with flexibility to work hybrid. We offer regular collaboration opportunities and team boost days to strengthen working relationships across the platform and our cross-functional partners.

Here are some of the things we are looking for

• You've spent considerable time delivering production-grade software, with hands‑on frontend experience in a modern framework like React.

• You're comfortable designing, building, deploying and running APIs and backend services in containerised environments using languages like Python or TypeScript.

• You bring strong experience with CI/CD pipelines, modern Git workflows and automated testing across the full software stack.

• You've designed secure authentication and authorisation patterns for services—thinking through OAuth/OIDC and similar approaches.

• You have practical experience building with agentic AI systems, including agent loops, tool calling and frameworks like pydantic‑ai or LangGraph.

• You can translate technical trade-offs into clear language for both technical and non-technical stakeholders, and you stay curious about emerging technologies.

Why Xero?

At Xero, we recognise that diversity of thought drives better outcomes. We Go Together; knowing the direction and bringing the right people. Our human‑first culture of respect, fairness and inclusion is what helps us thrive at work and beyond.

Research shows that women and underrepresented groups are less likely to apply unless they meet every single requirement. But you could be exactly the right person for this role.

We offer generous paid leave (plus statutory holidays), dedicated paid leave for physical and mental wellbeing with access to an Employee Assistance Program, health insurance and dental reimbursement with vision allowances, a healthcare spending account, fertility and family forming support, wellbeing and sports programmes, employee resource groups, 26 weeks of parental leave for primary caregivers, an Employee Share Plan, flexible working, career development, and beautiful offices with shared meals. You'll do the best work of your life here.