Backend Software Engineer (Python, SQL)

About The Company AFFIRM exists for the moments that matter—providing people with a clear, predictable way to pay over time without hidden fees, surprises, or compromises on what matters most. Our mission is to empower consumers with transparent financial products that fit their needs. We are a remote-first company dedicated to building innovative technology solutions that improve the consumer experience. Our teams work collaboratively across disciplines to create reliable, scalable platforms that support millions of users every day. About The Role The Observability team at AFFIRM is responsible for building the platform that all engineers rely on to monitor and understand system behavior and performance. We ingest over 200 terabytes of telemetry data daily, including metrics, logs, and traces from hundreds of services running across more than 80 Kubernetes clusters. As a Staff Software Engineer and technical lead for Observability, you will own the architecture and roadmap of AFFIRM’s telemetry pipeline. You will spend the majority of your time hands-on developing solutions while mentoring a team of six engineers and collaborating with infrastructure and product teams. Your work will directly impact the reliability and performance of our systems, enabling faster debugging and improved operational insights. Qualifications 8+ years of experience designing, developing, and launching scalable backend systems using languages such as Python or Kotlin.Proven track record of building highly available distributed systems leveraging technologies like AWS, MySQL, Flink, and Kubernetes.Experience with high-volume telemetry systems involving metrics, logs, and traces, utilizing tools such as OpenTelemetry, Kafka, and Terraform.Strong understanding of modern observability best practices, including structured and wide events, sampling, cardinality management, and Service Level Objectives (SLOs).Demonstrated ability to drive platform adoption across engineering teams through tooling and engagement.Experience delivering major features or system components by defining technical and execution plans.Ability to write high-quality, maintainable code and to navigate complex systems architecture from low-level implementation to high-level design.Excellent verbal and written communication skills for effective collaboration with a global engineering team.Comfortable working in ambiguous environments and adapting to evolving technical challenges.Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent practical experience. Responsibilities Own the architecture and technical strategy of AFFIRM’s telemetry pipeline, balancing reliability, query performance, and cost at scale.Design and implement log sampling strategies to reduce data volume and costs while preserving critical signal for incident response.Integrate observability best practices into agentic development workflows to ensure AI-assisted code is well instrumented by default.Define and drive the team’s technical roadmap and align it with business-impacting projects over a year-long horizon.Collaborate cross-functionally with product management, design, and analytics to manage technical risks and trade-offs.Act as a force multiplier by advocating for technical solutions and operational processes that improve team productivity and system stability.Ensure team ownership of operations and availability through monitoring, triage rotations, playbooks, policies, testing, and alerting.Foster a culture of quality and ownership by setting and enforcing code review and design standards within the team and across the organization.Mentor and develop team members by providing feedback, guidance, and leadership by example. Benefits 100% coverage of health insurance premiums for employees and their dependents, including medical, dental, and vision.Monthly stipends for health, wellness, and technology expenses to support your personal and professional needs.Flexible time off policies and generous holiday calendars to help you recharge and maintain work-life balance.Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) allowing you to purchase AFFIRM stock at a discounted rate and share in the company’s success.Remote-first work environment with flexibility to work from most locations within the country of employment.Inclusive onboarding experience with opportunities for occasional in-person collaboration based on role requirements. Equal Opportunity AFFIRM is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. We provide an inclusive interview process with accommodations for candidates with disabilities. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status. For positions based in San Francisco or Los Angeles, we comply with laws requiring consideration of qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.