Senior Director, Software Engineering (Machine Learning)

Who you are

You have over 15 years of experience in Machine Learning, AI, or related technical domains — you've successfully led teams and projects that leverage advanced technologies to drive business outcomes. Your leadership style fosters collaboration and innovation, allowing your team to thrive in a dynamic environment.

You possess a deep understanding of the Machine Learning model development lifecycle — you've taken ownership of projects from conception through deployment, ensuring that models are not only effective but also aligned with business goals. Your experience includes working with cross-functional teams to champion AI adoption in various products.

Your expertise in both traditional and transformer-based models allows you to balance investments in Machine Learning effectively — you understand the nuances of different approaches and can guide your team in selecting the right tools for the job. You are passionate about evolving ML platforms to meet increasing demands, focusing on training, tuning, and serving AI models.

You thrive in a culture of experimentation and rapid iteration — you believe in establishing a robust yet shortened ML development lifecycle that encourages your team to experiment and learn from failures. Your ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders is a key asset in your role.

Desirable

Experience with financial products or services is a plus — you understand the unique challenges and opportunities in the fintech space. Familiarity with regulatory considerations in AI and Machine Learning will enhance your effectiveness in this role.

What you'll do

As the Senior Director of Software Engineering at Affirm, you will set the vision for Machine Learning and AI initiatives — your leadership will guide the development of centralized ML capabilities that drive business success. You will hire and mentor world-class Machine Learning modelers, platform engineers, and software engineers, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.

You will take ownership of the core model development lifecycle, ensuring that business outcomes are met across established verticals such as underwriting, fraud detection, servicing, and personalization. Collaborating closely with product and business leadership, you will champion the adoption of AI in both existing and new products, ensuring that Affirm remains at the forefront of the industry.

Your role will involve balancing investments in traditional ML and transformer-based models, evolving the ML platform to support increasing needs across the organization. You will run a robust ML development lifecycle that emphasizes rapid experimentation and learning, establishing a culture where your team can thrive.

You will work with a diverse range of cross-functional partners outside of engineering, including product, risk, servicing, legal, and compliance teams. Your ability to navigate these relationships will be crucial in driving AI initiatives forward and ensuring alignment with business objectives.

What we offer

At Affirm, you will be part of a mission-driven company that is reinventing credit to make it more honest and friendly. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, along with opportunities for professional growth and development. You will work in a collaborative environment that values innovation and encourages you to bring your ideas to life. Join us in making a meaningful impact on the financial lives of consumers across the globe.