Senior ML/AI Systems Engineer (AI Products)
At a glance
Senior AI Engineering role at Xero. Sydney · full-time.
Pay not stated AI Engineering salary
aimlroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Design and implement infrastructure for AI research and production, keeping it robust, flexible and cost-conscious
- Guide distributed-systems strategy and address technical debt as you make architecture decisions
- Build interfaces with applied scientists so models can move safely from research into production
- Raise engineering capability across AI Products by coaching early-career engineers
- Work across Xero to make data easier to use and solve complex technical problems
What you bring
- Strong system design and coding ability in Python or another language for web-scale AI applications
- A solid grasp of distributed processing, alongside strong SQL skills
- You explain complex technical ideas clearly to business and engineering audiences
- You can coach machine learning colleagues and establish consistent engineering practices
- You are keen to learn and apply large language model technology in product features
Who this fits
This senior role suits an engineer who combines AI production infrastructure work with technical leadership and coaching. It is based in Sydney and uses a hybrid model, with office days and team boost days.
From the employer
The role
You will lead the design and implementation of AI research and production infrastructure at scale, ensuring our systems remain flexible, cost-effective, and robust. By managing technical debt and directing strategies for distributed systems, your technical decisions will directly influence products that serve millions of daily users.
Beyond architecture, your impact lies in lifting the technical capability of the entire AI Products team. You will champion engineering excellence, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate across Xero to enhance data usability, ensuring we solve complex technical challenges with the right methods.
The team / how they connect
You will join the AI Products group, a diverse, globally distributed team of scientists, engineers, product managers, and analysts within our broader Data & Science division. Machine Learning Engineers partner closely with Applied Scientists during the research phase to build interfaces and harnesses that safely transition models from research to production. Together, this collaborative team reduces toil and delivers beautiful, data-driven insights for small businesses.
The team is currently working on
Production ML and AI engineering: Building and operating the platforms, services and practices that support traditional ML models, generative AI and agentic systems in production.
JAX (Just Ask Xero): Powering Xero's conversational GenAI assistant and evolving the underlying capabilities to support increasingly sophisticated, context-aware and agentic experiences.
Intelligent financial workflows: Developing capabilities such as Automated Bank Reconciliation and smart document capture, using ML and AI to match transactions, extract information from bills and receipts, and automate complex tasks.
XeroForce: Building the platform for AI-powered workflows, enabling agents to plan and execute complex tasks across Xero’s products and supporting reliable, reusable agentic experiences at scale.
End-to-end AI product experiences: Integrating AI into customer-facing experiences and product workflows, alongside the backend services, orchestration and infrastructure that make them work.
Where and how you can work
Xero offers a flexible hybrid working model designed to blend the collaboration of office life with the autonomy of remote work. You will have access to our modern office spaces, with expectations around office days and collaborative 'boost days' aligned to help your team connect and ship great code effectively.
Here are some of the things we are looking for
You will bring excellent system design and coding proficiency in Python or alternative languages suited for web-scale AI applications
A deep understanding of distributed processing principles alongside strong SQL capabilities is essential for success
Your exceptional communication skills enable you to easily translate complex technical concepts for both business and technical audiences
Having a natural coaching mindset will allow you to successfully establish engineering standards and mentor junior machine learning colleagues
An eagerness to learn, master, and implement Large Language Model technologies into product features
Experience utilizing frameworks like MLFlow, TensorFlow, or PyTorch, combined with knowledge of data orchestration tools, will be highly valued
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.