Senior Data Engineer - Performance Insights

Apply; Auckland; Hybrid; NZD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Xero is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to build data products, pipelines and a governed semantic layer in Snowflake. You will translate business concepts into metrics and definitions that enable trusted analytics for Finance, People Experience and Legal.

This role shapes AI-enabled data access and impacts executives and board reporting. You will co-create with Finance, Legal and PX to deliver reliable, scalable data solutions, while mentoring peers and setting standards for the G&A Data &

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building SQL data models and dbt for testing and documentation.
• Ability to validate outputs and stand behind the numbers produced by data models.
• Interest in AI to improve data accessibility and conversational data access.

Responsibilities

• Build data products, pipelines and semantic layers powering decision making across Finance, PX and Legal.
• Design and maintain a governed semantic layer in Snowflake translating business concepts into metrics.
• Collaborate with Finance, Legal and People teams to turn questions into trusted data products.

Skills

SQL data modeling

dbt

data pipelines

semantic layer design

stakeholder collaboration

Tools

Snowflake

Job description

The role and its impact

As a Senior Data Engineer in our G&A Data & Analytics team, you will build the data products, pipelines and semantic layers that power decision making across Finance, People Experience and Legal. You will design and maintain a governed semantic layer in Snowflake, translating business concepts into metrics, dimensions and definitions that make data easy to trust and simple to use, while also helping shape the AI and agentic capabilities that give people conversational access to that data.

The numbers you help produce matter well beyond the team, feeding financial performance insights, workforce reporting and figures that are shared with our Executive Leadership Team, our Board and, ultimately, the market. It is a role with real visibility and real stakes, where the quality and reliability of your work directly shapes how confidently Xero can report on its own performance.

The team and how they connect

The G&A Data & Analytics team exists to empower Xeros across Finance, People Experience (PX) and other G&A functions with trusted data, analytics and AI-driven insights that improve performance outcomes. We design, build and maintain data products and analytical capabilities that underpin Xero's internal decision-making - from financial performance and workforce health through to operational efficiency and strategic trade-offs.

The team is currently working on

• Snowflake and dbt as the backbone of our data platform, alongside an emerging agentic and AI layer built on reusable skills and MCP integrations
• Bringing new revenue streams from recent acquisitions into a single, consolidated model so we can report Xero's performance consistently
• Building and testing dbt models and snapshots that support our monthly financial and workforce reporting cycles
• Extending our semantic layer so more of G&A's reporting can be answered conversationally, with the right guardrails in place

Where and how you can work

We support a flexible working model that empowers you to balance your professional and personal life. You will have the option to work in a hybrid capacity, combining the focus of remote work with the collaboration of our office spaces and team boost days to foster connection and alignment.

Here are some of the things we're looking for, for this role

• You will bring hands-on experience building SQL data models, with dbt as your tool of choice for testing, documentation and snapshotting
• Validating your own outputs comes naturally to you, and you are comfortable standing behind the numbers a model produces
• Curiosity about how AI can make data more accessible will serve you well here, as you help shape the conversational and agentic layer we are building in G&A
• You will Go Together with Finance, Legal and People teams, translating their questions into data products that are genuinely trusted and easy to use
• Acting as a senior voice in the team comes naturally, whether that is sharing patterns, mentoring others or helping set a consistent standard for how we build
• You will Go Further by looking past the obvious answer to find a simpler, more reliable way to model or validate a piece of G&A's data