Remote Backend Engineer — Streaming & Data Infra

Affirm; Richmond (VA); Remote; USD 146,000 - 206,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage for you and dependents

Tech stipends for setup and wellness

Generous time off

ESPP stock purchase plan

Job summary

Affirm is a remote-first company redefining how people pay over time, with clear, predictable terms and no hidden fees. The Streaming team builds data infrastructure, using Kafka, Flink, Schema registry, and AWS to enable scalable event-driven architecture, data discovery, and validation.

You’ll help design and scale this ecosystem across teams. You will break down large projects into smaller tasks, collaborate across product, design and analytics, and ensure timely delivery.

Qualifications

• 1.5+ years of experience as a software engineer.
• Proficiency in designing, developing and launching backend systems with Python or Kotlin.
• Familiarity with distributed systems and technologies such as AWS, Kafka, Flink and Kubernetes.
• Ability to turn a simple problem into a multi-component solution with clear, well-tested code.
• Comfort navigating large codebases, debugging others’ work, and giving code reviews.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for collaboration with a global engineering team.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Break down large projects into manageable tasks and deliver in phases.
• Collaborate with product management, design & analytics to discuss constraints and trade-offs.
• Support operations and availability by monitoring metrics and contributing to on-call efforts.
• Engage in growth and development activities such as participating in the interview process.

Skills

Python

Kotlin

Backend design

Distributed systems

AWS

Kafka

Flink

Kubernetes

Code reviews

Communication

Ownership

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

AWS

Kafka

Flink

Kubernetes

Job description

Affirm is a remote-first company redefining how people pay over time, with clear, predictable terms and no hidden fees. The Streaming team builds data infrastructure, using Kafka, Flink, Schema registry, and AWS to enable scalable event-driven architecture, data discovery, and validation.

You’ll help design and scale this ecosystem across teams. You will break down large projects into smaller tasks, collaborate across product, design and analytics, and ensure timely delivery.