---
title: 'Principal Engineer - Payments Products & Platform at Xero'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-engineer-payments-products-platform-xero-sydney-pw91erv4k0z7'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-07'
---

# Principal Engineer - Payments Products & Platform at Xero

- **Company:** [Xero](https://feeny.ai/companies/xero)
- **Location:** Sydney, Australia
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-10-20
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/xero/0950bd50-2ea2-41c3-8bba-4afd9cf060d6

## Job description

## The role

Xero reimagined accounting software. Now we’re reimagining how small businesses get paid and how money moves. We're making a critical, multi-year investment in two connected engineering portfolios, Payments Products & Experiences and Payments Platform, and we're hiring a Principal Engineer for each. As our three-year payments strategy reaches a turning point, you'll help shape what comes next, with domain-level influence over the next two to three years.

You'll shape technical strategy across multiple teams, partnering with senior stakeholders to turn complex requirements into scalable, resilient systems. Staying close to the technical detail, you'll set the example for a portfolio of 40 to 50 engineers. You'll also join a global community of Principal Engineers across Xero, driving engineering standards, architecture, and best practices.

You'll Go Bold by setting long-term direction, and Go Together by bringing product, engineering and senior stakeholders with you.

The teams Payments Products & Experiences: this portfolio is made up of our Get Paid and Growth teams, builds the checkout, payment methods, flexible payments and AI payment agents that help small businesses get paid on time.

Payments Platform: this portfolio is the engine underneath, with provider integrations, bill payments and a single, product-agnostic API that other Xero teams build on.

Together they move billions of dollars across more than 150,000 transactions a day, a number set to double as we grow into the UK and US.

The teams are currently working on

- Tech stack: microservices across web, API and data layers, built in languages such as C#, Java, Go or C++, running on AWS with SQL and NoSQL data stores.
- Current focus: reviewing existing payments systems to work out what to extend, migrate or rebuild, alongside Growth experiments and AI-powered payment chasing.
- Future focus: a multi-year payments architecture covering agentic payment workflows, payments inside AI assistants and recurring payments.
- Global scale: replatforming payment methods and designing global rails and a ledger ready for new markets.

Where and how you can work You'll be based in Sydney or Melbourne, working a hybrid model that blends time together in our modern offices with the flexibility of working from home. Boost days bring teams together to connect and collaborate in person. With colleagues across Australia and the US and payment flows that run around the clock, you'll also work across time zones.

Some of the things we're looking for

- You bring deep experience designing and running large-scale distributed systems in production, balancing reliability, performance and cost, and any payments or fintech experience is a real plus.
- API-first thinking is second nature, and you're at home across web, API and data layers, with fluency in at least one modern backend language, SQL and NoSQL stores, and cloud-native platforms, ideally AWS.
- Legacy-heavy systems are a puzzle you enjoy, and you make clear, practical calls on whether to extend, migrate or build while staying hands-on through pairing, spikes and code.
- A strong interest in utilising AI tooling is essential, as you will model how to use these technologies to automate tasks and improve engineering outcomes.
- Your background shows a deep curiosity for growth hacking and a proven ability to design and analyse A/B tests that drive product usage.
- You'll Go Further by mentoring Staff and Senior engineers, shaping cross-team initiatives with Xero's Principal community and setting standards that lift engineering across Xero.

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

- [Customer Experience Specialist - Melio](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-experience-specialist-melio-xero-manchester-0apnfjtyx359) — Manchester, United Kingdom
- [Engineering Manager - Cloud Networks](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-cloud-networks-xero-melbourne-8gqw69bv1r7w) — Melbourne, Australia
- [Lead Engineer - Front End (React)](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-engineer-front-end-react-xero-wellington-9sjxsd4a6d13) — Wellington, New Zealand
- [Senior Engineer - AI Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-engineer-ai-platform-xero-melbourne-wy84yt8bba9z) — Melbourne, Australia
- [Financial Accountant](https://feeny.ai/job/financial-accountant-xero-wellington-0bjk26repmzk) — Wellington, New Zealand
- [Lead Engineer - Front End (React)](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-engineer-front-end-react-xero-melbourne-k9j5m5627ab0) — Melbourne, Australia
- [Accounting Professional? Discover a new career in SaaS Sales with Xero](https://feeny.ai/job/accounting-professional-discover-a-new-career-in-saas-sales-with-xero-xero-sd3m7hjzea5f) — Brisbane, Australia
- [Solutions Consultant](https://feeny.ai/job/solutions-consultant-xero-brisbane-rj5t374ksh02) — Brisbane, Australia
- [Engineer - Payments](https://feeny.ai/job/engineer-payments-xero-vancouver-v6a1s8dc9eqt) — Vancouver, Canada
- [Data Engineer - Performance Insights](https://feeny.ai/job/data-engineer-performance-insights-xero-sydney-ndt7sgmv8xdm) — Sydney, Australia