Staff Software Engineer

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.

Affirm is looking for a Senior Staff Software Engineer to take on a critical role in defining and leading technical excellence across core consumer experiences at affirm, starting with marketplace and search. You’ll collaborate with engineering leaders, create and implement technical strategy across full-stack teams, and coordinate closely with stakeholders to build scalable, reliable, and high-performing solutions. You'll help shape best practices, guide architectural choices, and drive the successful delivery of critical initiatives.

This role requires a high level of technical ability, leadership and project management skills, strong cross-functional communication, and a customer-first mindset. You will be responsible for building and developing the technical strategy to unlock large-scale product features, building trust and accountability, and upholding technical excellence for our marketplace domain within our engineering org.

The marketplace domain is the main pillar of our core consumer strategy, driving the user journey across the affirm ecosystem on iOS, Android, and web platforms. The teams span across multiple products and areas to engage and provide value to our customers, starting with the initial landing page and search, which expands into the various product offers and journeys a user can embark on with affirm.

What You'll Do

• Lead the vision – Define the technical direction, long-term technical roadmap, and strategic initiatives in marketplace, search, ads platform, and app experiences
• Work closely with stakeholders across all teams at affirm to champion and implement technical excellence in conjunction with business results across all consumer facing experiences
• Create and influence a strong ownership culture across teams, with high accountability and investment for building for scale and efficiency
• Guide and deliver critical user experiences that deliver customer value quickly and reliably
• Design, implement, and extend core platform components and functionality to enable new products and features to be built
• Architect and contribute to decisions on the right platform, tools, and technologies to support consistency and reliability
• Mentor and lead – Guide a strong group of engineers by championing best practices, and helping them grow

What We Look For

• 10+ years of experience working across the stack, driving architectural improvements in the backend. Bonus points using languages like react native, javascript, or kotlin.
• Track record of successfully leading critical projects and leveraging multiple engineering teams across organizational boundaries for company-wide results
• Extensive experience developing and implementing technical strategy that drove prominent change in reliability and responsiveness
• Previous project management or people management experience: you know how to influence, effectively communicate, and coach others
• You embody an ownership mindset and help influence a similar culture to those around you
• Collaborative partnership across engineering teams and cross-functional stakeholders
• You have a customer-first mindset: wanting to create the best-in-class experience for our customers, and understand how that translates into the right technical decisions
• You thrive in the ambiguity, and are comfortable diving into code and systems to understand how they work, potential dependencies, and how to constantly improve
• You have strong verbal and written communication skills that can help influence and share critical decisions with stakeholders
• This position requires either equivalent practical experience or a bachelor's degree in a related field.

Base Pay Grade - R

Equity Grade - 15

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 base pay range (CA, WA, NY, NJ, CT) per year: $265,000 - $325,000

USA base pay range (all other U.S. states) per year: $236,000 - $296,000

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

• 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.