Senior Forward Deployed Engineer (AI Agents and Automation)

Xero; Canada; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Xero, a leading Canadian AI-enabled company, seeks a Senior Engineer for the Internal AI Accelerator Squad. You will embed with internal teams to co-design and operationalise agentic AI workflows that remove toil and reshape how colleagues work end-to-end.

You will lead the delivery of AI agents from discovery to production, defining patterns and guardrails for intelligent automation. You will collaborate with product owners and SMEs to turn complex workflows into scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• Experience building and deploying AI agents or copilots.
• Experience delivering production AI automation solutions.
• Ability to translate business pain points into technical designs.
• Strong collaboration with non-technical stakeholders.
• Security, auditability and blast radius considerations.
• Experience with APIs and cloud infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Embed within internal business teams to co-design AI workflows.
• Lead delivery of AI agents from discovery to production.
• Define patterns, guardrails and tooling for safe automation.
• Partner with product owners and SMEs to scale automated solutions.

Skills

Systems thinking

AI workflow design

Cross-functional collaboration

Python or TypeScript

APIs & cloud

LLM-driven AI

Tools

SDKs

Webhooks

Cloud platforms

Job description

• As a Senior Engineer within the Internal AI Accelerator Squad, you will be at the forefront of Xero's transformation into an AI-native company. You will act as a forward-deployed engineer, embedding yourself within various internal business teams to co-design and operationalise agentic AI workflows that remove manual toil and fundamentally reshape how our people work end-to-end
• Your impact extends beyond the code; you will lead the delivery of high-stakes AI agents from discovery to production, while acting as a technical partner and evangelist. By defining the patterns, guardrails, and tooling for intelligent automation, you will create the blueprint that enables the rest of Xero to harness the power of AI safely and effectively
• You will join a dedicated, high-velocity squad focused on boosting the adoption of agentic AI and intelligent automation across the global business. The team connects through a shared mission of rapid experimentation and "vibe-coding," working closely with product owners and SMEs to turn complex, messy workflows into elegant, automated solutions
• Design and iterate on AI agents and workflow orchestrations using tools like Claude, Gemini, and MCP
• Integrate AI systems with core enterprise platforms including Salesforce, Workday, Slack, and NetSuite
• Develop reusable automation patterns and shared templates to be used by the business
• Build evaluation and monitoring frameworks to measure performance and ensure the safety of AI-native workflows

• A systems-thinking approach to designing agents with security, auditability, and controlled blast radius in mind
• A track record of partnering with non-technical stakeholders to translate business pain points into technical solution designs
• Experience building and operating applications or automations in production environments, particularly involving APIs and cloud infrastructure
• Enjoy coaching and uplifting others' AI fluency through pairing, workshops, and clear communication
• Proficiency in a programming language such as Python or TypeScript, and comfort navigating SDKs and webhooks
• Hands-on experience delivering AI-driven solutions such as agents, copilots, or RAG systems using LLMs