About the Company

Affirm provides consumers with a clear and predictable way to pay over time, with no hidden fees or unexpected charges. The company is expanding its advertising platform and developing its Marketplace into a shopping destination that helps consumers discover, compare, and shop for products.

About the Role

Affirm is seeking a Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Search) to help shape the technical direction of its search and discovery capabilities. This role will contribute to building search and recommendation experiences that improve customer satisfaction, support monetization, and create value for merchants. As a senior technical leader, you will establish long-term engineering strategy, guide major technical initiatives, and collaborate with product management, design, analytics, and engineering teams. You will also help build the foundation for an agentic platform while promoting high standards for system reliability, code quality, and team development.

Key Responsibilities

Set the team's technical strategy over a year-long planning horizon and connect it to critical business initiatives. Collaborate with product management, design, analytics, and engineering teams throughout the product development lifecycle. Evaluate technical trade-offs, manage risks, and promote sustainable engineering solutions. Define and advocate for technical approaches and operational processes that improve team effectiveness. Oversee system reliability and availability by establishing monitoring, triage rotations, playbooks, policies, testing, and alerting. Establish code review and design standards while promoting engineering quality across teams through technical writing and presentations. Mentor engineers by providing feedback, guidance, and technical leadership. Design, develop, and launch scalable backend systems and highly available distributed services. Contribute to search and recommendation experiences that support customer discovery, shopping, and merchant value.

Required Qualifications

At least 8 years of experience designing, developing, and launching large-scale backend systems using languages such as Python or Kotlin. Extensive experience building highly available distributed systems. Experience with technologies such as AWS, MySQL, Spark, and Kubernetes. Experience developing consumer-facing experiences using UI frameworks such as React. At least 2 years of experience working with search systems or related recommendation engines. Experience delivering major features, system components, or deprecating existing functionality through well-defined technical and execution plans. Ability to write high-quality, maintainable code that is easy for others to understand and use. Ability to work through ambiguity, from low-level programming details to the architecture of large systems. Strong collaboration skills and a demonstrated ability to incorporate feedback from engineering and cross-functional peers. Strong verbal and written communication skills for working with a global engineering team. A bachelor's degr ee in a related field or equivalent practical experience. Salary & Benefits The listed base salary range varies by U.S. location: California, Washington, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut: $230,000–$290,000 per year. All other U.S. states: $204,000–$264,000 per year. New employees typically start at the beginning of the applicable pay range. Compensation depends on location, experience, and job-related skills. The total compensation package may also include: Equity rewards. Monthly stipends for health, wellness, and technology expenses. Medical coverage subsidized at 100%, along with dental and vision benefits for employees and their dependents. Work Location This is a remote-first position listed in Charlotte, North Carolina. Affirm offers flexibility in how employees work, with most roles designed to support remote work.