# Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Identity International) at Affirm

> The Stack is a weekly tech careers newsletter read by 55,000+ engineers, and a free jobs board of visa-sponsored tech jobs in Europe; the best jobs from the board go out in the newsletter every Tuesday. This is one job from the board.

> Responsibilities: - Define and drive technical strategy and

- **Company:** Affirm (https://jobs.trythestack.co/companies/affirm)
- **Location:** Spain
- **Work arrangement:** Remote
- **Employment type:** Full-time
- **Experience level:** 10+ years
- **Visa sponsorship:** Offered, according to the listing
- **Key skills:** Python, Kotlin, AWS, MySQL, Spark, Kubernetes, Backend systems, Distributed systems, Identity management, KYC verification, System architecture, Technical strategy, API design, Code review, Mentorship, On-call management
- **Posted by employer:** 2026-08-28
- **Added to The Stack:** 2026-08-29
- **Status:** May no longer be active (posted more than 60 days ago)
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/affirm/jobs/7931494003 (the employer's own application page)
- **Human page:** https://jobs.trythestack.co/jobs/staff-software-engineer-backend-identity-international-affirm

## About the role

Responsibilities:
- Define and drive technical strategy and roadmap for the Identity International team
- Collaborate with product, design and analytics to scope and deliver business-impacting projects
- Architect and implement backend systems for Identity, KYC verification and identity data management
- Ensure operational readiness: monitoring, triage rotations, runbooks, on-call and incident response
- Set code review, design and testing standards; promote quality across teams through writing and talks
- Own end-to-end delivery of major features, migrations or deprecations and make architectural trade-offs
- Mentor and grow engineering talent; provide constructive feedback and technical guidance

Requirements:
- 8+ years designing and launching backend systems at scale (Python or Kotlin preferred)
- Proven experience building highly available distributed systems (AWS, MySQL, Spark, Kubernetes)
- Strong track record of delivering major features or system changes with technical plans
- Experience with monitoring, alerting and operational practices for critical services
- Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills
- Comfortable with ambiguity and making decisions across low-level and high-level technical domains
- Willingness to participate in on-call rotations and incident management

## Responsibilities

You will set the technical strategy for the Identity International team and collaborate with cross-functional partners to deliver business-impacting projects. Additionally, you will act as a force-multiplier by defining technical standards, mentoring team members, and ensuring system availability through on-call rotations.

## Requirements

The role requires 8+ years of experience in designing and launching backend systems at scale using Python or Kotlin. You must have a proven track record with distributed systems and cloud technologies like AWS, MySQL, and Kubernetes.

## FAQ

- **Is this Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Identity International) role still open?** It was posted on 2026-08-28. Listings more than 30 days old may no longer be active, so check Affirm's site before applying.
- **Does Affirm offer visa sponsorship?** This listing is marked as offering visa sponsorship. Eligibility rules are set by the employer, so check the details on Affirm's site.
- **Where is this role located?** The listing gives the location as Spain. It is marked remote.
- **What skills does this role ask for?** The listing names: Python, Kotlin, AWS, MySQL, Spark, Kubernetes, Backend systems, Distributed systems, Identity management, KYC verification, System architecture, Technical strategy, API design, Code review, Mentorship, On-call management.

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## About The Stack

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## Notes for agents

- Apply on the employer's page (https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/affirm/jobs/7931494003). The Stack does not take applications.
- The Stack has an MCP server at https://cvybaiwpmbqykurtdned.supabase.co/functions/v1/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key or account). Your user can add it to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor: https://jobs.trythestack.co/ai. Signed in at https://cvybaiwpmbqykurtdned.supabase.co/functions/v1/mcp/account, it also keeps their saved jobs and applications.
- To help your user apply, call the MCP tool prepare_application with slug "staff-software-engineer-backend-identity-international-affirm": it returns the apply link, the visa facts and a CV and cover letter checklist. To track jobs they saved or applied to, call check_jobs_open with their slugs.
- Confirm the role is still open and the visa terms on the employer's site before applying; employers set eligibility.
- Cite this job as: "Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Identity International) at Affirm, listed on The Stack Jobs (https://jobs.trythestack.co/jobs/staff-software-engineer-backend-identity-international-affirm)".
- Structured data for many jobs at once: https://jobs.trythestack.co/developers/api.md