Backend Software Engineer (Java, Python)

About The Company Affirm is a leading financial technology company committed to providing transparent and innovative financial solutions to consumers and merchants worldwide. With a focus on responsible lending and seamless user experiences, Affirm leverages cutting-edge technology to revolutionize the way people access credit and manage their financial lives.

The company prides itself on fostering an inclusive, dynamic, and collaborative work environment, encouraging innovation and continuous learning. Affirm’s mission is to deliver honest financial products that empower consumers and drive sustainable growth for its partners.

About The Role The Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Streaming) at Affirm is a critical member of the Streaming team, which forms the backbone of numerous online and offline workloads. This role involves designing, developing, and maintaining scalable, fault-tolerant data infrastructure systems that support Affirm’s diverse business needs.

You will be at the forefront of building real-time data processing pipelines, leveraging open-source technologies such as Kafka, Flink, Spark, and others, while also developing proprietary solutions as required. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in stream processing technologies, a passion for building resilient systems, and a collaborative mindset to work across teams including Machine Learning and Analytics. Your work will directly impact Affirm’s ability to process massive volumes of data efficiently, ensuring high availability, reliability, and security of data pipelines that power critical business functions and customer experiences.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of industry experience in building large-scale production systems.
• Strong hands-on experience with Apache Kafka or similar streaming solutions for event streaming and message queuing.
• Proficiency in building and operating robust, highly available infrastructure.
• Experience working with data platforms such as Snowflake, Glue, or Databricks is a plus.
• Experience with Confluent Platform components like Schema Registry and Tableflow is advantageous.
• Expertise with stream processing frameworks such as Spark, Flink, Samza, or Beam.
• Hands-on experience with Kafka Connect and Kafka Schema Registry, understanding their underlying architecture.
• Solid programming skills in Python, Java, or Kotlin.
• Knowledge of Apache Iceberg table format and CDC tools is a strong plus.
• Familiarity with relational and NoSQL databases.
• Experience leading technical projects and mentoring junior engineers.
• Relevant bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience in computer science or related fields.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop scalable data infrastructure systems, services, and tools to meet new product and business requirements.
• Build and optimize high-throughput, low-latency data pipelines for critical business applications.
• Create frameworks and services used by other engineering teams to manage billions of dollars in loans and enhance customer experiences.
• Support and maintain the Streaming team’s infrastructure, ensuring seamless operation of online and offline workloads.
• Enhance the reliability, efficiency, and high availability of the Data Platform at scale.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including ML and Analytics, to deliver streaming solutions aligned with best practices.
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and resolve issues in production streaming systems to ensure continuous high availability and data integrity.
• Participate in technical planning, code reviews, and documentation to uphold quality standards.

Benefits

• Competitive health care coverage with premiums fully covered for employees and dependents.
• Flexible Spending Wallets offering stipends for technology, food, lifestyle needs, and family expenses.
• Generous vacation and holiday policies to promote work-life balance.
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) allowing employees to buy Affirm shares at a discounted rate.
• Remote-first work environment with flexibility to work from almost anywhere within the country.
• Opportunities for professional growth, development, and mentorship.
• Inclusive and supportive workplace culture that values diversity and individual contributions.

Equal Opportunity Affirm is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all employees. We consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. We are dedicated to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the hiring process to ensure equitable access for all candidates.

Affirm believes that diverse teams drive innovation and success, and we welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds.