---
title: 'Engineering Manager at Xero'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-xero-sydney-sjjssjdywmrz'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-31'
---

# Engineering Manager at Xero

- **Company:** [Xero](https://feeny.ai/companies/xero)
- **Location:** Sydney, Australia
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-10-30
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-31
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/xero/db392f3f-7c28-49f8-ba5a-397e13be9ae5

## 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](https://careers.xero.com/inside-xero/) 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

Apply even if your experience isn't a perfect match! At Xero, we hire based on your skills, passion, and the unique perspective you can bring to enhance our culture and team.

## About Xero

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Xero provides cloud-based accounting and financial management software for small businesses, serving over 4.9 million customers worldwide.
- **Entity Type**: Public (ASX: XRO, S&P/ASX 200 component)
- **Headquarters**: Wellington, New Zealand
- **Founded**: July 6, 2006
- **Founders**: Rod Drury, Hamish Edwards

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Cloud accounting software (SaaS)
- **Target customers**: Small businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers (B2B)
- **Mission**: To make life better for small businesses globally by automating routine tasks and delivering actionable insights.

## Products & Services
- **Xero Accounting Software**: Cloud-based platform for invoicing, bank reconciliation, expense tracking, payroll, and financial reporting. Sold by subscription (Starter, Standard, Premium tiers).
- **JAX – AI Finance Partner**: An AI-powered assistant integrated into Xero that automates routine tasks and provides insights to help businesses grow.
- **Xero Ecosystem**: Over 1,000 third-party app integrations via the Xero App Store, covering payments, inventory, CRM, and more.
- **Xero for Nonprofits**: Discounted subscriptions (25% off) for eligible nonprofit and community organisations.
- **Xero for Purpose**: Social impact initiatives including financial literacy programmes (Unlock Your Numbers), sustainability tools (Sumday carbon app), and the Xero Beautiful Business Fund (NZ$750,000+ in funding annually).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed in provided sources (publicly traded with market cap available on ASX; latest data not included in search results).
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue NZ$2.103 billion (FY2025); Net income NZ$227.8 million (FY2025).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Board Chair David Thodey; CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy. In June 2025, Xero announced an agreement to acquire Melio, a New York-based payments provider, for $2.5 billion.
- **Growth Signals**: Achieved Rule of 40 outcomes of 41.0% (May 2024) and 43.9% (Nov 2024). Customer base grew to 4.9 million. Headcount of 4,610 employees (2025). Expanding globally with offices in New Zealand, Australia, UK, US, Canada, South Africa, and Singapore.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Market leader** in cloud accounting across New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.
- **AI-first approach** with JAX, embedded directly into the core product to reduce manual work.
- **Extensive integration ecosystem** (1,000+ apps) creating high switching costs for customers.
- **Strong brand trust** built over 19 years with a focus on small business success.

## Strategic Focus
- **AI and automation**: Deepening AI capabilities (JAX) to deliver predictive insights and automate finance workflows.
- **Payments expansion**: Acquisition of Melio to strengthen payments capabilities for small businesses.
- **Sustainability**: Reducing carbon emissions (72% reduction in scope 1 & 2), offering free carbon accounting tools, and supporting small business sustainability.
- **Social impact**: Scaling programmes like the Beautiful Business Fund and financial literacy initiatives.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Values-driven, human-centric organisation with a focus on making a tangible impact on small businesses globally.
- **Flexibility**: Emphasises a flexible environment and time for what matters most (remote/hybrid policy not explicitly stated but implied).
- **Perks & benefits**:
  - One paid day off per year for volunteering (Community Connect programme).
  - Free access to Sumday carbon accounting app for employees.
  - Financial literacy resources and mentorship programmes.
- **Engineering & innovation**: Dedicated Engineering and Data & AI teams (open roles visible on careers page). Global collaboration across 7+ countries.
- **Diversity & inclusion**: Indigenous inclusion initiatives (te ao Māori in NZ, Reconciliation Action Plan in Australia), support for Indigenous communities.
- **Sustainability focus**: Employees can contribute to environmental goals through company-wide initiatives.

## Sources
1. [Wikipedia – Xero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xero)
2. [Xero About Page](https://www.xero.com/au/about/)
3. [Xero Careers – Inside Xero](https://careers.xero.com/inside-xero/)
4. [Xero Careers – Teams](https://careers.xero.com/)
5. [Xero Homepage](https://www.xero.com/)

## Other roles at Xero

- [Engineering Manager (Platform)](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-platform-xero-wellington-awnfhcf0mq0v) — Wellington, New Zealand
- [Head of Engineering - Making Payments](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-engineering-making-payments-xero-melbourne-dzwx3qsaay0t) — Melbourne, Australia
- [Senior Site Reliability Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-site-reliability-engineer-xero-new-south-wales-bcsyf1529rma) — New South Wales, Australia
- [Engineer - SRE](https://feeny.ai/job/engineer-sre-xero-sydney-ns9cja1n0y8d) — Sydney, Australia
- [Customer Experience Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-experience-specialist-xero-hawkes-bay-hjkar6h76a1p) — Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
- [Customer Experience Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-experience-specialist-xero-wellington-w4zkmsfy2a98) — Wellington, New Zealand
- [Customer Experience Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-experience-specialist-xero-auckland-nceqxxw2m3yd) — Auckland, New Zealand
- [Customer Experience Specialist - Melio](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-experience-specialist-melio-xero-manchester-0apnfjtyx359) — Manchester, United Kingdom
- [Lead Engineer - Applied AI](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-engineer-applied-ai-xero-sydney-89g6byn47f3p) — Sydney, Australia
- [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-forward-deployed-engineer-xero-vancouver-qz46hzfd1kpt) — Vancouver, Canada