Xero expands recruitment search as NZ talent dries up

Xero has taken to extending its recruitment efforts abroad as the company moves to sign-on at least 160 new developers in its Wellington and Auckland offices over the next year.

Xero Product Manager Andrew Tokeley says that whilst Xero is committed to growing talent at home, filling more senior roles locally has meant looking further afield.

“We’ve brought on 10 graduates in the past year through programmes like Summer of Tech and our own graduate programme and all are proving very valuable additions to the business," he says.

"However, finding enough experienced IT professionals locally has been a harder task, which is why we’re pushing the boat out globally.

“New Zealand has so much to offer, which we hope will make our job of recruiting people from overseas that little bit easier.

"Not only do we have a beautiful country with so much to see and do from a leisure and tourism perspective, we’ve also got a close-knit tech industry and a start-up friendly environment that creates a melting pot of innovation and creativity.

“In fact, a lot of the innovation evident in Xero is a result of the depth of connections we have with local businesses, banking and financial institutions not possible in larger countries - New Zealand is where the magic begins."

Tokeley stresses that despite its recruitment drive abroad, Xero is still keen to hear from skilled New Zealand-based IT professionals who are looking for a unique challenge within a fast-growing global business.

“Xero offers some excellent opportunities for Kiwis wanting to really boost their IT careers," he adds.

"The scale at which we’re working and the amount of data we’re processing presents a fascinating engineering challenge – there simply aren’t many opportunities locally to work on a product of this magnitude.

“Working with Xero also presents some great opportunities to take your skills further abroad, with development teams also located in the US and Australia.”

Xero has grown significantly within the last financial year, from 382 employees globally as at April 2013 to 758 today.