General Manager, Data Science

Xero
Melbourne, Sydney
Workplace: HybridFull timeFunction: Executive & General ManagementEducation: bachelorsSkills: ["Leadership","Cross-functional collaboration","Strategic thinking","Handling ambiguity","Executive communication"]

Own and scale the portfolio’s data science, analytics, ML, and AI strategy across Accounting & Bookkeeping, Small Business, and AI products. Lead and mentor data science, analytics engineering, and ML teams while designing operating models for multi-location, multi-timezone throughput. Drive AI-native execution, experimentation integrity, AI governance and model risk, and advise C-suite on data utilization, privacy posture, and AI investment decisions.

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FursaFursa
Xero
Xero
11 hours ago

General Manager, Data Science

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Source: Company careers pageValidated by: Fursa AI
Last checked: 6 hours agoStatus: Live

Job Summary

Own and scale the portfolio’s data science, analytics, ML, and AI strategy across Accounting & Bookkeeping, Small Business, and AI products. Lead and mentor data science, analytics engineering, and ML teams while designing operating models for multi-location, multi-timezone throughput. Drive AI-native execution, experimentation integrity, AI governance and model risk, and advise C-suite on data utilization, privacy posture, and AI investment decisions.
Location: Melbourne, Sydney
Workplace: Hybrid
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Executive & General Management
Seniority: Manager level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Translate company objectives into strategic sub-objectives across analytics, ML, AI products, and experimentation.
  • •Lead, mentor, and grow a team of data scientists, analytics engineers, ML engineers, and managers (scaling from ~12 to ~30).
  • •Design team structures and operating models that preserve high throughput across multiple locations and time zones.
  • •Drive AI-native leadership for how AI changes data science operations, shipping value across Xero.
  • •Own AI governance, model risk, data quality, privacy posture, and experimentation integrity across the portfolio.

Key Requirements

  • •Lead and operate at scale in a fast-paced technology environment, translating objectives into strategic sub-objectives across analytics, ML, AI products, and experimentation.
  • •Experience leading managers and scaling data science functions across multi-team structures and multi-timezone/global teams.
  • •Hands-on experience leveraging frontier-model platforms such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google to build agentic workflows, chatbots, and AI-powered products.
  • •Deep technical fluency across applied ML, analytics engineering, instrumentation, eventing, and schema governance, with a strong engineering mindset.
  • •Technical bachelor’s or master’s degree (PhDs welcome).
Experience:AIMLSaaSSmall business
Education:Bachelor's
Skills:LeadershipCross-functional collaborationStrategic thinkingHandling ambiguityExecutive communication
Tech Stack:AnthropicOpenAIGoogleJax

Company Brief

Xero
Provides cloud-based accounting, payroll, and financial management software for small and medium-sized businesses, enabling invoicing, bank reconciliation, reporting, and integrations with third-party apps globally.
Industry: Enterprise Software
Company Size: Enterprise (1,001+ employees)
Revenue: USD 1B+
Growth: Public Company
Valuation: Public Company (Market Cap in USD)
Funding: IPO / Publicly Listed
Headquarters: Wellington, New Zealand
Founded: 2006
WebsiteLinkedIn