Lead Engineer- UK Tax

Apply; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Apply is seeking a skilled engineer to collaborate with peers across our teams to design and deliver software for customers. You will foster engineering excellence, help grow teammates’ technical capability, and tackle architectural challenges with data‑driven decisions.

You will shape technical direction, break down silos, and drive multi‑year platform goals. A growth mindset and strong communication are essential for success in this collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• Experience designing secure, scalable distributed systems.
• Experience coaching and mentoring engineers.
• Strong communication skills for complex technical ideas.
• Growth mindset with willingness to learn and share knowledge.
• Ability to lead incident responses and guide testing strategies.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with peers across Xero to create and deliver software for customers.
• Support the team to grow technical capability and improve development practices.
• Shape the product group's technical direction and multi‑year goals.
• Use data‑driven decisions and simplification of complex systems.
• Release value early and iteratively while maintaining quality.

Skills

C#

React

AWS

Coaching

Communication

Growth mindset

Incident response

Team collaboration

Job description

The role

You will collaborate with peers across Xero to create and deliver software to our customers. By modelling engineering excellence, you will support your team to grow their technical capability, improve development practices, and tackle open-ended architectural challenges.

Your work will directly shape the technical direction of the product group, breaking down silos and driving multi‑year product or platform goals. Through data‑driven decisions and smart simplification of complex systems, you will help solve customer problems effectively and release value early.

The team

This cross‑functional engineering team focuses on building and managing software that solves complex problems at scale. Working in a collaborative and safe environment, team members coordinate closely to align technical designs with broader architectural standards. Together, they foster a culture of ownership, experimentation, and feedback to deliver high‑quality outcomes.

The team is currently working on

• Refactoring complex, monolithic systems into secure, scalable distributed architectures
• Optimising quality engineering practices, test‑driven development (TDD), and deployment pipelines
• Evolving engineering standards and frameworks to ensure long‑term system reliability

Where and how you can work

This role offers a remote working environment designed to support collaboration and balance. If you prefer you can work hybrid from one of our modern office spaces, designated in‑office boost days to connect with other teams in person.

Here are some of the things we are looking for

• You bring expertise in designing secure, scalable distributed systems and managing software at scale with proficiency in our core tech stack, including C#, React, AWS.
• A background in coaching and mentoring engineers, helping them grow their technical capabilities, is essential.
• You possess strong communication skills, with the ability to navigate complex technical ideas and build alignment.
• Your growth mindset drives a passion for continuous learning, experimentation, and sharing technical knowledge.
• An ability to lead incident responses, resolve failure patterns, and guide quality testing strategies will be highly valued.
• You offer a collaborative approach to problem‑solving, welcoming diverse perspectives and encouraging a healthy team culture.