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.

Zero To One (ZT1) is affirm’s 0 -> 1 innovation lab, focused on turning bold ideas into validated new businesses. Operating outside the standard Product and Engineering structure, ZT1 is built for speed, autonomy, and decisive execution. We run fast, hypothesis‑driven experiments with a clear goal: prototype quickly, generate real signals, and drive explicit “kill or scale” decisions on high‑impact opportunities, with AI as a core enabler across the stack.

As an engineer on ZT1, you will work in a small, highly empowered, AI‑native team alongside product managers and cross‑functional partners, with direct exposure to senior leadership. You will not just build systems, you will help shape experiments, define technical approaches, and influence product direction. Work happens in rapid sprint cycles, where ideas quickly move from concept to AI‑powered prototypes and real‑world testing.

Engineers on this team are expected to be comfortable leveraging AI‑first tools and approaches, including AI‑assisted development, agentic workflows, automation, and rapid prototyping. You should have an eye for product and design, and be able to quickly translate ideas into functional, AI‑enabled prototypes that can be tested with users or stakeholders.

This role is ideal for engineers who thrive in ambiguity, move quickly, and take ownership end to end in an AI‑centric environment. You will balance speed with sound engineering judgment, contributing to both early prototypes and scalable AI‑driven solutions when ideas prove viable. If you enjoy building from scratch and seeing your work directly impact company strategy, ZT1 offers a uniquely high‑leverage environment.

What You’ll Do

• Own and deliver quarterly goals for your team, leading engineers through ambiguity to solve open‑ended problems and ensuring that everyone is supported throughout delivery.
• Support your peers and stakeholders in the product development lifecycle by collaborating with product management, design, and analytics by participating in ideation, articulating technical constraints, and partnering on decisions that properly consider risks and trade‑offs.
• Proactively identify project, process, technology or business issues, advocate for them, and lead in solving them.
• Support the operations and availability of your team’s artifacts by creating and monitoring metrics, escalating when needed, and supporting “keep the lights on” & on‑call efforts.
• Foster a culture of quality and ownership on your team by setting or improving code review and design standards for your team, and advocating for them beyond your team through your writing and tech talks.
• Help develop talent on your team by providing feedback and guidance, and leading by example.

What We Look For

• 4+ years of experience as a software engineer.
• Experience designing, developing, and launching backend systems at scale using technologies like Python, Kotlin, AWS, MySQL, and Kubernetes.
• Experience shipping web apps using declarative UI frameworks like React or Vue.
• Experience leveraging AI tools, agentic coding workflows, and automation to accelerate development, prototyping, and problem solving.
• Strong experience leveraging AI tools, agentic coding workflows, and automation to accelerate development, prototyping, and problem solving.
• Experience defining a technical plan for the delivery of a significant feature or system component with an elegant, simple and extensible design. Write high‑quality code that is easily understood and used by others.
• Proficiency at making significant changes in a large code base, and having developed a suite of tools and practices that enable safe changes.
• Demonstrated ownership of your growth, proactively seeking feedback from your team, manager, and stakeholders.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills that support effective collaboration with our global engineering team.
• The position requires either equivalent practical experience or a bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Base Pay Grade - N

Equity Grade - USA 8

Employees new to affirm typically come in at the start of the pay range. affirm focuses on providing a simple and transparent pay structure 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) per year: $190,000 - $240,000.

USA base pay range (all other U.S. states) per year: $169,000 - $219,000.

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.

Benefits

• 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.

We believe it’s on us to provide an inclusive interview experience for all, including people with disabilities. We are happy to provide reasonable accommodations to candidates in need of individualized support during the hiring process.

[For U.S. positions that could be performed in Los Angeles or San Francisco] Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, affirm will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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