Staff Software Engineer

Posted 8 Days Ago
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Austin, TX
In-Office
Senior level
Fintech • Payments
The Role
The Staff Software Engineer will lead the development of scalable JavaScript SDKs, mentor engineers, collaborate across teams, and contribute to PayPal's long-term technical strategy.
Summary Generated by Built In

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:

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will be a technical leader who shapes the direction of our web SDK ecosystem and influences engineering excellence across PayPal. You will design and guide the development of scalable, performant, and secure JavaScript-based SDKs that enable seamless integration experiences for developers worldwide.

Job Description:

Essential Responsibilities:

  • Acts as a project or system leader, coordinating the activities of other engineers on the project or within the system
  • Determines the technical tasks that other engineers will follow
  • Actions result in the achievement of customer, operational, program or service objectives
  • Proactively improves existing structures & processes
  • Exercises judgement in reconciling diverse and competing priorities (time, quality, complexity risk) to identify optimal solutions to problems
  • Notices patterns and condenses repetition into densely meaningful generalized solutions
  • Collaborates with management to set/improve standards for engineering rigor
  • Trusted to represent PayPal, Inc to the outside world via interactions with partners, customers, or industry organizations

Expected Qualifications:

  • 5+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications:

In this role, you will collaborate with multiple teams across the company—including backend, platform, and infrastructure—to deliver technical solutions that advance PayPal’s product and platform strategy. 

You are an experienced engineer with deep technical expertise, strong architectural vision, and a proven ability to lead complex initiatives. You set the standard for quality and rigor, mentor engineers at all levels, and drive improvements in systems, processes, and practices across teams. 

What You’ll Do 

Be a major part of the design, development, and evolution of PayPal’s JavaScript Web SDKs, ensuring they are performant, secure, and easy to integrate. 

• Drive architectural decisions and establish engineering best practices across teams, contributing to long-term technical strategy. 

• Collaborate cross-functionally with backend, infrastructure, and product teams to define and implement end-to-end solutions. 

• Act as a technical leader and mentor, guiding other engineers in design, implementation, and problem solving. 

Identify and proactively resolve complex technical challenges, balancing tradeoffs between performance, scalability, and maintainability. 

• Influence and contribute to the evolution of PayPal’s engineering standards, coding conventions, and design patterns. 

Participate in code reviews and technical discussions to promote excellence and consistency across projects. 

• Represent PayPal in external developer communities and industry discussions where appropriate, sharing expertise and promoting technical leadership. 

• Continuously improve our engineering systems and processes to optimize developer productivity and code quality.  

What You’ll Bring 

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with a focus on modern web technologies and SDK development. 

• Deep expertise in JavaScript, TypeScript, and front-end application architecture, including frameworks, build systems, and packaging. 

• Proven experience designing and scaling SDKs, APIs, or developer platforms used by third-party developers. 

• Strong understanding of backend systems and API integration patterns; ability to collaborate effectively with backend teams. 

• Experience leading large technical projects, influencing architecture decisions, and driving consensus across diverse teams. 

Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and elevate team performance through guidance and feedback. 

• Strong judgment and ability to make sound technical decisions in complex or ambiguous situations. 

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to translate technical goals into actionable outcomes. 

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.  

Additional Expectations 

• Acts as a project or system leader, coordinating the work of other engineers and aligning efforts toward shared objectives. 

• Defines technical direction and ensures alignment with PayPal’s business and platform goals. 

• Exercises sound judgment in balancing competing priorities—time, quality, complexity, and risk—to identify optimal solutions. 

• Proactively improves existing structures and processes to enhance reliability, scalability, and developer experience. 

• Trusted to represent PayPal externally in interactions with partners, customers, or industry organizations. 

Nice to have: 

• Team developer experience: open source, outside of current team, developer for developers, developing SDKs 

Subsidiary:

PayPal

Travel Percent:

0

PayPal 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

Front-End Application Architecture
JavaScript
Typescript
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The Company
HQ: San Jose, CA
34,450 Employees
Year Founded: 1998

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.

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