Staff Backend Engineer - Remote, Scalable Systems

Affirm; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 204,000 - 264,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

ESPP

Tech stipend

Time off

Job summary

Affirm is reinventing credit to make it more honest and friendly, offering buy now, pay later with transparent terms. We are building a new team to own discovery, search experiences, and monetization strategies while supporting a scalable backend architecture across AWS, MySQL, Spark and Kubernetes.

You will lead engineering efforts with a focus on high-availability systems, collaboration across product and analytics, and a strong emphasis on code quality, mentorship, and long-term technical

Qualifications

• 8+ years designing and launching backend systems at scale using Python or Kotlin.
• Extensive experience with AWS, MySQL, Spark, Kubernetes.
• Experience building consumer experiences with React.
• 2+ years of experience in search or recommendation engines.
• Proven track record delivering major features with execution plans.
• Able to navigate ambiguity from low level to large system architecture.
• Strong written and verbal communication for global teams.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Set technical strategy for your team on a year-long horizon and tie it to business-impacting projects.
• Collaborate across product, design & analytics to ensure sustainability, risks and trade-offs are understood.
• Act as a force-multiplier by defining technical solutions and operational processes.
• Own team operations and on-call readiness with monitoring, playbooks, and policies.
• Set code review and design standards and advocate for them beyond your team.
• Develop talent by giving feedback and leading by example.

Skills

Python/Kotlin

Backend design

Distributed systems

AWS

MySQL

Spark

Kubernetes

React

Search / Recs

Technical leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

React

Job description

Affirm is reinventing credit to make it more honest and friendly, offering buy now, pay later with transparent terms. We are building a new team to own discovery, search experiences, and monetization strategies while supporting a scalable backend architecture across AWS, MySQL, Spark and Kubernetes.

You will lead engineering efforts with a focus on high-availability systems, collaboration across product and analytics, and a strong emphasis on code quality, mentorship, and long-term technical