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.

Xero is continuing to grow and so are the opportunities to join us!

You can choose to perform this role:

In one of our #beautiful offices

Flexibly, through a hybrid of in office and remote working styles

Permanently Remote

As a permanent remote worker at Xero we want to ensure you are getting the same #beautiful employee experience as our in-office Xero’s. Permanent remote Xero’s will benefit from a virtual ergonomic work assessment and funding to assist with the improvement of your at home work setup. Xero will also fund up to 4 trips a year to your most relevant region Xero office. You are part of our #team and we want to see you thrive!

About the Role:

Design Managers help define, detail and drive end-to-end product experiences at Xero. You’ll be a ‘player / coach’ – working on your own design tasks, as well as assisting others through design critique and mentorship. You’ll be contributing to design strategy, and looking after key relationships with Product leaders. You’ll help define how we improve as a Design team by working closely with other Leads, as well as our Design Directors. 

This Product Design Manager will sit across our Global Tax Portfolio; partnering with the Global Tax Leadership Team and designers in Melbourne, Wellington and Denver. The purpose of the Global Tax Portfolio is to provide a global platform for our regional compliance teams. Teams will design and build common components for regional teams to consume, ultimately reducing duplication of effort and enabling Xero to scale. As the Product Design Manager you’ll be leading and managing a group of dispersed designers to design a set of well thought out and executed common user experiences. Your team's mission will be to lift the quality of the user experience across our tax products globally. The key stakeholders for the Global Tax Portfolio will be other product teams that are trying to deliver effortless compliance experiences in each of their regions. As the Product Design Manager, yourself and your team will need to understand and solve for the outcomes these teams are trying to achieve for their Partner and SMB customers.

The day to day:

• Be responsible for owning and driving your own pieces of design work
• Work closely with our engineering and product teams
• Offer design critique to all Designers, sharing your thoughts and domain knowledge in a useful and constructive way
• You will be responsible for developing their careers and enabling them to be the best they can be at Xero
• You’ll align your team to the overall strategy of Design, reviewing your teams performance, and managing resource requests for your portfolio of work
• You’ll present design and design strategy to a variety of internal and external groups, from product colleagues to C-level executives
• At Xero we’re always growing! This means you’ll also be responsible for the recruitment, onboarding, engagement and management of new team members.

What you'll need for this role:

• You'll have hands on experience managing a team of designers, alongside experience managing or working with remote teams.
• Demonstrated design ability with a focus on interaction and visual design. 
• Demonstrated discovery skills and understanding of UX methodologies
• A passion for quality critique and fostering design uplift
• Strong interpersonal skills, relationship building & stakeholder management skills
• A self starter, showing initiative and good work management skills
• Curiosity and a willingness to lean into a complex domain and problems
• You're a collaborator! You'll have have heaps of experience working closely with developers and other designers in cross functional teams
• You’re a strong communicator with proven ability to develop well-positioned and thoughtful insights and ideas with the team and wider stakeholder groups
• And of course… you’re passionate about supporting, enabling and empowering other designers

Why Xero?

At Xero we support many types of flexible working arrangements that allow you to balance your work, your life and your passions. We offer a great remuneration package including shares plus a range of leave options to suit your well-being. Our work environment encourages continuous improvement and career development and you’ll get to work with the latest technology.

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. We are a member of Pride in Diversity, in recognition of our inclusive workplace. So, from the moment you step through our doors, you’ll feel welcome and supported to do the best work of your life.