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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Ledger Engineering) - **Company:** Affirm - **Location:** Chicago, IL, United States (Remote available) - **Experience:** Expert - **Salary:** $204,000.0 - $290,000.0 - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Amazon Web Services, Code Review, Distributed Systems, Fault Tolerance, Python (Programming Language), MySQL, Apache Spark, Reliability of Systems, Backend, Kotlin, Kubernetes - **Published:** July 22, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=f7f80fdd34a4c531 ## About the Role * You have 8+ years of experience designing, developing and launching backend systems at scale using languages like Python or Kotlin. * You have an extensive track record of developing highly available distributed systems using technologies like AWS, MySQL, Spark and Kubernetes. * You have experience in financial systems, ledgering, treasury or adjacent domains where data accuracy and system reliability are critical. * You have experience delivering major features, system components or deprecating existing functionality in a system through the definition of a technical and execution plan. You write high quality code that is easily understood and used by others. * You thrive in ambiguity, and are comfortable moving from low level language idioms all the way to the architecture of large systems to understand how they work. * Your growth and impact trajectory demonstrates that you have mastered gathering and iterating on feedback from your engineering and cross-functional peers. * You have strong verbal and written communication skills that support effective collaboration with our global engineering team. * This position requires either equivalent practical experience or a Bachelor's degree in a related field. ## 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. The Ledger Engineering team enables rapid financial product innovation by providing an audit-grade ledger platform that ties ambitious company growth to a highly regulated industry's real-world accounting controls. We are passionate about building robust, fault-tolerant, highly scalable systems that enable us to be on-time and precisely accurate in every financial interaction we have both with our consumers and institutional finance partners. Ledger Engineering works with our finance partners to support everything from closing our monthly books to annual audits. We bridge the technical gap between data, strategy, and the thorough level of accounting detail required to operate a publicly-traded company. Outside of accounting, we partner with the Capital Markets team to help open our business to investors who require a similar forensic level of reporting. What You'll Do * You will be responsible for setting technical strategy for your team on a year-long time scale, and help your team tie it together with critical, business-impacting projects. * You will collaborate across teams in the product development lifecycle by collaborating with product management, design & analytics to ensure technical sustainability, risks and trade-offs are well understood and managed. * You will act as a force-multiplier for your team through your definition and advocacy of technical solutions and operational processes. * You take ownership of your team's operations and availability by ensuring you have the right monitoring, triage rotations, playbooks, policies, testing and alerting in place to support "keep the lights on" & on-call efforts. * You will foster a culture of quality and ownership on your team by setting code review and design standards for your team, and advocating for them beyond your team through your writing and tech talks. * You will help develop talent on your team by providing feedback and guidance, and leading by example. ## Related Videos - [Throwing off the burdens of scale in engineering](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/608-throwing-off-the-burdens-of-scale-in-engineering) - [MySQL Protocol Features You Should Be Aware Of](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100267-mysql-protocol-features-you-should-be-aware-of) - [Developing the Backend with Stefan Lingler, CTO at Shpock](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100360-developing-the-backend-with-stefan-lingler-cto-at-shpock) - [Kotlin Multiplatform - True power of native code reuse](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/4-kotlin-multiplatform-true-power-of-native-code-reuse) - [Meet Your New BFF: Backend to Frontend without the Duct Tape](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/682-meet-your-new-bff-backend-to-frontend-without-the-duct-tape) - [Navigating Growth, Scaling Challenges, and Office Expansions with David Singleton, CTO at Stripe](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100362-navigating-growth-scaling-challenges-and-office-expansions-with-david-singleton-cto-at-stripe) ## Related Articles - [Fully Remote Software Engineer Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/447-fully-remote-software-engineer-jobs) - [Software Engineer Salary London](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/252-software-engineer-salary-london) - [Is Software Engineering Over-Saturated?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/418-is-software-engineering-over-saturated) - [How Much FAANG Companies Actually Pay Software Engineers in 2025](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/230-how-much-faang-companies-actually-pay-software-engineers-in-2025) - [Find a Developer Job: 12 Best Job Sites For Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/165-find-a-developer-job-12-best-job-sites-for-developers) - [Does The Tech Industry Have The Best Work-life Balance?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/427-does-the-tech-industry-have-the-best-work-life-balance)