Senior Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Checkout Engineering)

Position Overview

• Location Type: Remote
• Job Type: Full-time
• Salary: Base Pay Grade - R (Details regarding equity and stipends are provided separately)

Description: Affirm is reinventing credit to make it more honest and friendly, giving consumers the flexibility to buy now and pay later without any hidden fees or compounding interest. Affirm is looking for a Senior Staff Software Engineer to take on a key role in defining the technical direction and foster innovation across the Checkout engineering organization. You’ll collaborate with engineering leaders, cross-functional teams, and 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 skills, strong cross-functional communication, and a creative mindset. Checkout is responsible for shaping customer experience across the journey from first touch to finalizing a purchase. In this role, you will need to gain a deep understanding of the business, product, and engineering context, and utilize that context to define the requirements, vision, and roadmap of the Checkout area. You will lead the team to influence and align with business stakeholders and engineering partners, and deliver the vision over multiple years in incremental milestones.

Requirements

• Experience: 12+ years of relevant Software Engineering experience
• Technical Skills:
  • Kotlin development experience (preferred)
  • Python or Kotlin expertise preferred
• Soft Skills:
  • Passionate about Affirm's Mission: "Deliver Honest Financial Products that improve lives"
  • Enjoys cross-team collaboration, especially with product managers and designers
  • Cares about the details in the user experience
  • Excellent written and verbal communication, especially in asynchronous formats (RFCs, design docs, project plans)
• Education: Equivalent practical experience or a Bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Responsibilities

• Define the multi-year, multi-team technical strategy and deliver it through direct implementation and broad technical leadership.
• Architect and build next-generation Purchasing services, ensuring high availability and low latency to support Affirm’s financial products.
• Influence and align with cross-functional leaders across the organization, guided by deep domain context and engineering expertise.
• Mentor engineers and advocate for engineering excellence, influencing best practices across teams.
• Navigate ambiguity, bringing clarity to complex engineering, product, and business discussions.

Company Information

• Company: Affirm
• Mission: Deliver Honest Financial Products that improve lives.
• Compensation:
  • Base Pay Grade: R
  • Equity Grade: 15
  • Note: Base pay is part of a total compensation package that may include equity rewards, monthly stipends for health.