Staff Security Engineer Interview Experience - United States
April 2, 2022
Negative ExperienceNo Offer
Process
After a HR screen, hiring manager phone interview, and a Zoom technical interview, they decided to send an email stating that the engineering team has decided not to move forward. However, there may be a position available down the line.
I came out of the interview thinking it went really well, as the questions were quite simple. To hear the above was surprising and confusing.
I asked for feedback as to why the rejection and received radio silence.
Questions
Scenario: Describe what issues you might try to identify on a simple login page.
- Two text boxes
- Two buttons on the page
What TLS version do you recommend?
What does the HSTS header do? How do you set it?
How to remediate session fixation?
How do you remediate XSS?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Affirm Staff Security Engineer role in United States.
Success Rate
0%
Pass Rate
Affirm's interview process for their Staff Security Engineer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Positive0%
Neutral0%
Negative100%
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Affirm's Staff Security Engineer interview process in United States.
Affirm Work Experiences
4.0
Not a bad place to work
Staff Security Engineer • Former Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
April 23, 2023
Pros: Good benefits, pay was good.
Cons: Management lacks control over the organization. There's no clear direction and processes to measure employee contributions are lacking. Employees lacking technical skills were often promoted to senior-level roles without being able to do senior-level work. Some staff-level architects were often perceived as valuable for being loud and visible, but did not have the experience to contribute and often led meetings and projects astray. The lack of guidelines prevented management from monitoring this and correcting to keep projects meeting deadlines.
5.0
Good Culture With A Bright Future
Backend Software Engineer • Current Employee
Remote
December 19, 2022
Pros: I feel like there is a lot of transparency about the state of the company, which makes the relationship with the executives feel genuine.
Max does a great job of staying engaged with the team and driving as a leader, not a dictator like some executives I've seen in the past.
In terms of my position, I felt the pressure when I first started due to a drive to reach a product launch on time. This was a new experience for me, but I never felt taken advantage of or overworked. My team is great, and I have only good words about other teams I have worked with at the company.
Cons: It is a larger company, but still in a pseudo start-up mode, so it can be fast-paced at times.
2.0
Great compensation for tedious work
Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee
Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain
October 21, 2025
Pros: 100% remote
Transparent salary
Good time off and flexibility
Family health insurance
Well-intentioned company vision
Cons: For on-call teams, most receive many pages each week.
Lots of technical debt and internal technologies.
Too much complexity in the platform at all levels.
Internal solutions to common industry problems, written by former employees, undocumented, and difficult to maintain. For example, a proprietary RPC protocol.
Very hierarchical and not at all international, despite good intentions.
- 4.0Not a bad place to workStaff Security Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesApril 23, 2023Pros: Good benefits, pay was good.Cons: Management lacks control over the organization. There's no clear direction and processes to measure employee contributions are lacking. Employees lacking technical skills were often promoted to senior-level roles without being able to do senior-level work. Some staff-level architects were often perceived as valuable for being loud and visible, but did not have the experience to contribute and often led meetings and projects astray. The lack of guidelines prevented management from monitoring this and correcting to keep projects meeting deadlines.
- 5.0Good Culture With A Bright FutureBackend Software Engineer • Current EmployeeRemoteDecember 19, 2022Pros: I feel like there is a lot of transparency about the state of the company, which makes the relationship with the executives feel genuine. Max does a great job of staying engaged with the team and driving as a leader, not a dictator like some executives I've seen in the past. In terms of my position, I felt the pressure when I first started due to a drive to reach a product launch on time. This was a new experience for me, but I never felt taken advantage of or overworked. My team is great, and I have only good words about other teams I have worked with at the company.Cons: It is a larger company, but still in a pseudo start-up mode, so it can be fast-paced at times.
- 2.0Great compensation for tedious workSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeMadrid, Community of Madrid, SpainOctober 21, 2025Pros: 100% remote Transparent salary Good time off and flexibility Family health insurance Well-intentioned company visionCons: For on-call teams, most receive many pages each week. Lots of technical debt and internal technologies. Too much complexity in the platform at all levels. Internal solutions to common industry problems, written by former employees, undocumented, and difficult to maintain. For example, a proprietary RPC protocol. Very hierarchical and not at all international, despite good intentions.
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