Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Growth Platform)

Who you are

You have 5+ years of backend engineering experience building production systems at scale — you've owned services from design through deployment and have navigated complex distributed systems issues with confidence. Your deep expertise in Java and API design allows you to create high-performance systems that handle significant user loads while ensuring long-term sustainability and correctness.

You thrive in collaborative environments, working closely with product management, analytics, and partner teams to shape the technical direction of incentive systems. Your ability to define platform abstractions and architectural patterns enables product teams to safely launch and experiment with incentive-based experiences.

You take ownership of your team’s operations and availability — ensuring robust monitoring, alerting, and on-call practices are in place for business-critical systems. You foster a culture of quality and ownership by setting clear design and code review standards, advocating for best practices beyond your immediate team through written proposals and technical discussions.

You are passionate about developing talent on your team, providing actionable feedback and technical guidance to help your colleagues grow in their careers. You understand the importance of mentorship and actively contribute to a supportive team environment.

Desirable

Experience with cloud platforms and microservices architecture is a plus, as is familiarity with data-driven decision-making processes. You are comfortable with experimentation and have a keen interest in how technology can drive customer engagement and retention.

What you'll do

In this role, you will be responsible for setting the technical strategy for your team on a year-long time scale, owning backend platforms that power incentives and growth initiatives across Affirm. You will collaborate with various teams to ensure that the technical direction aligns with business goals and user needs.

You will act as a force-multiplier by defining platform abstractions, APIs, and architectural patterns that enable product teams to safely launch, experiment with, and evolve incentive-based experiences. Your leadership will be crucial in ensuring that the systems you develop are robust and scalable.

You will help develop and implement monitoring and alerting systems to ensure the availability of business-critical incentive and growth systems. Your focus on quality will drive the team to adhere to high standards in design and code reviews, fostering a culture of excellence.

You will also play a key role in mentoring and developing talent within your team, providing guidance and support to help your colleagues navigate complex technical challenges. Your leadership will help create an environment where engineers feel empowered to innovate and contribute.

What we offer

Affirm offers a collaborative and inclusive work environment where you can make a significant impact on the company's growth and success. You will have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge technologies and contribute to projects that directly influence customer experiences.

We encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't match every requirement — we value diverse perspectives and are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve. Join us in our mission to reinvent credit and make it more honest and friendly for consumers.

We offer competitive compensation and benefits, along with opportunities for professional development and career growth within the company.