Xero is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping advisors grow and thrive.
At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. This purpose sits at the centre of everything we do. We support our people to do the best work of their lives so that they can help small businesses succeed through better tools, information and connections. Because when they succeed they make a difference, and when millions of small businesses are making a difference, the world is a more beautiful place.
We build beautiful AI-powered products—products that empower small businesses to succeed by reducing toil and making better decisions.
We are the Data Team. A collective of specialists driven by our shared mission to help establish Xero as the most insightful and trusted small business platform. Our backgrounds and work are diverse—we work on data platforms, data modelling, application development, applied research, ethics, literacy, and strategy, to name a few. At the heart of our mission is helping our colleagues and customers get value from data responsibly, on robust data platforms, with robust methods.
Applied Scientists work in cross-functional teams (engineers, designers, product managers, etc) to create AI-powered experiences. We apply machine learning to develop products that reduce toil and provide insight, allowing small businesses to focus on what matters.
There’s a myriad of job titles out there and the English language can only express so much in a couple of words. So role title aside, what we’re looking for is someone to:
About the role:
Provide leadership to cross-functional teams that build web-scale ML productsWork with your peers and the Data Leadership Team to define the roadmap for Applied SciencesIdentify cross-cutting opportunities to create frameworks / tooling and improve data qualityWork with other scientists to figure out the best practices for reproducible and robust science, before documenting and evangelising themKeep up-to-date with the latest developments in ML, identifying opportunities for Xero to improve #beautiful products.Be comfortable with pushing the frontiers of ML in the pursuit of delivering products, but only where absolutely necessaryTeach colleagues around Xero about how use data the right wayMake sure our work is always in the best interests of our customersAlign multiple programs of work so that they benefit each otherIdentify new ML product opportunities and work with product teams to determine if they’re worth pursuingCreate the culture that makes people love working with usMentor, manage, and develop other scientists and colleagues
About you:
You have extensive experience delivering web-scale production machine learning systemsYou rejoice in identifying tough problems that can be solved with scientific thinkingYou understand that solving worthwhile problems means covering all areas of the data lifecycle - finding it, understanding it, experimenting with it, despairing over it, fixing it, …You’re comfortable reading ML research papers, keep abreast of new work on arXiv.org and have on occasion spent your time tinkering around with that interesting new framework you read about recently ... but when it comes down to it, you want to solve real business problems in the simplest and most robust way possibleYou’re comfortable working with experts from all corners of the company to deeply understand the customer problem before getting your hands dirty with all that data and codeExperience as a hands-on practitioner building productionized machine learning pipelines which touch real human end usersYou have a solid grasp of statistics and you have wrestled with the challenges inherent in actually measuring the impact of your machine learning pipelines in the wildYou’ve learned through experience that it’s important to write testable, repeatable code so you can debug it when something goes bump in the nightYou know your way around the ‘nix command line, ssh your way happily around your multiple running AWS instances and are a competent programmer in Python, Scala or similarYou’ve mentored and grown teams of applied scientists, teaching the skills of scientific reasoning, collaboration, and effective program delivery.
What you'll bring:
Ability to translate between the business and machine learning domainsSound software engineering skills in Python, Scala, or similarExpert level hands on practitioner skills in one or more of: time series forecasting, natural language processing, classical machine learning, deep learningAbility to grasp and teach the mathematical concepts that underpin the domains outlined aboveComfortable with version control and command lineStrong communication skills and the ability to tailor a message for peers, senior stakeholders, and junior team members alikeAbility to mentor and grow junior scientists
Why you should become a Xero
It’s a diverse and inclusive environment, with people who will respect, challenge, support and mentor you to do the best work of your life. We’re a place where innovation and change are not only encouraged but also celebrated. We value our people and want them to enjoy and take pride in their work.
We’re very supportive of flexible working arrangements and offer a competitive remuneration package including shares and life insurance, in addition to your base salary. We have a culture we’re proud of. Whether you're after a workplace with a social vibe, or a workplace which understands your family is priority - Xero is all of that and more.
Xero is an NZ Immigration Accredited Employer and Rainbow Tick certified too.
Please include a cover letter in your application, telling us why you’re a great fit for this position.