Senior Staff Identity Platform Architect — Hybrid

Venmo, LLC; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 197,000 - 292,000; Full time

Job summary

Venmo is seeking a Sr Staff Software Engineer to own and advance the identity platform, including authentication, authorization, identity verification, and fraud risk systems, at scale in a hybrid San Jose, CA environment.

You will partner with PayPal platform and security teams, lead architecture reviews, and mentor senior engineers while collaborating with Product, Legal, Compliance, and Security to translate regulatory requirements into robust engineering solutions.

Qualifications

• 8+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time spent on identity, authentication, or security-critical systems at scale.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction for Venmo's identity platform, including authentication, authorization, identity verification, and fraud risk systems.
• Partner with PayPal's platform and security teams to align on shared identity standards, reusable infrastructure, and cross-org initiatives.
• Lead architectural reviews and define engineering standards for how the Identity team builds, scales, and secures its systems.
• Mentor and develop senior engineers, shaping how the team thinks through design docs, code reviews, and technical debates.
• Collaborate with Product, Legal, Compliance, and Security to translate regulatory and risk requirements (KYC, AML, GDPR, PCI) into sound technical solutions.
• Identify and proactively address risks and own the performance and availability of the services.

Skills

Identity platform

Authentication

Authorization

Identity verification

Fraud risk

Architectural design

Mentoring

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree / equivalent

12+ years of software engineering

Tools

Python

Java

Go

AWS

Terraform

Job description

Venmo is seeking a Sr Staff Software Engineer to own and advance the identity platform, including authentication, authorization, identity verification, and fraud risk systems, at scale in a hybrid San Jose, CA environment.

You will partner with PayPal platform and security teams, lead architecture reviews, and mentor senior engineers while collaborating with Product, Legal, Compliance, and Security to translate regulatory requirements into robust engineering solutions.