Lead the technical direction for Xero's API ecosystem, mentor engineers, and manage complex engineering projects while ensuring scalable solutions.
Our Purpose
At Xero, we’re here to help you supercharge your business. We do this by automating routine tasks, surfacing actionable insights and connecting businesses with the right data, advisors and apps. When that happens, we’re not only making life better for small business, we’ll be building a stronger economy that can change the world.
About the Team
At the core of Xero's product innovation is the "Catalyst Engineering" portfolio, our dedicated platform engineering and developer enablement function. We are the engine that powers Xero's global engineering teams and our vibrant Partner Ecosystem. Our mission is to provide the platforms and toolchains that enable the rapid, secure, and robust development of products that delight Xero’s customers. The Catalyst team is at the forefront of technology strategy and adoption at Xero, comprising some of the brightest technology leaders in the industry.
This technical Lead Engineer role sits within our pivotal API Golden Pathways group, which is charged with creating a seamless, high-quality, and consistent API ecosystem. As a Lead Engineer, you will be instrumental in guiding an engineering pod dedicated to the Xero Gateway, the single, critical point of ingress for all inbound API traffic to Xero. You will drive the strategy and execution for advancing our API-first initiatives, focusing on ingress, versioning, security, documentation, and discovery to accelerate our speed to market.
About the Role
As a Lead Engineer, you will be the technical authority and mentor for the Xero Gateway pod. You will guide the team in designing, building, and maintaining the critical infrastructure that underpins our public-facing APIs. This is a hands-on leadership role where you will blend deep technical expertise with a passion for mentoring and a strategic vision for platform engineering. You will be empowered to make significant technical decisions, drive engineering excellence, and shape the future of how Xero connects with the world.
What you'll do:
- Provide technical leadership and strategic direction for the design, development, and operation of the Xero Gateway and associated API ingress solutions.
- Mentor, coach, and develop a high-performing team of engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and engineering excellence.
- Own the architectural vision and technical roadmap for your pod's domain, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, resilient, and align with Xero's broader technical strategy.
- Champion and implement modern engineering principles, including infrastructure as code, comprehensive automation, and data-driven decision-making to enhance the effectiveness of Xero's platform.
- Lead complex engineering projects, from initial concept through to delivery and ongoing operational support, solving challenging problems at scale.
- Collaborate with product managers, architects, and other engineering leads to define priorities, influence cross-team initiatives, and ensure the successful delivery of our API platform strategy.
- Act as a subject matter expert on cloud networking, API gateways, and infrastructure security, driving best practices across the engineering community.
What you'll bring:
- Proven experience in a technical leadership role, with a track record of mentoring engineers and delivering complex, distributed systems.
- Deep expertise in cloud networking and infrastructure, particularly with AWS, and a strong command of container orchestration using Kubernetes.
- Extensive hands-on experience with Infrastructure as Code, using tools like Terraform to build and manage production environments.
- Strong software development fundamentals, with proficiency in languages such as C# or Typescript.
- A strategic mindset with the ability to solve complex problems, assess technical trade-offs, and make data-informed decisions.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Experience with API gateways (such as Gloo Gateway or similar) and a strong understanding of API lifecycle management is highly desirable.
Why Xero?
Offering very generous paid leave to use however you’d like (plus statutory holidays!), dedicated paid leave to care for your physical and mental wellbeing as well as an Employee Assistance Program to access mental health care for you and your family. Health insurance, life insurance, and income protection.
We offer wellbeing and sports programmes, employee resource groups, 26 weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers, an Employee Share Plan, beautiful offices, flexible working, career development, and many other benefits that reflect our human value.
You’ll do the best work of your life at Xero!
Top Skills
Api Gateways
AWS
C#
Kubernetes
Terraform
Typescript
Similar Jobs at Xero
Cloud • Fintech • Information Technology • Machine Learning • Software
The Senior DevOps Engineer will manage and improve database infrastructure, automate cloud solutions, engage with customers, and resolve incidents.
Top Skills:
AWSCloudFormationDynamoGithub ActionsOctopus DeployPostgresPowershellPythonSQLTeamcityTerraform
Cloud • Fintech • Information Technology • Machine Learning • Software
As Engineering Manager, you will lead, mentor, and support engineering teams to ensure effective software delivery, team performance, and adherence to Xero's engineering standards while fostering a positive and collaborative culture.
Top Skills:
Agile MethodologiesDevsecopsSoftware DevelopmentSystems Engineering
Cloud • Fintech • Information Technology • Machine Learning • Software
Lead Engineer responsible for providing technical leadership, writing code, shaping architecture, and driving CI/CD and security practices for cloud platform products.
Top Skills:
AtlantisAWSAzureBashC#Cloud CustodianCloudwatchGCPGitIamKmsKoraNew RelicOpaPythonTerraform
What you need to know about the Los Angeles Tech Scene
Los Angeles is a global leader in entertainment, so it’s no surprise that many of the biggest players in streaming, digital media and game development call the city home. But the city boasts plenty of non-entertainment innovation as well, with tech companies spanning verticals like AI, fintech, e-commerce and biotech. With major universities like Caltech, UCLA, USC and the nearby UC Irvine, the city has a steady supply of top-flight tech and engineering talent — not counting the graduates flocking to Los Angeles from across the world to enjoy its beaches, culture and year-round temperate climate.
Key Facts About Los Angeles Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 375,800; 5.5% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Snap, Netflix, SpaceX, Disney, Google
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, adtech, media, software, game development
- Funding Landscape: $11.6 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Strong Ventures, Fifth Wall, Upfront Ventures, Mucker Capital, Kittyhawk Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: California Institute of Technology, UCLA, University of Southern California, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, Center for Quantum Science and Engineering
