Xero
Senior Front-End Engineer - Design Systems
Job Summary
This role involves leading the development and maintenance of a large, scalable design system with reusable UI components. The candidate should have deep expertise in front-end technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and frameworks such as React, Vue, or Angular. Collaboration with designers, product managers, and engineers is essential, along with a strong focus on accessibility, testing, and operational excellence. The position offers an opportunity to influence user interface standards and work within a diverse and inclusive company culture.
Required Skills
Benefits
Job Description
Our Purpose
At Xero, we’re here to help you supercharge your business. 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
At Xero, the XUI team builds and maintains the core UI components and guidelines that power a consistent user experience for millions globally. We collaborate with product teams to ensure intuitive and beautiful software, championing accessibility and efficiency. Join us to shape the future of Xero's user interface.
- Build Reliable and Performant Solutions: Lead initiatives for the delivery of large, consistent and scalable Design System. Build, maintain, and improve the organisation’s design system, including reusable UI components, patterns, and guidelines
- Collaboration: Partner with Design and Accessibility in building high-quality, reusable components and experiences. Work closely with Product engineers to integrate design system components into applications seamlessly.
- Hands-On Development: Building and composing ui components that are accessible, reliable and performant.
- Estimating, Scoping, and Planning: Contribute to the estimation, scoping, and planning of projects, input into defining the team's strategy and roadmap. Work closely with design management, leadership, and engineering teams to deliver impactful workstreams.
- Standards, Tooling and Documentation: Keep a keen eye for accessibility standards. Document usage guides, examples etc for easier consumption by teams. Contribute to pipelines, testing and having a high quality mindset.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Build strong relationships with cross-functional teams, including product management and leadership, to drive the success of engineering initiatives.
- Operational: Ensure operational excellence across the product lifecycle, being part of the internal Support for the components.
- Deep front-end expertise: HTML, CSS (and preprocessors/CSS-in-JS), JavaScript (modern frameworks like React, Vue, or Angular).
- Strong component-based architecture knowledge: Designing, developing, and maintaining reusable UI components.
- Proficiency in testing: Unit, integration, and end-to-end testing methodologies and tools. e.g. Jest, React Testing Library, Playwright, Loki.
- Commitment to accessibility (WCAG): Building inclusive and accessible components.
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills: Working effectively with designers, product managers, and other engineers.
- Experience with version control (Git) and documentation
- Proven experience (5+ years) in front-end development, ideally with some exposure to design systems
- Problem-solving skills and attention to detail
- Mentorship and technical leadership potential
- Experience in modern software development methodologies like Kanban or Agile
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, free medical insurance, 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.
Our collaborative and inclusive culture is one we’re immensely proud of. We know that a diverse workforce is a strength that enables businesses, including ours, to better understand and serve customers, attract top talent and innovate successfully. At Xero we embrace diversity and inclusion and value a #challenge mindset.
Research has shown that women and underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single competency or experience . If you are excited about this role, but your past experience doesn't align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway. You could be just the right person for this role and Xero. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at time of application and throughout the interview process.
Xero is an NZ Immigration Accredited Employer and Rainbow Tick certified too.
Xero
Xero online accounting software for your business connects you to your bank, accountant, bookkeeper, and other business apps. Start a free trial today.
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