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.
The Merchant & Partner Lifecycle (M&PL) team is at the forefront of Affirm’s architectural transformation. We are addressing critical architectural risks by consolidating merchant lifecycle orchestration into a newly cohesive domain.
You will act as a technical leader responsible for building out the brand new lifecycle-orchestrator service that’s at the heart of multiple connected systems. Your work will deliver immediate availability improvements through system simplification and isolation, and modernize older parts of the codebase.
What You'll Do
- Design & expand the backbone of our platform to scale to hundreds of thousands of merchants from all around the world
- Design and align the scope of work with other teams to deliver cross-team projects
- Mentor other engineers to ensure their development & growth
- Partner with Engineering Manager and Team Lead to drive and execute the long-term vision of the team
- Execute technical strategy for broad or complex requirements with insightful and forward-looking approaches that go beyond the direct team and solve large open-ended problems
- Utilize agentic development tools like Claude Code to automate parts of the development process
- Improve engineering standards, tooling, and processes throughout the organization
What We Look For
- 5+ years of experience as a backend software engineer
- A strong understanding of Domain-Driven Design, distributed systems, and how architectural decisions affect performance and maintainability
- Proficiency with data models, API design (http and RPC), state machines, event-driven architecture, and database design
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. Must be proficient in asynchronous communication–written tech specs, ADRs, project plans, etc.
- Experience designing, developing, and launching backend systems (our stack: AWS, gRPC, Snowflake, Kotlin, Python, MySQL, Kubernetes). Java and Kotlin experience are especially helpful.
- Prior experience with monitoring and alerting systems (sentry.io, rollbar, chronosphere, kibana)
Pay Grade - N
Equity Grade - 9
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: 195,000 - 255,000
USA base pay range (all other U.S. states) per year: 173,000 - 233,000
#LI-Remote
Affirm is proud to be a remote-first company! The majority of our roles are remote and you can work almost anywhere within the country of employment. Affirmers in proximal roles have the flexibility to work remotely, but will occasionally be required to work out of their assigned Affirm office. A limited number of roles remain office-based due to the nature of their job responsibilities.
We’re extremely proud to offer competitive benefits that are anchored to our core value of people come first. Some key highlights of our benefits package include:
- Health care coverage - Affirm covers all premiums for all levels of coverage for you and your dependents
- Flexible Spending Wallets - generous stipends for spending on Technology, Food, various Lifestyle needs, and family forming expenses
- Time off - competitive vacation and holiday schedules allowing you to take time off to rest and recharge
- ESPP - An employee stock purchase plan enabling you to buy shares of Affirm at a discount
We believe It’s On Us to provide an inclusive interview experience for all, including people with disabilities. We are happy to provide reasonable accommodations to candidates in need of individualized support during the hiring process.
[For U.S. positions that could be performed in Los Angeles or San Francisco] Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, Affirm will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
By clicking "Submit Application," you acknowledge that you have read Affirm's Global Candidate Privacy Notice and hereby freely and unambiguously give informed consent to the collection, processing, use, and storage of your personal information as described therein.
Skills Required
- 5+ years of experience as a backend software engineer
- Strong understanding of Domain-Driven Design and distributed systems
- Proficiency with data models, API design, state machines, event-driven architecture, database design
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
- Experience with AWS, gRPC, Snowflake, Kotlin, Python, MySQL, Kubernetes
- Prior experience with monitoring and alerting systems
What the Team is Saying
Affirm Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and robust mental‑health programs, with $0 employee medical premiums for certain plans. Feedback suggests this combination makes coverage both strong and cost‑effective.
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Parental & Family Support — Birth and non‑birth parents receive 18 weeks of fully paid leave plus a four‑week, full‑pay return‑to‑work transition, alongside family‑planning support. Feedback suggests these policies are a standout strength for those planning or growing families.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous/flexible PTO is augmented by 20 company‑wide Away Days and additional options like “Life Happens Leave.” Feedback suggests the mix enables both collective recharge and personal time away.
Affirm Insights
What We Do
At Affirm, we help people say yes to the things that matter with flexible, transparent ways to pay over time. No hidden fees, no compound interest, and no fine print—just a smarter way to spend.
Why Work With Us
Who is an Affirmer? /noun/ Someone who believes finance shouldn’t be complicated. We come from a diverse set of backgrounds and we’re driven by the desire to improve lives through honest financial products. We define success by challenging one another to bring our best ideas to every single project—and we have fun while doing it.
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Affirm Offices
Remote Workspace
Employees work remotely.
Affirm is a remote-first company! Our employees can work anywhere in the U.S. but if an office is more your style, we have office locations in San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, and Pittsburgh.
