The Company
PayPal has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalized, and secure, PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy.
We operate a global, two-sided network at scale that connects hundreds of millions of merchants and consumers. We help merchants and consumers connect, transact, and complete payments, whether they are online or in person. PayPal is more than a connection to third-party payment networks. We provide proprietary payment solutions accepted by merchants that enable the completion of payments on our platform on behalf of our customers.
We offer our customers the flexibility to use their accounts to purchase and receive payments for goods and services, as well as the ability to transfer and withdraw funds. We enable consumers to exchange funds more safely with merchants using a variety of funding sources, which may include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products such as gift cards, and eligible credit card rewards. Our PayPal, Venmo, and Xoom products also make it safer and simpler for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. We offer merchants an end-to-end payments solution that provides authorization and settlement capabilities, as well as instant access to funds and payouts. We also help merchants connect with their customers, process exchanges and returns, and manage risk. We enable consumers to engage in cross-border shopping and merchants to extend their global reach while reducing the complexity and friction involved in enabling cross-border trade.
Our beliefs are the foundation for how we conduct business every day. We live each day guided by our core values of Inclusion, Innovation, Collaboration, and Wellness. Together, our values ensure that we work together as one global team with our customers at the center of everything we do – and they push us to ensure we take care of ourselves, each other, and our communities.
Job Summary:
What you need to know about the role:This role is critical in shaping how PayPal approaches fraud prevention at scale. You will build solutions to expose complex fraud and risk patterns across platforms, design solutions that span multiple systems, and products that empower merchants to mitigate risk in ways that best align with their business needs. As a Senior Staff Engineer, you’ll be a key technical leader driving innovation in risk detection and prevention, influencing core architecture and technical strategy.
Job Description:
Essential Responsibilities:
- Makes technical decisions affecting multiple teams, crossing organizational boundaries
- Establishes conventions & processes to be followed by other employees
- Actions determine the utilization of company resources (people, money, assets) and affect the effectiveness of the company
- Handles multiple, multi-team initiatives simultaneously, using judgement to prioritize among more issues than can be handled individually.
- Understands evolving industry capabilities & practices and can judiciously apply up--to-date information for optimal results
- Competent at communicating technical issues with non-technical audiences
- Spreads their behavior, principles, and knowledge as a means of improving technical results of other employees (via many means – modeling behavior, 1:1s, working sessions, quality documentation)
- Partners with product management, to ideate solutions to business problems & goals
Minimum Qualifications:
- Minimum of 12 years of relevant work experience and a Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
Preferred Qualification:
Meet our team:
Risk as a Service (RaaS) team is at the forefront of designing, developing, and shipping a wide range of products for transaction and payments risk detection and mitigation for PayPal merchants. We provide a holistic, end-to-end fraud and decision-making platform to empower businesses battling to contain fraud in a digital-first world. We build various powerful, highly usable platforms and services which enable organizations to make data-driven decisions and grow faster. Our range of products helps provide businesses with the flexibility to adapt as fraud evolves, ensuring that our merchants always have the information they need to make the right decisions.
Your way to impact:
As Sr. Staff Software Engineer, you will be responsible for shaping the strategy, development, and execution for our Risk as a Service product offering. You will lead initiatives and participate in all phases of our software development lifecycle from design, architecture and planning to development, testing, deployment, monitoring and beyond. This role requires deep expertise in developing scalable and reliable software capable of handling large volumes of data/requests efficiently. The successful candidate should have a proven track record of architecting, implementing, and maintaining robust software systems that can operate smoothly under demanding workloads while ensuring minimal downtime and high performance.
What do you need to bring:
Deep expertise in Java with extensive experience in Spring Framework and Spring Boot for building large-scale, mission-critical services.
Strong knowledge of service-oriented architectures, including REST/JSON and gRPC, with a track record of designing robust, high-performance APIs.
Hands-on proficiency with both relational databases (e.g., Oracle) and distributed, non-relational systems (e.g., Aerospike, Redis) at scale.
Solid foundation in Linux environments, including ability to write scripts and automate workflows to improve system efficiency.
Expertise in object-oriented programming, coupled with deep understanding of algorithms, data structures, and design patterns for building resilient systems.
Strong experience with containers (Docker/Kubernetes), modern cloud platforms, and DevOps practices for continuous delivery and operations.
Demonstrated ability to architect, build, and optimize highly available, low-latency, and scalable systems in production.
Proven track record of technical leadership and cross-functional collaboration with globally distributed engineering teams.
Excellent problem-solving and systems-thinking mindset with a focus on execution and delivery.
Experience in the financial services or payments industry is a strong plus.
**We know the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates. Please don't hesitate to apply.
Subsidiary:
PayPalTravel Percent:
20-
PayPal is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices.
Actual Compensation is based on various factors including but not limited to work location, and relevant skills and experience.
The total compensation for this practice may include an annual performance bonus (or other incentive compensation, as applicable), equity, and medical, dental, vision, and other benefits. For more information, visit https://www.paypalbenefits.com.
The US national annual pay range for this role is $169,500 to $291,500PayPal does not charge candidates any fees for courses, applications, resume reviews, interviews, background checks, or onboarding. Any such request is a red flag and likely part of a scam. To learn more about how to identify and avoid recruitment fraud please visit https://careers.pypl.com/contact-us.
For the majority of employees, PayPal's balanced hybrid work model offers 3 days in the office for effective in-person collaboration and 2 days at your choice of either the PayPal office or your home workspace, ensuring that you equally have the benefits and conveniences of both locations.
Our Benefits:
At PayPal, we’re committed to building an equitable and inclusive global economy. And we can’t do this without our most important asset—you. That’s why we offer benefits to help you thrive in every stage of life. We champion your financial, physical, and mental health by offering valuable benefits and resources to help you care for the whole you.
We have great benefits including a flexible work environment, employee shares options, health and life insurance and more. To learn more about our benefits please visit https://www.paypalbenefits.com.
Who We Are:
Click Here to learn more about our culture and community.
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
PayPal provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. In addition, PayPal will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you are unable to submit an application because of incompatible assistive technology or a disability, please contact us at [email protected].
Belonging at PayPal:
Our employees are central to advancing our mission, and we strive to create an environment where everyone can do their best work with a sense of purpose and belonging. Belonging at PayPal means creating a workplace with a sense of acceptance and security where all employees feel included and valued. We are proud to have a diverse workforce reflective of the merchants, consumers, and communities that we serve, and we continue to take tangible actions to cultivate inclusivity and belonging at PayPal.
Any general requests for consideration of your skills, please Join our Talent Community.
We know the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates. Please don’t hesitate to apply.
Top Skills
What We Do
HELP US REIMAGINE MONEY.
At PayPal, we believe that now is the time to democratize financial services so that moving and managing money is a right for all citizens, not just the affluent. We are driven by this purpose, and we uphold our cultural values of collaboration, innovation, wellness and inclusion as our guide for making decisions and conducting business every day. It is our duty and privilege to be customer champions and put those we serve at the center of everything we do.
We are one team that respects and values diversity of thought for everyone, everywhere, and we actively seek to create an energizing workplace that brings out the best in all of us. If you’re ready to shape the future of money, join the team at PayPal. We're proud to work here. You will be too.
PayPal is headquartered in San Jose, California and its international headquarters is located in Singapore.