Affirm

Senior CIAM Software Engineer

Affirm$169K — $219K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Information Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Strong experience designing and implementing CIAM systems with in-depth knowledge of OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, and SCIM.
  • 5+ years of professional backend software engineering experience.
  • Strong production experience in Python or a similar backend language.
  • Experience designing APIs, automation frameworks, and distributed systems.
  • Hands-on experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines.
  • Experience with cloud-native development, preferably AWS.
  • Strong security fundamentals including access control, token handling, and encryption.

Responsibilities

  • Design, build, and operate core CIAM backend services for customer registration and account management.
  • Implement and extend identity standards in code to ensure scalability and integration.
  • Develop backend APIs and services in Python and Kotlin for identity capabilities.
  • Integrate CIAM platforms with internal systems for user management.
  • Own secure authentication flows including MFA and adaptive authentication.
  • Automate CIAM infrastructure and deployments using Infrastructure as Code.
  • Monitor and optimize CIAM services for performance and abuse detection.

Benefits

  • 100% subsidized medical coverage, dental and vision for you and your dependents.
  • Generous stipends for technology, food, lifestyle needs, and family expenses.
  • Competitive vacation and holiday schedules for rest and recharge.
  • Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) allowing share purchases at a discount.
  • Remote-first working environment with flexibility to work almost anywhere.
Full Job Description
This role is a hands-on engineering position inside Information Security, focused on designing and shipping core CIAM capabilities that protect customers and support growth.

You will build and operate backend services that power registration, login, authorization, and account lifecycle flows across B2C and B2B experiences. You will work closely with partner engineering teams and ensure identity features are delivered with strong security fundamentals, reliability, and operational rigor.
What you'll do
  • Design, build, and operate core CIAM backend services that support customer registration, authentication, authorization, account lifecycle, and profile management for B2C and B2B platforms.
  • Implement and extend identity standards such as OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, and SCIM in code, ensuring correctness, scalability, and clean integration patterns.
  • Develop backend APIs and services in Python and Kotlin that expose identity capabilities to web, mobile, and partner applications.
  • Integrate CIAM platforms with internal systems, including user data stores, messaging, fraud signals, and downstream customer platforms.
  • Own secure authentication and account flows end to end, including MFA, step-up authentication, device binding, consent, and adaptive authentication logic.
  • Automate CIAM infrastructure and deployments using Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD pipelines, treating identity as a core platform service.
  • Monitor, debug, and optimize CIAM services for performance, resilience, and abuse detection in high-scale environments.
What we look for
  • Strong experience designing and implementing CIAM systems, with deep, hands-on knowledge of OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, and SCIM beyond basic configuration.
  • 5+ years of professional backend software engineering experience
  • Strong production experience in Python or a similar backend language
  • Experience designing APIs, automation frameworks, and distributed systems
  • Hands-on experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines
  • Experience with GitHub-based development workflows and Buildkite or similar build systems
  • Experience with cloud-native development, preferably AWS
  • Hands-on experience extending and integrating CIAM platforms such as Okta, Auth0, Ping Identity, ForgeRock, or Azure AD B2C using custom code, hooks, and APIs.
  • Solid understanding of backend and distributed systems fundamentals, including API design, data modeling, latency, error handling, and observability.
  • Experience with Infrastructure as Code and automation tools such as Terraform, plus CI/CD pipelines for deploying backend services.
  • Strong security fundamentals applied through engineering, including access control models, token handling, encryption, MFA, and privacy by design.
  • Clear communication skills and the ability to work closely with product, frontend, mobile, and security teams while owning backend identity services.
  • Familiarity with tools such as Cursor and other AI-augmented development environments


Base Pay Grade - N

Equity Grade - USA 8

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: $190,000 - $240,000
USA base pay range (all other U.S. states) per year: $169,000 - $219,000

#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

About Affirm

Affirm is a publicly traded financial technology company headquartered in San Francisco, United States. Founded in 2012, the company operates as a financial lender of installment loans for consumers to use at the point of sale to finance a purchase. Affirm was founded in 2012 by Max Levchin, Nathan Gettings, Jeffrey Kaditz, and Alex Rampell as part of the initial portfolio of startup studio HVF. Levchin, who co-founded PayPal, became CEO of Affirm in 2014. In October 2017, the company launched a consumer app that allowed loans for purchases at any retailer. The company announced a partnership with Walmart in February 2019. Under the partnership, Affirm is available to customers in-store and on the Walmart website. Affirm has partnered with e-commerce platforms including Shopify, BigCommerce, and Zen-Cart. On November 18, 2020, Affirm filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation for an initial public offering. On December 12, 2020, it was reported that Affirm had postponed its IPO. On January 13, 2021, Affirm became listed on NASDAQ with symbol AFRM, raising about $1.2 billion in its IPO. By the next day, the price of shares had doubled, making Levchin's stake worth about $2.5 billion. In May 2021, Affirm acquired Returnly, a financial technology service company, for $300 million.
Learn more about Affirm
Size
1,300 employees
Market Cap
$2.5 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$97.6 million
Founded
2012
Revenue
$617.1 million
NASDAQ

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