Lead Engineer - Payments Platform
About The Position
The Lead Engineer will help shape the technical foundation for money movement capabilities and enable new product lines globally. The role guides the design and development of reliable, scalable, performant, and secure platform services, with a focus on operational excellence and business outcomes. It is an opportunity to join an early-stage initiative, make foundational architectural decisions, contribute directly to production code and proof-of-concepts, and solve complex financial technology challenges at scale. The Payments Platform team powers money movement across the ecosystem and works closely with product, security, risk, and operations. The team develops payment platform capabilities such as orchestration, risk and fraud, and multi-provider support; builds a global bill payment product for small businesses; develops core high-throughput services; and uses AI to improve engineering productivity and developer workflows. The position is based at Xero’s Vancouver office with a hybrid model of one to two office days per week. Applicants in Ontario or Alberta who are willing to relocate, as well as applicants in the Seattle, Washington area who can work remotely, are also considered.
Requirements
- Proven track record delivering highly available, distributed backend systems and designing high-throughput services under real-world constraints.
- Deep understanding of system architecture, API design, and SQL and NoSQL databases.
- Proficiency in a modern backend stack such as C#, Java, Golang, or C++, and experience with cloud-native platforms such as AWS.
- Willingness to remain hands-on and contribute to production code, proof-of-concepts, and technical deep dives.
- Strong leadership capabilities, including setting technical direction and mentoring engineers.
- Ability to foster an inclusive culture.
- Ability to break down complex problems into clear, actionable solutions and drive agile execution.
- Ability to partner with Product, Design, and other cross-functional teams.
Nice To Haves
- Experience championing advanced use of AI tools and practices to improve engineering productivity and developer workflows.
Responsibilities
- Guide the design and development of reliable, scalable, performant, and secure services for the payments platform.
- Design and build platform capabilities such as orchestration, risk and fraud, and multi-provider support.
- Build a global bill payment product to help small businesses manage cash flow.
- Develop core high-throughput platform services.
- Contribute directly to production code, proof-of-concepts, and technical deep dives.
- Set technical direction, mentor engineers, and foster an inclusive culture.
- Break down complex problems into actionable solutions and drive agile execution.
- Partner with Product, Design, and other cross-functional teams to turn business needs into resilient engineering solutions.
- Champion advanced use of AI tools and practices to accelerate development workflows.
Benefits
- Annual bonus and equity (RSU) programs for permanent employees; role-level and company performance-based cash or equity incentives may also apply.
- Medical insurance.
- Dental insurance.
- Vision insurance.
- 401(k) match.
- 21 days of PTO.
- 10 days of Wellbeing leave.
- 5 days of Xtra Leave.
- 1 volunteer day.
- 12 paid holidays.
- Paid parental leave.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
