Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Fraud Decisioning)
Affirm is hiring a Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Fraud Decisioning) for a remote role open to applicants in United States. It pays $230k-$290k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Affirm.
Level's read on this job
- Little AI ●○○○ is how Level rates this software engineer role: aI is not part of the work.
- Pay on this posting starts 37% higher than the typical software engineer posting on Level.
- This is listed as a remote role.
- The posting mentions backend engineering, system architecture and fraud detection among its tools and skills.
- Affirm has 224 other open roles on Level.
AI in this role
Lead backend engineering initiatives and build fraud decisioning tools and systems at Affirm.
At Affirm, we exist for the moments that matter—giving people a clear, predictable way to pay over time, with no hidden fees, no surprises, and no tradeoffs on what matters most.
We are looking for a Staff Engineer to lead projects and initiatives on the Fraud Decisioning team. You’ll be responsible for building tools and systems that empower Affirm fraud fighting capabilities, work with cross-functional teams to adopt and monitor those and use analytics and data driven decisions to further improve the performance and quality of fraud deciders. Our mission is to drive growth while protecting Affirm, buyers, and merchants. We achieve this by leveraging data to evaluate risk at critical points in the user journey, adapting to the ever-changing fraud landscape, and by introducing new fraud-fighting capabilities..
What You’ll Do
- Work across the org to plan and execute large, cross-functional initiatives, including: project definition, technical specification, task break-down, delivery, monitoring, and maintenance.
- Generate simple and elegant designs that are easily deployed and debugged, but anticipate the unhappy path. Write high-quality code that can be easily understood and leveraged by others.
- Review others’ work and provide constructive feedback in order to maintain high and consistent quality standards across teams.
- Lead and mentor engineers to help them succeed and grow. Provide the right context to engineers and train them to take ownership of their respective pieces of the initiative.
- Effectively incorporate needs and opinions from stakeholders, advocate for ideas and initiatives, and create a common understanding where all voices are heard.
- Conduct technical and soft skill evaluations to inform and influence the hiring decisions. Develop and review the technical content and requirements of the interview process.
What We Look For
- 6-10+ years of experience as a software engineer with leadership responsibilities and experience mentoring junior engineers.
- Prior experience architecting, building, launching, coding and maintaining complex systems.
- Passion for working with cross-functional teams including Product, ML,Analytics and Business teams.
- A technical leader and team builder who can mentor the team in software development best practices.
- Expert at synthesizing complex business, product, and technical requirements to consistently produce high quality system designs and software.
- A system architect who can see the big picture and envision how business and product requirements can be broken up into system modules or components.
- This position requires either equivalent practical experience or a Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
Base Pay Grade - P
Equity Grade - USA 13
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): $230,000 - $290,000
USA base pay range (all other U.S. states): $204,000 - $264,000
#LI-RemoteRemote-first with flexibility built in
Affirm is proud to be a remote-first company. Most roles can be done from almost anywhere within the country of employment. Some positions may occasionally require in-person work at an Affirm office, and a few are office-based due to the nature of the work. All new hires will be invited to attend an in-person onboarding experience.
Benefits designed for you
Our benefits reflect our commitment to care, transparency, and flexibility. Here are a few highlights:
- Health coverage at no cost: We cover 100% of premiums for employees and their dependents.
- Spending stipends: Monthly stipends support your tech setup, and the ability to choose health and wellness options that are right for you.
- Time off to recharge: Flexible time off and generous holiday calendars help you rest when you need to.
- Own a piece of what you build: Our employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) lets you buy Affirm stock at a discount.
We’re committed to providing an inclusive interview process, including accommodations for candidates with disabilities. If you need support, we’re happy to help.
For positions based in San Francisco or Los Angeles: Affirm considers qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, as required by law.
By clicking "Submit Application," you acknowledge that you have read Affirm's Global Candidate Privacy Notice and consent to the use of your personal information as described.
How we rate this
Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Fraud Decisioning) at Affirm rates 20 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Little AI. AI is not part of the work.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in software engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $230k
- Typical software engineer job
- $168k
This posting starts 37% above the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where backend engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where system architecture was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where fraud detection was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where leadership was part of your work. What did you do?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Backend Engineering, System Architecture, Fraud Detection, and Leadership. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
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