At Abby, we’re building software that becomes core to how accounting firms operate.
We started by automating one of the most painful and operationally expensive parts of accounting: compliance. By integrating with Xero and local tax systems (including the ATO), Abby helps firms increase accuracy, save substantial time, and reduce or remove the need to outsource compliance work.
A few numbers help explain why this matters:
- Around 1,000 hours saved per accountant, per year
- Parts of a job that once took around 8 hours can now run in around 30 seconds
We’re hiring an Intermediate Backend Engineer to work primarily on our computations and workpaper engine: the Python systems that turn financial data, documents, and accounting logic into outputs firms can rely on.
This is a role for engineers who like Python, data-heavy backend work, and correctness-sensitive systems. You’ll work closely with senior engineers across computations, ETL/data, and infrastructure, taking ownership of well-scoped backend work that directly affects the quality and reliability of Abby’s core product.
Location & work mode
We’re remote-first across Auckland, Melbourne, and Toronto.
This role is intended to be based in Melbourne and will start remote-first, with occasional in-person sessions as needed. Over time, we expect to have in-person space in our main cities and want people to use it when it helps them do their best work. We care about both deep focus and strong collaboration.
What you’ll do
- Build and improve Python backend systems that power Abby’s computations and workpapers
- Extend accounting logic and support new workpaper functionality
- Work on data retrieval, transformation, validation, and backend processing flows
- Write and improve SQL used to retrieve and shape production data for computation workflows
- Help support multi-region logic as we continue expanding functionality across New Zealand and Australia, and lay groundwork for future markets such as Canada and the UK
- Improve test coverage, reliability, and maintainability in a correctness-sensitive part of the codebase
- Investigate and fix bugs or edge cases in production computation flows
- Work closely with senior engineers to ship safely in a domain where detail matters
What we’re looking for
- 2-5 years of backend engineering experience
- Strong Python fundamentals
- Strong SQL skills and comfort working with real production data
- Good judgment around correctness, edge cases, and maintainability
- Comfort working with structured data, backend workflows, and application logic
- Ability to own scoped problems and follow them through to completion
- Strong communication and willingness to ask good questions when the domain gets tricky
- You take pride in shipping work supported by strong test coverage
- A genuine interest in improving a real production system, not just writing greenfield code
Nice to have
- Experience in fintech, accounting, tax, payroll, or other correctness-sensitive domains
- Experience working across multi-region or multi-locale product logic
- Experience with data-heavy systems, ETL, or reporting logic
- Familiarity with OCR or document-processing workflows, including tools like Textract
- Familiarity with AWS, Postgres, or event-driven backend systems
- Experience working with or around external accounting systems such as Xero, QuickBooks, or MYOB
- Some familiarity with TypeScript or modern frontend product code, especially for smaller tools or calculator-style logic that may sit closer to the product surface
Our tech
This role sits primarily in our Python backend, especially the computations and workpaper engine.
You’ll spend most of your time in Python, working on computation flows, accounting logic, data retrieval, and backend processing. Around that core, you’ll work with SQL, Postgres, and AWS services including Lambda, EventBridge, Cognito, Textract, and CloudWatch.
You’ll also work alongside systems that connect the product and backend layers, including GraphQL / AppSync, our ETL pipeline, and feature flagging and observability through LaunchDarkly. Our frontend stack is built in SvelteKit, Svelte, and TypeScript, so while this role is backend-first, some familiarity with modern product-side tooling is helpful.
We use Slack, Linear, and GitHub as core parts of how we operate. We like tools and workflows that help small teams move quickly, stay aligned, and keep quality high without pointless friction.
Our team & how we work
- We’re growing the engineering team from 6.5 to 11
- Abby was founded by two Chartered Accountants, so we build with people who understand the domain deeply and know where the real pain points are
- You’ll report directly to our CTO and work in a small, flat, talent-dense engineering team
- We care about real ownership, protected deep work, low meeting load, and high trust
- We use a weekly Goalie rotation for bugs, small fixes, and customer issues to keep us close to real user problems while protecting focused build time
AI Amplifies Greatness
We’re big believers in AI-assisted engineering. AI can make great engineers dramatically faster and better. But AI also amplifies weak habits, bad judgment, and low standards. We want people who use AI as leverage, and who have the technical depth and ownership to make sure that what ships is actually good and actually solves the problem.
Why this role is interesting
The computation and workpaper engine is where financial data, documents, and accounting logic come together. The work is detail-heavy, correctness-sensitive, and highly leveraged. Improvements here directly affect the reliability, usefulness, and trustworthiness of the product firms depend on.
If you like backend work where the details matter, and you want to build systems that become core infrastructure for an industry every business depends on, you’ll probably like it here.
What success looks like
- You take ownership of meaningful computation and backend tasks
- You improve the reliability and maintainability of the computation layer
- You ship carefully in a detail-heavy domain
- You become a trusted contributor in one of the most important parts of Abby’s product
- You help Abby get stronger not just feature by feature, but systematically
