Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Checkout Underwriting

Remote US

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.

Join the Affirm team as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer and contribute to the success of our ML Underwriting team. We are the driving force behind Affirm's core value proposition, leveraging cutting-edge machine learning to assess creditworthiness throughout the life cycle of loan applications. 

As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer on our team, you will be at the forefront of developing high-quality, production-ready models that play a central role in our decision-making processes. Your contributions will be instrumental in shaping our financial landscape. If you have a strong interest in machine learning and enjoy challenging work, Affirm is the place for you!

What You'll Do

  • Use Affirm’s proprietary and other third party data to develop machine learning models that predict the likelihood of default and make an approval or decline decision to achieve business objectives

  • Partner with platform and product engineering teams to build model training, decisioning, and monitoring systems 

  • Research ground breaking solutions and develop prototypes that drive the future of credit decisioning at Affirm

  • Implement and scale data pipelines, new features, and algorithms that are essential to our production models

  • Collaborate with the engineering, credit, and product teams to define requirements for new products

What We Look For

  • 6+ years of experience as a machine learning engineer. Relevant PhD can count for up to 2 YOE

  • Experience developing machine learning models at scale from inception to business impact

  • Proficiency in machine learning with experience in areas such as Generalized Linear Models, Gradient Boosting, Deep Learning, and Probabilistic Calibration. Domain knowledge in credit risk is a plus

  • Strong engineering skills in Python and data manipulation skills like SQL

  • Experience using large scale distributed systems like Spark or Ray 

  • Experience using open source projects and software such as scikit-learn, pandas, NumPy, XGBoost, PyTorch, Kubeflow

  • Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and Airflow is a plus

  • Excellent written and oral communication skills and the capability to drive cross-functional requirements with product and engineering teams

  • Persistence, patience and a strong sense of responsibility – we build the decision making that enables consumers and partners to place their trust in Affirm

  • This 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 which is 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

#LI-Remote

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.

We’re extremely proud to offer competitive benefits that are anchored to our core value of people come first. Some key highlights of our benefits package include: 

  • 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.

By clicking "Submit Application," you acknowledge that you have read the Affirm Employment Privacy Policy for applicants within the United States, the EU Employee Notice Regarding Use of Personal Data (Poland) for applicants applying from Poland, the EU Employee Notice Regarding Use of Personal Data (Spain) for applicants applying from Spain, or the Affirm U.K. Limited Employee Notice Regarding Use of Personal Data for applicants applying from the United Kingdom, and hereby freely and unambiguously give informed consent to the collection, processing, use, and storage of your personal information as described therein.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Demographic Questions & Categorizations

Affirm is dedicated to building a diverse team and an inclusive culture. We believe that it’s crucial to Affirm’s long-term success to create an environment where all Affirmers feel like they belong and have an equal opportunity to succeed.

For this reason, we are asking candidates to voluntarily self-identify through a few demographic questions. Our purpose in collecting this information is to help us assess our outreach efforts and diversity representation goals. Your responses will not be linked to your identity or your application, and neither recruiters nor hiring managers can see this information at an individual level. Your responses are stored in the aggregate and will not play any role in our hiring decision.  Your decision to participate or not participate in this survey will have no impact on your candidacy at Affirm. 

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Affirm’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.