About the Role
At Affirm, we exist for the moments that matter—giving people a clear, predictable way to pay over time, with no hidden fees, no surprises, and no tradeoffs on what matters most. We are looking for a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to be the technical leader building high-quality production-grade models powering credit lending decisions in countries across Europe and in Australia. You will use novel ML techniques and rich data representations to predict repayment behavior and optimize how we offer loans to our borrowers. In this role, you will help shape the future of how machine learning fuels Affirm's global expansion. You'll partner with engineering, product, and risk leaders to design, implement, and scale advanced ML solutions that drive critical capabilities across the company. You will mentor engineers, bring clarity to complex, ambiguous problems, and contribute to a cohesive long-term ML strategy.
Responsibilities
•Set technical strategy for your team on a year-long time scale, and help your team tie it together with critical, business-impacting projects.
•Collaborate with ML Platform, product, engineering, and risk leadership to shape long-term modeling capabilities needed for scalable international expansion.
•Act as a force-multiplier for your team through your definition and advocacy of technical solutions and operational processes.
•Foster a culture of quality and ownership on your team by setting code review and design standards.
•Help develop talent on your team by providing feedback and guidance, and leading by example.
What We Look For
•8+ years of experience researching, designing, deploying, and operating large-scale, real-time machine learning systems. A relevant PhD can count for up to 2 YOE.
•Strong Python skills and experience writing production-quality code.
•Experience building and evaluating models for tabular classification problems (including gradient-boosted decision trees like LightGBM/XGBoost, and deep learning frameworks like PyTorch).
•Experience working with distributed data processing or parallel compute frameworks (e.g. Spark, Ray).
•Experience with ML lifecycle tooling for training orchestration, experimentation, and model monitoring (e.g., Kubeflow, Airflow, MLflow).
•Proficient in using AI-powered developer tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Cursor) to accelerate the model development lifecycle.
•Strong engineering skills and the ability to provide hands-on technical leadership while working with our code and architecture.
•Strong verbal and written communication skills that support effective collaboration with our global engineering team.
Compensation & Benefits
•Base Pay Grade - P: 365,000 zł – 485,000 zł. Employees new to Affirm typically come in at the start of the pay range. Base pay is determined by location, experience and job-related skills.
•Total compensation may include monthly stipends for health, wellness and tech spending, and benefits (including 100% subsidized medical coverage, dental and vision for you and your dependents).
•Eligibility for equity rewards from Affirm Holdings, Inc. (parent company), awarded in US Dollars. Equity Grade - 5 example: New hire equity $48,000-$72,000; Annual Refresh $15,000; Reward equity $0-$225,000.
•Flexible spending wallets for technology and wellbeing needs, reimbursable up to 1390 zł per month.
•Competitive paid time off, paid public holidays, and additional paid Away Days.
•Comprehensive private healthcare through Lux Med's Platinum package.
•A MultiSport card.
•Learning and development programs.
•Family healthcare support through Maven and parental leave support through Parentaly.
•Mental well-being support through Lyra, including up to 12 confidential counseling or coaching sessions each year for you and your household members.
•Financial well-being support through Northstar, with unlimited access to Certified Financial Advisors and planning tools at no cost.
•Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).
•Eligibility for creative tax benefits, subject to applicable law, role, and company policy.
Location
Remote - Poland. The majority of roles can be located anywhere in Poland. Affirm is remote-first; most roles can be done from almost anywhere within the country of employment, though some positions may occasionally require in-person work at an Affirm office. All new hires will be invited to attend an in-person onboarding experience.
