Senior Software Engineer (Backend (Identity International)

Affirm; Greater London; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first compensation structure

Spending Wallets

Health Benefits

Parental Leave

Learning & Development

Job summary

Affirm is seeking a senior backend engineer to design, develop, and launch scalable backend systems in a remote-first environment in the United Kingdom. You will own end-to-end delivery, drive architectural decisions, and collaborate with global teams across product, design, and analytics to weigh risks and trade-offs while improving reliability and performance.

We value strong coding standards, AWS, MySQL, and Kubernetes expertise, and we offer generous remote-friendly benefits and a path for

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience designing, developing, and launching backend systems at scale.
• Proven track record delivering highly available distributed systems.
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate with a global engineering team.

Responsibilities

• Own backend systems end-to-end, from design to deployment.
• Design and launch backend features with scalable architecture.
• Improve availability, performance, and operational health of services.
• Collaborate with product, design, and analytics to balance constraints and risks.

Skills

Backend design

Python

Kotlin

Distributed systems

AWS

MySQL

Kubernetes

Code quality

Communication

Team leadership

Tools

AWS

MySQL

Kubernetes

Job description

• Help shape quarterly technical direction, translate team goals into concrete projects, and identify cross-cutting risks, tradeoffs, and opportunities


• Design across system boundaries, drive collaboration with partner teams, and advocate for technical investments that improve long-term execution


• Raise code quality and review standards, make performance, availability, and scale tradeoffs explicit, and improve operational health of systems owned


• Reduce toil, create useful playbooks, mentor engineers, support new hires and interns, and contribute to high-signal hiring


• Take ownership and deliver quarterly goals for the team, lead engineers through ambiguity to solve open-ended problems, and ensure everyone is supported throughout delivery


• Support peers and stakeholders in the product development lifecycle by collaborating with product management, design & analytics, participating in ideation, articulating technical constraints, and partnering on decisions that properly consider risks and trade-offs


• Proactively identify project, process, technology or business issues, advocate for them, and lead in solving them


• Support operations and availability of team’s artifacts by creating and monitoring metrics, escalating when needed, and supporting “keep the lights on” & on-call efforts


• Foster a culture of quality and ownership by setting or improving code review and design standards, and advocating for them beyond the team through writing and tech talks


• Develop talent on the 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

Demonstrated ownership of your growth, proactively seeking feedback from your team, manager, and stakeholders4+ years of experience designing, developing and launching backend systems at scale using languages like Python or KotlinTrack record of developing highly available distributed systems using technologies like AWS, MySQL and KubernetesExperience defining a technical plan for the delivery of a significant feature or system component with an elegant, simple and extensible design. Write high quality code that is easily understood and used by othersStrong verbal and written communication skills that support effective collaboration with a global engineering teamProficient 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