Senior Backend Software Engineer (Identity Data)

Affirm, Inc.; Ottawa; Remote; CAD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first compensation structure

Spending Wallets: tech, food, family

Health benefits

Mental healthcare

Parental leave

Away days

Learning & development

Job summary

Affirm, Inc. is seeking an experienced Backend Systems Engineer to own critical paths across product surfaces, focusing on high-availability and low-latency systems. You will understand business and engineering context and lead engineers to deliver quarterly goals on complex initiatives.

You will partner with product, design, and analytics to ideate and make technically constrained decisions, while ensuring quality, on-call readiness, and scalable delivery across the organization.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience designing, developing and launching backend systems at scale using languages like Python or Kotlin.
• Track record of developing highly available distributed systems using AWS, MySQL and Kubernetes.
• Experience defining a technical plan for delivering a significant feature or system component with elegant, simple design.
• Write high-quality code easily understood and used by others.
• Able to make significant changes in a large code base and build tooling to enable safe edits.
• Strong verbal and written communication to collaborate with a global engineering team.

Responsibilities

• Own and deliver quarterly goals for the team, guiding engineers through ambiguity to solve open-ended problems.
• Collaborate with product management, design, and analytics in ideation and decision-making considering risks and trade-offs.
• Proactively identify and lead resolution of project, process, technology, or business issues.
• Support operations and availability of team artifacts; monitor metrics and participate in on-call efforts.
• Foster a culture of quality and ownership through code reviews and architectural standards.
• Develop talent on the team by providing feedback and guidance.

Skills

Backend design

Distributed systems

Code quality

Technical leadership

Communication

Tools

AWS

MySQL

Kubernetes

Job description

• Identity Engineering owns the systems responsible for onboarding all consumers and managing their authentication and verification journeys across  Affirm's product surfaces
• In this role, you will need to gain a deep understanding of the business, product and engineering context, and utilize that context to own and deliver high-availability and low-latency systems on the critical paths for all of our products
• You will be responsible for owning and delivering quarterly goals for your team, leading engineers on your team through ambiguity to solve open-ended problems, and ensuring that everyone is supported throughout delivery
• You will support your peers and stakeholders in the product development lifecycle by collaborating with product management, design & analytics by participating in ideation, articulating technical constraints, and partnering on decisions that properly consider risks and trade-offs
• You will proactively identify project, process, technology or business issues, advocate for them, and lead in solving them
• You will support the operations and availability of your team's artifacts by creating and monitoring metrics, escalating when needed, and supporting "keep the lights on" & on-call efforts
• You will foster a culture of quality and ownership on your team by setting or improving code review and design standards for your team, and advocating for them beyond your team through your writing and tech talks
• You will help develop talent on your team by providing feedback and guidance, and leading by example

Benefits

• Compensation: We have a simple, flexible, and transparent remote-first compensation structure so you can make the best decisions for yourself and your family
• Spending Wallets: Access tech, food, lifestyle, and family planning wallets for your expenses
• Supportive Communities: Get involved with our employee resource groups and community groups
• Remote-first Workforce: If your role is remote, you can set up shop anywhere in your home country
• Generous Time Off: Take the time you need when life happens
• Health Benefits: Get a plan that fits your needs
• Mental Healthcare: Take care of your mind with great mental health programs
• Parental Leave: Birth and non-birth parents get 18 weeks' paid leave. Plus, a 4-week return-to-work transition program, at full base pay
• Away Days: We offer 20 company-wide paid days off-which help our teams collectively pause to recharge
• Learning & Development: Engage in exciting learning programs to level up your growth

Your experience demonstrates that you take ownership of your growth, proactively seeking feedback from your team, your manager, and your stakeholdersYou have 4+ years of experience designing, developing and launching backend systems at scale using languages like Python or KotlinYou have a track record of developing highly available distributed systems using technologies like AWS, MySQL and KubernetesYou have experience defining a technical plan for the delivery of a significant feature or system component with an elegant, simple and extensible design. You write high quality code that is easily understood and used by othersYou are proficient at making significant changes in a large code base, and have developed a suite of tools and practices that enable you and your team to do so safelyYou have strong verbal and written communication skills that support effective collaboration with our global engineering team