Staff Software Engineer, Fullstack (Account Management)

Affirm, Inc.; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); Remote; USD 204,000 - 290,000; Full time

Job summary

Affirm, Inc. is seeking a senior software engineer to own the technical strategy for an accountable team working on secure backend systems and customer-facing apps.

You will drive architecture decisions, collaborate with product, design and analytics, and raise the bar on code quality and reliability. You will mentor teammates, improve operational processes, and ensure “keep the lights on” readiness with monitoring, runbooks, and robust on-call practices.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience.
• Experience designing, building, and scaling backend systems.
• Proficient with Python, Kotlin, AWS, MySQL, and Kubernetes.
• Web app development with React or Vue.
• Delivered major features with clear technical plans.
• Thrives in ambiguity across systems architecture.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Set 1-year technical strategy for your team and align with business impact.
• Collaborate with product, design, and analytics through the lifecycle.
• Advocate for scalable technical solutions and operational processes.
• Own team operations, monitoring, on-call readiness and runbooks.
• Define code review and design standards and promote them.
• Develop team talent through feedback and leading by example.

Skills

Backend design & scalability

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Ambiguity navigation

Mentoring & leadership

System thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Python

Kotlin

AWS

MySQL

Kubernetes

React

Vue

Job description

At affirm, we exist for the moments that matter—giving people a clear, predictable way to pay over time, with no hidden fees, no surprises, and no tradeoffs on what matters most.

The Account Management team is part of Trust & Safety within affirm’s Checkout organization. We build secure, intuitive experiences that help customers protect, manage, and recover access to their accounts. Our mission is to make account security seamless without adding unnecessary friction, ensuring customers can confidently use affirm when and where they need it.

Our work spans the full account security journey - from detecting and preventing unauthorized access to enabling self-service recovery and reducing the need for customer support. We own critical experiences like Self-Service Phone Change, Settings & Security Center, and account information updates. These solutions directly impact customer trust, fraud prevention, and affirm’s ability to scale safely.

We’re looking for someone who takes ownership, thrives in complexity, and enjoys turning difficult security challenges into simple, meaningful customer experiences.

What You'll Do

• You will be responsible for setting technical strategy for your team on a year-long time scale, and help your team tie it together with critical, business-impacting projects.
• You will collaborate across teams in the product development lifecycle by collaborating with product management, design & analytics to ensure technical sustainability, risks and trade-offs are well understood and managed.
• You will act as a force-multiplier for your team through your definition and advocacy of technical solutions and operational processes.
• You take ownership of your team’s operations and availability by ensuring you have the right monitoring, triage rotations, playbooks, polcities, testing and alerting in place to support “keep the lights on” & on-call efforts.
• You will foster a culture of quality and ownership on your team by setting code review and design standards for your team, and advocating for them beyond your team through your writing and tech talks.
• You will help develop talent on your team by providing feedback and guidance, and leading by example.

What We Look For

• You have a total of 8+ years of experience as a software engineer.
• You are proficient in designing, developing and launching backend systems at scale technologies like Python, Kotlin, AWS, MySQL, and Kubernetes
• You are proficient in developing web apps using declarative UI frameworks like React or Vue.
• You have experience delivering major features, system components or deprecating existing functionality in a system through the definition of a technical and execution plan. You write high quality code that is easily understood and used by others.
• You thrive in ambiguity, and are comfortable moving from low level language idioms all the way to the architecture of large systems to understand how they work.
• Your growth and impact trajectory demonstrates that you have mastered gathering and iterating on feedback from your engineering and cross-functional peers.
• You have strong verbal and written communication skills that support effective collaboration with our global engineering team.
• This position requires either equivalent practical experience or a Bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Base Pay Grade - P

Equity Grade - 13

Employees new to affirm typically come in at the start of the pay range. affirm focuses on providing a simple and transparent pay structure which is based on a variety of factors, including location, experience and job-related skills.

Base pay is part of a total compensation package that may include equity rewards, monthly stipends for health, wellness and tech spending, and benefits (including 100% subsidized medical coverage, dental and vision for you and your dependents.)

USA Pacific base pay range (CA, WA, NY, NJ, CT): $230,000 - $290,000

USA Sapphire base pay range (all other U.S. states): $204,00 - $264,000

Remote-first with flexibility built in

Affirm is proud to be a remote-first company. Most roles can be done from almost anywhere within the country of employment. Some positions may occasionally require in-person work at an affirm office, and a few are office-based due to the nature of the work. All new hires will be invited to attend an in-person onboarding experience.

Benefits Designed For You

Our benefits reflect our commitment to care, transparency, and flexibility. Here are a few highlights:

• Health coverage at no cost: We cover 100% of premiums for employees and their dependents.
• Spending stipends: Monthly stipends support your tech setup, and the ability to choose health and wellness options that are right for you.
• Time off to recharge: Flexible time off and generous holiday calendars help you rest when you need to.
• Own a piece of what you build: Our employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) lets you buy affirm stock at a discount.

We’re committed to providing an inclusive interview process, including accommodations for candidates with disabilities. If you need support, we’re happy to help.

For positions based in San Francisco or Los Angeles: affirm considers qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, as required by law.