Staff Backend Software Engineer (Fraud Decisioning)

Affirm, Inc.; Ottawa; Remote; CAD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first compensation

Spending wallets

Mental health support

Away days

Learning & development

Health benefits

Parental leave

Job summary

Affirm, Inc. seeks a Staff Engineer to lead the Fraud Decisioning team, shaping architecture and delivering scalable fraud-fighting systems. You will collaborate with Product, ML, Analytics, and Business teams to define and deliver high-impact initiatives, mentoring engineers and enforcing best practices.

The role emphasizes designing modular solutions, writing clean, testable code, and driving adoption across teams while championing stakeholder alignment and technical excellence.

Qualifications

• A system architect who can see the big picture and envision how business and product requirements can be broken into system modules.
• Expert at synthesizing complex business, product, and technical requirements to consistently produce high quality system designs and software.
• A technical leader and team builder who can mentor the team in software development best practices.
• Prior experience architecting, building, launching, coding and maintaining complex systems.
• 6-10+ years of experience as a software engineer with leadership responsibilities and experience mentoring junior engineers.
• Passion for working with cross-functional teams including Product, ML, Analytics and Business teams.
• This position requires either equivalent practical experience or a Bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects and initiatives on the Fraud Decisioning team.
• Build tools and systems that empower fraud fighting capabilities and monitor adoption.
• Plan and execute large cross-functional initiatives with clear delivery and maintenance pathways.
• Write high-quality, well-documented code that is maintainable and reviewable by others.
• Review teammates’ work and provide constructive feedback to maintain high standards.
• Mentor engineers to help them succeed and take ownership of their components.
• Incorporate needs and opinions from stakeholders and drive consensus.

Skills

System architecture

Technical leadership

Mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Software design

Code quality

Hiring interviews

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience

Job description

• We are looking for a Staff Engineer to lead projects and initiatives on the Fraud Decisioning team
• You’ll be responsible for building tools and systems that empower affirm fraud fighting capabilities, work with cross-functional teams to adopt and monitor those and use analytics and data driven decisions to further improve the performance and quality of fraud deciders
• Our mission is to drive growth while protecting affirm, buyers, and merchants. We achieve this by leveraging data to evaluate risk at critical points in the user journey, adapting to the ever-changing fraud landscape, and by introducing new fraud-fighting capabilities.
• Work across the org to plan and execute large, cross-functional initiatives, including: project definition, technical specification, task break-down, delivery, monitoring, and maintenance
• Generate simple and elegant designs that are easily deployed and debugged, but anticipate the unhappy path. Write high-quality code that can be easily understood and leveraged by others
• Review others’ work and provide constructive feedback in order to maintain high and consistent quality standards across teams
• Lead and mentor engineers to help them succeed and grow. Provide the right context to engineers and train them to take ownership of their respective pieces of the initiative
• Effectively incorporate needs and opinions from stakeholders, advocate for ideas and initiatives, and create a common understanding where all voices are heard
• Conduct technical and soft skill evaluations to inform and influence the hiring decisions. Develop and review the technical content and requirements of the interview process

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

A system architect who can see the big picture and envision how business and product requirements can be broken up into system modules or componentsExpert at synthesizing complex business, product, and technical requirements to consistently produce high quality system designs and softwareA technical leader and team builder who can mentor the team in software development best practicesPrior experience architecting, building, launching, coding and maintaining complex systems6-10+ years of experience as a software engineer with leadership responsibilities and experience mentoring junior engineersPassion for working with cross-functional teams including Product, ML,Analytics and Business teamsThis position requires either equivalent practical experience or a Bachelor’s degree in a related field