Sr Lead Product Manager

PayPal; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 179,000 - 265,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO

Healthcare coverage

Financial security resources

Hybrid work culture

Job summary

PayPal is seeking a Lead Product Manager to own the strategy, roadmap, and execution for a core risk decisioning platform. You will collaborate with engineering, data science, risk strategy, and UX to build scalable real-time solutions and drive value across loss reduction, CX, efficiency, and revenue.

The role requires a strong technical foundation in scaled platforms and real-time inference, with experience across fraud, credit, and compliance.

Qualifications

• 8+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience building or managing products in the decisioning, recommendation engine, or real-time scoring space (e.g., fraud scoring, credit underwriting, personalization platforms).
• Familiarity with feature stores, real-time inference pipelines, rule engines, or A/B experimentation frameworks.
• Track record of driving platform adoption across multiple internal customer teams.
• Strong data intuition: ability to define and interpret platform metrics, run analyses, and translate findings into product decisions.
• Experience with agile delivery at scale, including cross-team dependency management and milestone-driven roadmap execution.

Responsibilities

• Drives product strategy with cross-functional stakeholders aligned with the shared product vision.
• Plans and implements the architectural roadmap balancing design, technical implementation, regulatory requirements, time-to-market, and profitability.
• Assesses customer experience and needs in product requirements and decision making.
• Sets up data gathering mechanisms relative to metrics informing product success.
• Leads analytics, customer discovery, market research, and competitive analysis to drive data-driven decisions.
• Oversees product profitability measures, including budget.
• Plans operational mechanisms driving execution and accountability (Product Reviews, Operating Reviews, Business Reviews).
• Interfaces with product and technology leadership as needed.
• Partners with content strategists, data scientists, product designers and UX researchers.
• Maximizes efficiency in a fluid, evolving environment with creative solutions.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Technical foundation

Data-driven decision making

Agile delivery at scale

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Rule engines

A/B testing frameworks

Feature stores

Job description

Job Summary

At PayPal, real-time decision-making powers customer protection and global commerce. Our Risk Decisioning Platform drives fraud, credit, and compliance decisions, processing massive signal volumes in milliseconds. We're looking for a Lead Product Manager to own the strategy, roadmap, and execution for a core platform pillar. You'll work backwards from measurable outcomes - loss reduction, CX, efficiency, and revenue - translating them into grounded specifications. You'll collaborate with engineering, data science, risk strategy, and UX to build scalable solutions, track platform health metrics, drive legacy migration, and enable real-time experimentation and rule governance. You'll lead product reviews and steering committee updates as a subject matter expert. The ideal candidate brings a strong technical foundation in scaled platforms - recommendation engines, real-time inference systems, or ML/AI infrastructure - with broad impact across fraud, credit, and compliance.

Job Description

Essential Responsibilities

• Drives product strategy with cross-functional stakeholders consistent with the shared vision for the product or enabling platform.
• Plans and implements the architectural roadmap that balances innovative design and technical implementation, while balancing regulatory requirements, time-to-market, meeting customer needs and product profitability.
• Assesses the customer experience and customer needs in product requirements and decision making.
• Sets up data gathering mechanisms relative to the metrics that inform the success of products including usability studies, research and market analysis.
• Leads workstreams to include analytics, customer discovery, market research and competitive analysis to drive data-driven decision-making.
• Oversees product profitability measures, including budget.
• Plans operational mechanisms that drive execution and accountability including Product Reviews, Operating Reviews, and Business Reviews.
• Interfaces with product and technology leadership as needed.
• Partners with content strategists, data scientists, product designers and user experience researchers.
• Maximizes efficiency in a constantly evolving environment where the process is fluid and creative solutions are the standard.

Minimum Qualifications

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

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building or managing products in the decisioning, recommendation engine, or real-time scoring space (e.g., fraud scoring, credit underwriting, personalization platforms).
• Familiarity with feature stores, real-time inference pipelines, rule engines, or A/B experimentation frameworks.
• Track record of driving platform adoption across multiple internal customer teams.
• Strong data intuition: ability to define and interpret platform metrics, run analyses, and translate findings into product decisions.
• Experience with agile delivery at scale, including cross-team dependency management and milestone-driven roadmap execution.

Compensation

Subsidiary: PayPal Travel Percent: 10 - The base pay for this role will depend on where you work and the relevant experience and expertise you bring. The expected range of pay for this role by location is: Primary Location | Pay Range: San Jose, California: ($196,500.00 - $291,500.00 Annually) Additional Location(s) | Pay Range: Chicago, Illinois: ($178,500.00 - $265,100.00 Annually) Austin, Texas: ($178,500.00 - $265,100.00 Annually) Additional compensation for this role may include an annual performance bonus, equity, or other incentive compensation, as applicable.

PayPal does not charge candidates any fees for courses, applications, resume reviews, interviews, background checks, or onboarding. When making an application directly, we will never ask you to share passwords, one-time passcodes (OTP), or verification codes. Any such request is a red flag and likely part of a scam. All communication regarding your application will come from official PayPal email domains. If you suspect fraudulent activity, please report it immediately. 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.

The Benefits

• generous paid time off
• healthcare coverage for you and your family
• resources to create financial security and support your mental health
• balanced hybrid work culture with 3 days in office and 2 days remote

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 comprehensive, choice-based programs, to support all aspects of personal wellbeing - physical, emotional, and financial - delivering meaningful value where it matters most. We strive to create a flexible, balanced work culture with a holistic approach to benefits.

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 [e-mail].

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.

We're on a mission to revolutionize commerce globally. We're driving our company, industry, and society forward with vision and velocity. With our commitment to excellence, innovation, and talent, the possibilities are limitless. Learn more at PayPal.com/Jobs. Learn more about privacy-related questions or data retention. If you would like your profile to be deleted from our system, please let us know.