Affirm

Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Continuous Integration)

Affirm$178K — $228K *
US-AnywhereRemote in Canada
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years leading engineering efforts in CI or developer productivity
  • Strong experience with modern build systems (GitHub, Buildkite, Artifactory, Bazel)
  • Familiarity with AWS, Kubernetes, and infrastructure-as-code practices
  • Proficient in programming (Python, Kotlin, Java, or similar)
  • Excellent problem-solving skills balancing vision with impact
  • Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent experience
  • Experience managing build systems for large monorepos, preferably with Bazel

Responsibilities

  • Design, scale, and ensure the reliability of CI pipelines across services
  • Optimize build times and test coverage for rapid developer feedback
  • Implement incident response for CI systems to minimize downtime
  • Collaborate with engineering teams for smooth integrations and workflows
  • Lead initiatives that address developer pain points through automation and tooling
  • Promote CI/CD best practices across the organization
  • Mentor CI engineers to foster a culture of collaboration and technical excellence

Benefits

  • 100% subsidized medical coverage for employees and dependents
  • Generous stipends for technology, food, and lifestyle needs
  • Competitive vacation and holiday schedules for time off
  • Employee stock purchase plan at a discounted rate
Full Job Description
We are seeking a seasoned Staff Engineer to help drive our Continuous Integration (CI) team. This role is critical in ensuring the reliability, scalability, and efficiency of our development pipelines, enabling engineers across the company to ship high-quality software quickly and confidently. The Staff Engineer will help drive the design, implementation, and optimization of systems that support automated testing, build orchestration, and deployment.
What you'll do
  • Systems & Operations
    • Own the design, scalability, and reliability of build and pipelines across multiple services and platforms.
    • Ensure fast, reliable feedback cycles for developers by optimizing build times, test coverage, and reporting.
    • Implement monitoring, alerting, and incident response processes for CI systems to minimize downtime.
  • Collaboration & Enablement
    • Work closely with across engineering to ensure smooth integrations and deployment workflows.
    • Identify developer pain points and lead initiatives to improve productivity through tooling, automation, and best practices.
    • Evangelize CI/CD practices across the organization to raise engineering efficiency standards.
  • Leadership & Strategy
    • Contribute to and help drive the vision for continuous integration and developer productivity infrastructure.
    • Lead and mentor other CI engineers, fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, and technical excellence.
    • Partner with engineering leadership to align CI systems with broader product and platform goals.
What we look for
  • Proven experience driving and leading engineering efforts in CI, build systems, or developer productivity domains.
  • Strong background in modern build systems (e.g. GitHub, Buildkite, Artifactory, Bazel).
  • Familiarity with cloud-native environments (AWS, Kubernetes) and infrastructure-as-code practices.
  • Solid programming background (Python, Kotlin, Java, or similar) and ability to guide technical decision-making.
  • Excellent problem-solving skills, with the ability to balance long-term vision with short-term impact.
  • This position requires either equivalent practical experience or a Bachelor's degree in a related field
  • Proficiency with managing build systems and frameworks for large monorepos. Preferred experience in Bazel.
  • Active contributor to open source projects or previous experience with large-scale software development at a leading tech company is a plus.
About You:
  • You are driven by a passion for CI/CD and possess a deep commitment to enhancing developer experiences.
  • You excel in a collaborative team setting, valuing diverse perspectives and contributions.
  • You are proactive, taking initiative to solve complex systems challenges and drive impact across the organization.
  • Demonstrates curiosity about AI tools and emerging technologies, with a willingness to learn and leverage them to enhance productivity, collaboration, or decision-making.


Pay Grade - P
Equity Grade - 7

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 monthly stipends for health, wellness and tech spending, and benefits (including 100% subsidized medical coverage, dental and vision for you and your dependents). In addition, the employees may be eligible for equity rewards offered by Affirm Holdings, Inc. (parent company).

CAN base pay range per year: $178,000 - $228,000

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

#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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