Remote-First Staff Backend Engineer: Search & Discovery Lead

Affirm; Denver (CO); Remote; USD 204,000 - 264,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity rewards

Health & tech stipends

Medical/dental/vision coverage

Job summary

Affirm is building an advertising platform and a next-generation shopping destination. You will set the technical strategy for your team on a year-long time horizon, collaborating with product management, design and analytics to ensure sustainability and impact.

You will own operations, on-call readiness, and implement standards while mentoring teammates. Expertise in Python or Kotlin and distributed systems is essential, with React experience highly valued.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of backend design, development and launch experience.
• Experience with Python or Kotlin for scalable systems.
• Hands-on with AWS, MySQL, Spark, and Kubernetes.
• Experience building consumer experiences with React.
• 2+ years in search or related recommendation engines.
• Proven ability to deliver major features through technical plans.
• Comfort moving from low-level code to large system architecture.
• Strong communication with cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Set technical strategy for your team on a year-long horizon.
• Collaborate with product management, design, and analytics to ensure technical sustainability.
• Define and advocate technical solutions and operational processes.
• Own operations and on-call readiness with monitoring, playbooks and triage rotations.
• Set code review and design standards beyond your team.
• Develop talent by giving feedback and guidance.

Skills

Python

Kotlin

Distributed systems

AWS

MySQL

Spark

Kubernetes

React

Search/recommendation

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience

Tools

AWS

MySQL

Spark

Kubernetes

Job description

Affirm is building an advertising platform and a next-generation shopping destination. You will set the technical strategy for your team on a year-long time horizon, collaborating with product management, design and analytics to ensure sustainability and impact.

You will own operations, on-call readiness, and implement standards while mentoring teammates. Expertise in Python or Kotlin and distributed systems is essential, with React experience highly valued.