Engineering Manager - Database Reliability

Xero; Auckland; Hybrid; NZD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Xero is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead the Database Reliability Engineering teams across Australia and New Zealand. You will drive a modernisation agenda, deliver the AI DBA platform, and coach engineers toward strategic consulting with product teams owning databases.

You’ll guide teams through migrations to cloud-managed services, evolve from reactive firefighting to proactive architecture and performance decisions, and collaborate with multiple product groups to scale with reliability

Qualifications

• Deep understanding of database architecture.
• Experience leading large-scale infrastructure projects.
• Proven coaching and mentoring of engineers.
• Ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Deliver AI database administrator platform.
• Lead global database migrations to cloud services (RDS).
• Modernise database tech from SQL Server to Aurora Postgres.
• Build foundations for proactive database architecture consulting.

Skills

Leadership

Coaching

Database architecture

Infrastructure management

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Tools

Aurora Postgres

SQL Server

Job description

The role & its impact

We're looking for an experienced Engineering Manager to lead our Database Reliability Engineering teams and drive a critical modernisation agenda at scale. You'll oversee two specialised teams working across Australia and New Zealand, managing the infrastructure that powers millions of customer transactions daily. Your primary focus will be delivering our AI DBA platform to break the reactive firefighting cycle, whilst coaching engineers to shift towards strategic consulting and enabling product teams to own their own databases more effectively.

This is a role where your decisions have downstream impact across the entire organisation. You'll work with experienced engineers on complex infrastructure challenges, guide their development towards modern technologies like Aurora Postgres, and help reshape how the team approaches problem-solving in a high-scale environment.

The Team & How They Connect

The Database Engineering team owns all databases at Xero, including our core infrastructure supporting millions of customers and hundreds of engineers across dozens of product teams. We provide tools, observability, and expertise to help product teams manage their own data whilst reducing dependency on our direct support. The team is split across two specialist groups: the first team providing frontline support, incident response, and strategic consulting whilst the second team leads our migration to cloud-managed services.

The team is currently working on or initially, you will focus on

• Delivering our AI database administrator platform to embed team knowledge into an agentic tool that handles incident response and automates routine support
• Completing global database migrations to RDS (XeroDB migration complete; moving other critical databases in coordination with product teams)
• Modernising our database technology from Microsoft SQL Server to Aurora Postgres through ongoing experimentation and partnership with AWS
• Building the operational and cultural foundations for teams to shift from reactive incident response to proactive strategic consulting on database architecture and performance

Where And How You Can Work

This is role can be based either in Australia (Melbourne or Sydney) and New Zealand (Auckland or Wellington), reflecting where our database engineering teams are distributed. We support flexible working arrangements, with the expectation that you'll collaborate regularly with your direct reports and partner teams.

Here are some of the things we're looking for

• You bring a deep understanding of database architecture and relational database systems, with familiarity across different database technologies (relational, non-relational, cloud-managed services) and a genuine interest in learning new approaches
• Your track record shows you've managed large-scale infrastructure projects or led engineers through significant technical transformations, with the delivery mindset to break down complex work into executable steps
• You're someone who thrives on coaching and mentoring experienced engineers, identifying their strengths and helping them grow, especially when pushing them to adopt new technologies or ways of working
• You've built strong relationships across technical and non-technical teams, comfortable navigating stakeholder complexity and bringing people on the journey when change is needed
• You go bold by embracing modern technology directions and Go Further by thinking strategically about how your team evolves alongside organisational needs
• Postgres experience is preferable, but what matters more is your ability to learn alongside your team and facilitate their growth in emerging technologies

At Xero, we hire based on your skills, passion, and the unique perspective you can bring to enhance your culture and team.