Lead product strategy and development for Xero's Payroll Foundation team, focusing on customer needs, AI integration, and cross-functional collaboration.
Our Purpose
At Xero, we’re here to help supercharge small businesses. 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 and role
The Foundations team in Payroll plays a critical role in enabling our core Payroll product to scale. We are the backbone of Payroll’s platform and foundation - building and evolving the Payroll Databases, Eventing and Public API’s that power the numerous complex payroll capabilities, ensuring they interact securely, seamlessly and reliability for our Xero customers
As a Product leader in this space, you’ll shape the strategy and roadmap for the foundational products that every other payroll product team relies on. You’ll play a key role in shaping the foundational products that not only supports today’s needs but also enables AI-driven insights, automation, and smarter experiences in the future of Payroll. Your primary customer will be other engineering and product teams, meaning the solutions you design will directly accelerate their ability to deliver new features, performance improvements, and world-class reliability for our Xero customers.
If you’re excited about building AI powered platform products, driving cross-functional impact, and solving complex system challenges at scale, join us on the Foundations team.
Please note this is a 12-month fixed-term contract for parental leave cover.
What you'll do
- Strategise Product Vision: Lead the strategic framing of products within Xero's overall strategy and future objectives.
- Drive Customer-Centricity: Lead customer engagement, research, and insight collection to embed customer data in decision-making and risk assessment.
- Problem Identification & Solution Framing: Identify valuable customer problems and comprehensively frame solutions for testing and refinement, even in complex environments.
- Product Line Strategy & Resourcing: Develop and secure funding and resources for the product line strategy.
- Oversee Product Delivery & Launch: Lead the development of product roadmaps, release strategies, and ensure effective product launches.
- Manage Product Risks: Take responsibility for managing non-functional risks (security, privacy, compliance, etc.) and lead trade-off decisions.
- Monitor & Optimise Performance: Consistently review, monitor, and analyze commercial and customer results, leading iterative improvements to existing products.
- Guide End-to-End Product Lifecycle: Manage products across their entire lifecycle, from launch to sunset, ensuring continuity and strategic alignment.
- Develop Product Practice & Team: Contribute to developing and implementing product practices, and train, coach, and recruit team members.
What you'll bring with you
- Strong product management experience, preferably with an engineering/technical background who has transitioned into product.
- Experience working closely with engineering teams and with internal customers.
- Can get technically deep and engage in detailed engineering design opportunities.
- Can execute an API-first strategy and support engineering efficiency goals.
- Have a strong interest in AI and how it can improve outcomes for customers and Xeros.
- Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and translate insights into actionable strategies.
- Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, comfort with presenting to senior leadership.
- A growth mindset, with a passion for learning, innovation, and pushing boundaries.
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
AI
APIs
Engineering
Xero Hawthorn West, Victoria, AUS Office
Xero Melbourne (HQ) Office
Xero’s head office in Australia is in the buzzing suburb of Hawthorn, a stone’s throw from the CBD. Here, a diverse mix of Xeros work in both global and regional teams.
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