Redesigning Internal Deal Management at Affirm

Goal

Improving transparency and control for Capital Markets through a self-service foundation.

Overview

As Affirm’s Capital Markets operation scaled, it became increasingly difficult to manage the complexity of modifying deal terms. Most changes were handled manually — through Slack messages, spreadsheets, and engineering tickets — creating bottlenecks and audit risks.

To address this, our team worked on redesigning Affirm’s internal Deal Management System (DMS). The goal: move from manual processes to a scalable, structured, and self-service platform.

🎯 My Role

I was a supporting Product Designer on the project, working under a Principal Designer. I collaborated with PMs, Capital stakeholders, and engineers to:

• Map existing workflows and friction points

• Translate research into UI flows and wireframes

• Design key interactions for configuring deals, modifying limits, and approving changes

• Align our MVP scope with current engineering capabilities

Problem

Capital Markets needed to:

• Edit deal parameters (like concentration limits) without engineering support

• Ensure changes followed a clear approval path

• Maintain an audit trail across deal updates

• Distinguish between view-only and editable permissions

At the time, this was all done via fragmented tools and communication — which made visibility, speed, and security difficult to manage.

What we built: We scoped the initial delivery to match what was achievable with existing backend systems. Our near-term goals included:

• ✅ Change limit values within existing deals

• ✅ Submit changes for approval with context

• ✅ Introduce configurable deal entities

• ✅ Establish permission logic (view vs. config mode)

This marked a major shift from manual workflows to a structured UI, reducing operational friction and aligning with risk controls.

Understanding specific section: 🔧 Edit Flow with Approval

Users could select a deal, choose a limit, edit values, and submit for approval — with validations and system feedback.
(Screenshot: Select → Configure → Save → Submit → Approve)

🛑 Permission-Based Config Mode

We introduced a separate "Configure Mode" to prevent unintentional edits and clearly differentiate editable vs. locked states.
(Screenshot: View vs. Config toggle)

📜 Deal Setup & Entity Structure

Our design supported building new deal entities through structured templates — setting the stage for full deal lifecycle management in the future.
(Screenshot: Entity setup page)

💡 How It Helped

• Shifted Capital teams away from back-channel deal edits

• Centralized deal configuration and approvals

• Reduced reliance on engineers for operational changes

• Laid the groundwork for more flexible, scalable deal tools in the future

Even within a scoped MVP, the redesign replaced a disjointed workflow with a single, consistent, and trustworthy experience.

🔭 Looking Ahead

Though the initial release was intentionally narrow, our work set up Affirm’s DMS for long-term evolution, including:

• Configurable logic for deal terms

• Limit cloning and template systems

• Scenario testing and modeling integration

• Audit logs and system-wide change tracking

🧵 Final Reflection

“While I didn’t lead this project, supporting the redesign of Affirm’s DMS taught me how to balance stakeholder needs, product constraints, and long-term vision. I focused on solving immediate friction while contributing to the system-level thinking needed for future expansion — a mindset I now bring to every project I work on.”