Software Engineer, Backend (Remote In US)

# Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Continuous Integration) ## About the Role Affirm is seeking a seasoned Staff Software Engineer to help drive its Continuous Integration (CI) team. This role is responsible for the reliability, scalability, and efficiency of development pipelines that enable engineers across the company to ship high-quality software quickly and confidently. You will lead the design, implementation, and optimization of systems supporting automated testing, build orchestration, deployment, and developer productivity. The role combines hands-on technical leadership, systems engineering, CI/CD expertise, and cross-functional collaboration. ## Key Responsibilities * Own the design, scalability, and reliability of build systems and pipelines across multiple services and platforms.* Optimize build times, test coverage, reporting, and developer feedback cycles.* Implement monitoring and alerting for CI systems.* Establish and participate in incident response processes to minimize CI system downtime.* Work across engineering teams to support smooth integrations and deployment workflows.* Identify developer pain points and lead initiatives that improve productivity through tooling, automation, and engineering best practices.* Promote CI/CD practices across the organization to improve engineering efficiency.* Contribute to and help drive the vision for continuous integration and developer productivity infrastructure.* Lead and mentor CI engineers while fostering ownership, collaboration, and technical excellence.* Partner with engineering leadership to align CI systems with broader product and platform goals.* Drive engineering efforts across CI, build systems, and developer productivity domains.* Guide technical decision-making for large-scale development infrastructure.* Support build systems and frameworks used across large monorepos. ## Required Qualifications * Proven experience driving and leading engineering efforts in CI, build systems, or developer productivity.* Strong background with modern build systems and related technologies, including GitHub, Buildkite, Artifactory, or Bazel.* Familiarity with cloud-native environments such as AWS and Kubernetes.* Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code practices.* Strong programming background in Python, Kotlin, Java, or a similar programming language.* Ability to guide technical decision-making.* Experience managing build systems and frameworks for large monorepos.* Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to balance long-term technical vision with short-term business and engineering impact.* Either equivalent practical experience or a Bachelor's degree in a related field. ## Preferred Qualifications * Experience with Bazel, particularly for large monorepos.* Active contribution to open-source projects.* Experience with large-scale software development at a leading technology company.* Curiosity about AI tools and emerging technologies, with willingness to learn and use them to improve productivity, collaboration, or decision-making. ## Skills & Competencies * Continuous Integration (CI)* CI/CD* Build systems* Developer productivity engineering* Build pipeline design and optimization* Automated testing* Build orchestration* Deployment workflows* GitHub* Buildkite* Artifactory* Bazel* AWS* Kubernetes* Infrastructure as code* Python, Kotlin, Java, or similar programming languages* Large monorepo management* Monitoring and alerting* Incident response* Tooling and automation* Systems reliability and scalability* Technical decision-making* Problem-solving* Cross-functional collaboration* Technical leadership* Mentoring* Developer experience* Strategic planning* Adaptability and curiosity ## Education & Experience Education: * Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent practical experience. Experience: * Proven experience leading engineering efforts in CI, build systems, or developer productivity.* Experience with modern build systems.* Experienc