Senior Software Engineer, Backend (Lakehouse Infra)

Affirm; Toronto; Remote; CAD 153,000 - 213,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Spending stipends

Flexible time off

Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)

Job summary

Affim is seeking a Senior Software Engineer, Backend (Lakehouse Infra) to lead backend development for data infrastructure. This remote Canada role requires strong experience with scalable systems and a track record of delivering large features.

You will collaborate with product, design and analytics while owning quarterly goals and improving reliability across data platforms. The team emphasizes quality, ownership, and proactive problem solving in a remote-first environment across Canada.

Qualifications

• 4+ years designing, developing, and launching backend systems at scale.
• Experience with highly available distributed systems including AWS and MySQL.
• Proven ability to define a technical plan for major features or components.
• Strong ownership, communication, and collaboration with global teams.

Responsibilities

• Own quarterly goals and lead engineers through ambiguity to delivery.
• Collaborate with product management, design & analytics in lifecycle stages.
• Proactively identify issues and drive resolution across teams.
• Ensure observability and on-call readiness for team artifacts.
• Set and uphold code design and review standards across teams.
• Mentor and develop talent through example and feedback.

Skills

Python

Kotlin

AWS

MySQL

Kubernetes

Iceberg

Flink

Airflow

Spark

Kafka

Snowflake

Terraform

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

Senior Software Engineer, Backend (Lakehouse Infra)

Remote Canada

At Affim, we exist for the moments that matter—giving people a clear, predictable way to pay over time, with no hidden fees, no surprises, and no tradeoffs on what matters most.

The Data and Storage Services team is responsible for Affim's data infrastructure across OLTP and OLAP systems, spanning critical online checkout databases, batch orchestration, streaming infrastructure, event-driven frameworks, BI, analytics tooling, large-scale data platforms, and agentic data tools such as semantic layers and internal platform data applications. Our mission is to provide trustworthy, intuitive, and cost-efficient solutions for Affimers to secure, store, analyze, and transform data at exceptional scale.

The vision for the Lakehouse Infra team is to provide reliable, scalable, self-serve and Affim-optimized offline data access to enable ML, Product, and Financial Engineering success. Our team is responsible for hosting the data infrastructure that serves as a backbone for processing various business critical money and loan movement workloads at Affim across our batch and analytics ecosystems. Affim is growing rapidly and so is the need for reliable and high availability frameworks. If solving data lake challenges at scale excites you, come join us!

What you’ll do

• 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.

What We Look For:

• You have 4+ years of experience designing, developing and launching backend systems at scale using languages like Python or Kotlin.
• You have a track record of developing highly available distributed systems using technologies like AWS, MySQL, and Kubernetes.
• Experience scaling relevant technologies such as Iceberg, Flink, Airflow, Spark, Kafka, Snowflake, and Terraform.
• You 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 others.
• You 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 safely.
• Your experience demonstrates that you take ownership of your growth, proactively seeking feedback from your team, your manager, and your stakeholders.
• You have strong verbal and written communication skills that support effective collaboration with our global engineering team.
• This position requires either equivalent practical experience or a Bachelor’s degree in a related field.

This remote role is open only to candidates residing in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, or Saskatchewan.

Pay Grade - N
Equity Grade - 6
Employees new to Affim typically come in at the start of the pay range.Affirm focuses on providing a simple and transparent pay structure which is based on a variety of factors, including location, experience and job-related skills.

CAN base pay range per year: $ 153,000 - $ 213,000 CAD.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

Remote-first with flexibility built in

Affirm is proud to be a remote-first company. Most roles can be done from almost anywhere within the country of employment. Some positions may occasionally require in-person work at an affirm office, and a few are office-based due to the nature of the work. All new hires will be invited to attend an in-person onboarding experience.

Benefits designed for you

Our benefits reflect our commitment to care, transparency, and flexibility. Here are a few highlights:

• Health coverage at no cost: We cover 100% of premiums for employees and their dependents.
• Spending stipends: Monthly stipends support your tech setup, and the ability to choose health and wellness options that are right for you.
• Time off to recharge: Flexible time off and generous holiday calendars help you rest when you need to.
• Own a piece of what you build: Our employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) lets you buy Affim stock at a discount.

We’re committed to providing an inclusive interview process, including accommodations for candidates with disabilities. If you need support, we’re happy to help.

For positions based in San Francisco or Los Angeles: Affim considers qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, as required by law.