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      Xero

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      Software Developer Interview

      Oct 13, 2020
      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      Auckland, Auckland
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Easy interview

      Application

      I applied through a recruiter. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Xero (Auckland, Auckland) in Sep 2020

      Interview

      Beware about wasting your time unless you agree with racist, sexist, woke hiring policies. Very drawn-out process over 6+ weeks. I initially expressed interest on one of their LinkedIn advertisements and was contacted by one of their HR people. Despite the process being very drawn out, the initial 3 interviews were very positive and the people who interviewed me were extremely nice and genuine. It wasn't until the final "team fit" interview with members of the team that had been selected for me to join did I get to see the true colours of Xero. The interview was meant to be a "team fit" style interview, but it seemed that they were uninterested in finding out whether I would fit the team in any kind of professional manner, and more interested in finding my political alignment and whether I agreed with discriminatory hiring practices in order to meet their "diversity" quotas. Two questions in particular highlighted this. "How do you think we should achieve diversity in the team" and "How do you think we should hire people in order to achieve diversity in the team". Bear in mind, I was interviewing for the position of Software Developer, so why would they be interested in asking me about hiring policies? My answers involved talking about how they should hire the "best person for the job", ensuring that we take into account "different skillsets and backgrounds", but this answer clearly wasn't "woke enough" for the interviewer, as she followed up with "so you don't mean real diversity, you mean technical diversity". I genuinely believe that the answer she wanted from me was to explain how they should hire based on their race, gender, and sexuality in order to achieve their quotas. After this interview, I knew that I would never want to work in a toxic woke company like Xero, but was surprised to receive a call from a recruiter explaining that "despite being very technically capable, you are not a good fit for the team" and hence not receiving an offer. I seriously recommend anyone thinking about applying to Xero to think about whether they want to waste their time. Unless you support these regressive woke policies, you won't fit in at Xero.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      How should we hire people to achieve diversity?
      2 Answers
      7
      avatar
      Xero response
      5y
      Thank you so much for sharing this review, your feedback is important to us and we take it very seriously. We’re disappointed to hear about your experience. I’ve passed your feedback on to the Talent Experience team so they can review our process. Again, we appreciate your constructive feedback and wish you the best in your career.

      Other Software Developer Interview Reviews for Xero

      Software Engineer Interview

      Jul 23, 2026
      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      Auckland, Auckland
      No offer
      Neutral experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Xero (Auckland, Auckland) in Mar 2026

      Interview

      The questions are difficult. Coding assessments: Can be live or take-home. pair programming with a given question. Behavioral + teamwork: how you work in teams, handle conflict, and resolve issues.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Describe your past experience and your thought
      Answer question

      Developer Interview

      Apr 30, 2026
      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      Melbourne
      No offer
      Neutral experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      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

      Software Engineer Interview

      Aug 24, 2025
      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      Auckland, Auckland
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Xero (Auckland, Auckland)

      Interview

      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.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Describe your past experience and practices
      Answer question

      Xero interviews FAQs

      • Software Developer applicants have rated the interview process at Xero with 3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 82% positive. To compare, the company-average is 57.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
      • Candidates applying for Software Developer roles take an average of 17 days to get hired, when considering 11 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Xero overall takes an average of 23 days.
      • Common stages of the interview process at Xero as a Software Developer according to 11 Glassdoor interviews include:

        Phone interview:  24%

        Group panel interview:  20%

        Skills test:  16%

        Presentation:  12%

        One on one interview:  12%

        Background check:  4%

        IQ intelligence test:  4%

        Drug test:  4%

        Personality test:  4%

      • Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -

        1. Software Engineer(97) ;
        2. Customer Experience Specialist(90) ;
        3. Senior Software Engineer(67) ;
        4. Account Manager(60) ;
        5. Product Manager(46) ;
        6. Software Developer(34) ;
        7. Senior Engineer(30) ;
        8. Senior Account Manager(28) ;
        9. Engineer(23) ;
        10. Sales(22) ;
        11. Product Designer(19) ;
        12. Developer(16) ;
        13. Lead Engineer(15) ;
        14. Intern(14) ;
        15. Partner Consultant(14) .


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      Jobs at Xero

      3 jobs in United States
      Staff / Lead Backend Engineer, Payments Platform
      San Mateo, CA
      ·
      $207K - $258K /yr
      (Employer provided)
      View job
      Senior Strategy Manager
      San Mateo, CA
      ·
      $146K - $199K /yr
      (Glassdoor est.)
      View job
      SVP Product Marketing
      San Mateo, CA
      ·
      $320K - $390K /yr
      (Employer provided)
      View job
      View all Software Developer Jobs