Principal Software Engineer, Architecture

August 29

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Affirm

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Fintech • B2C • eCommerce

Affirm is a financial technology company that offers a 'Buy Now, Pay Later' service, allowing consumers to make purchases and pay for them over time with flexible payment plans. Affirm eliminates hidden fees and compound interest, providing clear terms and conditions for its users. The company also offers the Affirm Card, a debit card that allows users to request to pay over time for larger purchases or pay in full for smaller ones. Affirm partners with various retailers across multiple categories, including electronics, apparel, and travel, providing customers with the convenience of paying over time at checkout both online and in physical stores. Affirm's services are integrated with Apple Pay, enabling customers to make payments seamlessly from their iPhone or iPad.

1001 - 5000 employees

Founded 2012

💳 Fintech

👥 B2C

🛍️ eCommerce

💰 Post-IPO Equity on 2021-01

📋 Description

• 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. • In this role, you will be a senior member of Affirm’s Architecture Group, reporting directly to the Head of Architecture with a dotted line to Affirm’s EU leadership. You will own the architecture, technical roadmap, and delivery outcomes that enable Affirm’s international expansion, with particular focus on compliance and localization, cross-border trade, and country-specific payments and KYC requirements. You will also play a critical role in building Affirm’s technical leadership bench in Europe, mentoring senior ICs and formally establishing a strong EU-based tech leads group. • You will serve as the accountable technical leader for Affirm’s European expansion, ensuring that our platform and systems are built to operate reliably, securely, and compliantly across diverse markets. • What You’ll Do: Drive the long-term technical vision for Affirm’s international expansion, with emphasis on compliance, localization, payments, and cross-border trade. • Lead architectural strategy and roadmap definition for Europe in collaboration with domain tech leads, the broader Architecture Group, and EU leadership. • Ensure Affirm’s systems are adaptable to country-specific requirements, including payments infrastructure, KYC/AML regulations, and localization needs. • Define and uphold standards for design and code quality through reviews, mentoring, and hands-on architectural guidance. • Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to influence international product direction and align business goals with robust system architecture. • Guide cross-functional teams to deliver end-to-end solutions that integrate seamlessly with global Affirm platforms. • Mentor and support senior ICs in Europe, building and sustaining a high-performing EU tech leads group. • Foster a culture of technical excellence, inclusivity, and rigor across Affirm’s European engineering teams. • On-Call Rotation - There would be an on-call rotation for this role as a requirement. • What We Look For: 12+ years of software engineering experience, with prior technical leadership roles. • Proven experience driving architecture for large-scale systems, ideally international or multi-market contexts. • Deep experience guiding engineering strategy and delivery in complex, regulated environments. • Expertise in European payments landscape, cross-border trade, KYC/AML compliance, and localization at scale.

🎯 Requirements

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with prior technical leadership roles. • Proven success driving technical architecture for large-scale consumer or fintech systems, ideally in international or multi-market contexts. • Deep experience guiding engineering strategy and delivery in complex, regulated environments. • Expertise in the European payments landscape, cross-border trade, KYC/AML compliance, and localization at scale. • Ability to distill complex technical trade-offs into clear decisions that shape product and platform evolution. • Strong communication skills, capable of engaging both engineers and executives to drive alignment and clarity. • Track record of mentoring senior engineers and building technical leadership communities. • Extensive experience designing and operating highly available, secure, and scalable distributed systems. • Experience in fintech or consumer-facing retail systems is strongly preferred. • Familiarity with international compliance regimes and European regulatory frameworks is a plus. • JVM experience at scale is a plus. • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience. • On-Call Rotation - There would be an on-call rotation for this role as a requirement.

🏖️ Benefits

• Flexible Spending Wallets for tech, food and lifestyle • Away Days - wellness days to take off work and recharge • Learning & Development programs • Parental benefit • Employee Resource & Community Groups • 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