I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Xero (Melbourne) in June 2021
Interview
Talent Acquisition (TX) got in touch with me around two weeks after I applied. There were a total of 3 interviews. Note that the following is my personal experience and yours may differ.
A 20 minute phone screening with TX as soon as they got in touch with me. Everything following now assumes success in every round.
Was given a take-home assignment to refactor a poorly written API to production-ready code using my definition of best engineering practices.
Contacted by TX again to organise a time to talk with some engineers about your solution. Was asked about my solution and how I would change it to add some new functionality. Was asked to walk through some architecture in your current workplace or a personal project.
Contacted by TX again to organise a final interview. Behavioural, asking about my experience in my (at the time) current workplace. Things like software development practices used, frameworks, my thoughts on certain things, sharing stories, etc.
Received an offer the next business day.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What would I do if I didn't know how to do something?
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Xero (Melbourne) in Mar 2026
Interview
It takes too long. The questions are difficult. Also there is a behavior test, not sure whether this test is useful. The technical questions are good:
Lead technical design and implementation of complex features and systems
Write high-quality, maintainable code and automated tests
Make pragmatic architectural and technical decisions that balance short-term delivery with long-term sustainability
Coding assessments: Can be live or take-home. pair programming with a given codebase.
Behavioral + teamwork: Interview with non-engineers (e.g., PMs) to probe how you work in teams, handle conflict, and resolve issues.
I applied online. I interviewed at Xero (Sydney) in June 2025
Interview
There were 4 rounds.
1) Chat with internal recruiter to check your values, experience and aspirations.
2) Coding challenge: Test conducted on HackerRank. Not overly hard but wouldn't say its simple. The engineer overseeing the test (Cath) was a legend and made me feel at ease.
3) Execution & Cross-Functional Collaboration Discussion: Chat with someone from a non-engineering team. Expect questions around your way of working, challenges you've faced and how you resolve conflicts.
4) Culture Fit & Team Interview: 2 senior/lead engineers check if you fit their teams. Expect questions about your technical background, your exposure to the technologies these teams use and challenges you've face.
Even though I didn't get the job I walked away having learned a lot and the feedback provided by the internal recruiter (Raisa) was very detailed and will help me in my future endeavours.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Write a function that takes in 2 string. Return true or false if a condition is met.