Senior Software Engineer, Backend (Merchant & Partner Lifecycle)

Affirm; Regina; On-site; CAD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care coverage

Flexible Spending Wallets

Competitive vacation and holiday schedules

Employee stock purchase plan

Job summary

A technology company is seeking an experienced Backend Software Engineer to lead the design and development of a new service that supports merchant lifecycle orchestration. The role involves mentoring engineers, technical strategy execution, and enhancing engineering standards. With 5+ years of experience preferred, this position offers a salary range of $150,000 - $200,000 and a strong focus on remote work capability, along with competitive benefits including health coverage and flexible spending wallets.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience as a backend software engineer.
• Proficiency with data models, API design, state machines, and database design.
• Experience designing, developing, and launching backend systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and expand the backbone of the platform.
• Mentor engineers to ensure development and growth.
• Partner with management to execute the long-term vision of the team.

Skills

Backend software engineering

Domain-Driven Design

Distributed systems

API design

Event-driven architecture

Communication skills

Tools

AWS

gRPC

Snowflake

Kotlin

Python

MySQL

Kubernetes

Job description

Affirm is reinventing credit to make it more honest and friendly, giving consumers the flexibility to buy now and pay later without any hidden fees or compounding interest.

The Merchant & Partner Lifecycle (M&PL) team is at the forefront of Affirm’s architectural transformation. We are addressing critical architectural risks by consolidating merchant lifecycle orchestration into a newly cohesive domain.

You will act as a technical leader responsible for building out the brand new lifecycle-orchestrator service that’s at the heart of multiple connected systems. Your work will deliver immediate availability improvements through system simplification and isolation, and modernize older parts of the codebase.

What Youll Do

• Design & expand the backbone of our platform to scale to hundreds of thousands of merchants from all around the world
• Design and align the scope of work with other teams to deliver cross-team projects
• Mentor other engineers to ensure their development & growth
• Partner with Engineering Manager and Team Lead to drive and execute the long-term vision of the team
• Execute technical strategy for broad or complex requirements with insightful and forward-looking approaches that go beyond the direct team and solve large open-ended problems
• Utilize agentic development tools like Claude Code to automate parts of the development process
• Improve engineering standards, tooling, and processes throughout the organization

What We Look For

• 5+ years of experience as a backend software engineer
• A strong understanding of Domain-Driven Design, distributed systems, and how architectural decisions affect performance and maintainability
• Proficiency with data models, API design (http and RPC), state machines, event-driven architecture, and database design
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. Must be proficient in asynchronous communication–written tech specs, ADRs, project plans, etc.
• Experience designing, developing, and launching backend systems (our stack: AWS, gRPC, Snowflake, Kotlin, Python, MySQL, Kubernetes). Java and Kotlin experience are especially helpful.
• Prior experience with monitoring and alerting systems (sentry.io, rollbar, chronosphere, kibana)

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

Pay Grade - N

Equity Grade - 6

Employees new to Affirm 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.

Base pay is part of a total compensation package that may include equity rewards, monthly stipends for health, wellness and tech spending, and benefits (including 100% subsidized medical coverage, dental and vision for you and your dependents.) In addition, the employees may be eligible for equity rewards offered by Affirm Holdings, Inc. (parent company).

CAN base pay range per year: $150,000 - $200,000

Affirm is proud to be a remote-first company! The majority of our roles are remote and you can work almost anywhere within the country of employment. Affirmers in proximal roles have the flexibility to work remotely, but will occasionally be required to work out of their assigned Affirm office. A limited number of roles remain office-based due to the nature of their job responsibilities.

Benefits

We’re extremely proud to offer competitive benefits that are anchored to our core value of people come first. Some key highlights of our benefits package include:

• Health care coverage - Affirm covers all premiums for all levels of coverage for you and your dependents
• Flexible Spending Wallets - generous stipends for spending on Technology, Food, various Lifestyle needs, and family forming expenses
• Time off - competitive vacation and holiday schedules allowing you to take time off to rest and recharge
• ESPP - An employee stock purchase plan enabling you to buy shares of Affirm at a discount

We believe It’s On Us to provide an inclusive interview experience for all, including people with disabilities. We are happy to provide reasonable accommodations to candidates in need of individualized support during the hiring process.

[For U.S. positions that could be performed in Los Angeles or San Francisco] Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, Affirm will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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