Senior Software Engineer, Backend (Merchant & Partner Lifecycle)

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 driving an architectural transformation to consolidate merchant lifecycle orchestration into a cohesive domain. As a Senior Backend Software Engineer, you'll lead the design and development of a new lifecycle-orchestrator service that powers multiple connected systems while delivering availability improvements and modernizing legacy infrastructure.

About the Role

You'll serve as a technical leader on the Merchant & Partner Lifecycle team, responsible for architecting and building out the core lifecycle-orchestrator service. This role involves designing scalable platform infrastructure, aligning cross-team initiatives, and mentoring engineers while executing long-term technical strategy for the team.

Responsibilities

• Design and expand the platform backbone to support hundreds of thousands of merchants globally
• Define scope and coordinate with other teams on cross-functional projects
• Mentor engineers to support their professional development and growth
• Partner with the Engineering Manager and Team Lead to establish and execute the team's long-term vision
• Develop technical strategy for complex, broad requirements with forward-looking approaches that solve large-scale problems beyond the immediate team
• Leverage agentic development tools like Claude Code to automate and enhance development workflows
• Establish and improve engineering standards, tooling, and processes across the organization

Requirements

• 5+ years of backend software engineering experience
• Strong understanding of Domain-Driven Design, distributed systems, and how architectural decisions impact performance and maintainability
• Proficiency with data modeling, API design (HTTP and RPC), state machines, event-driven architecture, and database design
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with demonstrated ability to lead through asynchronous communication (technical specs, ADRs, project plans)
• Experience designing, developing, and launching backend systems using: AWS, gRPC, Snowflake, Kotlin, Python, MySQL, and Kubernetes (Java and Kotlin experience especially valuable)
• Experience with monitoring and alerting platforms such as Sentry, Rollbar, Chronosphere, or Kibana

Benefits

• Pay Grade: N
• Equity Grade: 6
• Competitive base pay commensurate with location, experience, and job-related skills; new employees typically start at the beginning of the pay range
• Total compensation package includes equity rewards and additional benefits
• Remote position based in Canada