Sr Staff Software Engineer

PayPal Inc.; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 197,000 - 292,000; Full time

Job summary

PayPal Inc. in San Jose, CA, is seeking a Sr.

Staff Software Engineer to own Venmo's identity platform, including authentication, authorization, identity verification, and fraud risk systems. You will set engineering standards, lead cross‑team architectural reviews, and mentor senior engineers while partnering with Product, Legal, and Security to deliver scalable, compliant solutions for a trusted payments experience.

Qualifications

• 8+ years software engineering experience with degree or equivalent.
• Deep expertise in identity, authentication, or security at scale.
• Strong design, code review, and cross-team collaboration skills.
• Experience translating regulatory requirements into technical solutions (KYC/AML/GDPR).

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction for Venmo's identity platform.
• Lead architectural reviews and define engineering standards.
• Mentor senior engineers and drive cross-team initiatives.
• Ensure performance, availability, and security across services.

Skills

Python

Java

Go

OAuth 2.0

OIDC

SAML

FIDO2/WebAuthn

IAM

Distributed systems

AWS

Regulatory compliance

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in CS or related field

Tools

AWS

Terraform

Job description

The CompanyPayPal 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

Venmo's identity infrastructure is foundational - it underpins trust, safety, and compliance for every transaction on the platform. This is a rare opportunity to own a high-stakes technical domain at scale, with the backing of PayPal's resources and the speed of a product people love. As a Sr. Staff Software Engineer, you will be a subject matter expert. We are looking for technologists with the highest levels of technical talent, programming, and communication skills with a keen desire to deeply understand our product and how to make our systems more robust and more resilient.

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

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

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications

In your day-to-day role, you will:Set the technical direction for Venmo's identity platform, including authentication, authorization, identity verification, and fraud risk systems. You'll own the most complex, cross-cutting problems and drive them to resolution - from initial design through production. Partner with PayPal's platform and security teams to align on shared identity standards, reusable infrastructure, and cross-org initiatives, acting as a bridge between Venmo's product needs and PayPal's enterprise capabilities. Lead architectural reviews and define engineering standards for how the Identity team builds, scales, and secures its systems. You'll raise the bar on design quality, reliability, and security posture across the org. Mentor and develop senior engineers. You don't manage people, but you shape how the team thinks - through design docs, code reviews, technical debates, and examples. Collaborate with Product, Legal, Compliance, and Security to translate regulatory and risk requirements (KYC, AML, GDPR, PCI) into sound technical solutions that don't sacrifice developer experience or system performance. Identify and proactively address risks - whether that's a fragile authentication flow, a compliance gap, or a scaling bottleneck - before they become incidents. Own the performance and availability of the services, as well as participate in on-call rotations and provide support during incidents. Have an appetite for learning and contributing to complex projects alongside your colleagues.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's and/or Master's in computer science, or a related field of study, or equivalent experience
• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time spent on identity, authentication, or security-critical systems at scale.
• Deep expertise in identity and access management - including protocols like OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, FIDO2/WebAuthn - and a strong intuition for where they're applied correctly versus where they're abused.
• Proven track record of defining and shipping large-scale distributed systems, with experience leading technical strategy across multiple teams or organizations.
• Hands-on comfort with backend systems at scale (Python, Java, Go, or similar) and Cloud (AWS), along with the security engineering fundamentals to reason carefully about threat models, data handling, and attack surfaces.
• Experience working with or designing systems that meet regulatory requirements - KYC, AML, GDPR, or similar - and translating compliance constraints into implementable engineering decisions.
• Strong communication skills. You can write a crisp design doc, hold your own in an executive review, and explain a hard technical tradeoff to a non-technical stakeholder without losing precision.
• Expert with distributed services and backend systems
• Expertise with building services on public cloud - preferably AWS
• Experience in managing infrastructure as code using Terraform

Pay Range

Subsidiary:VenmoTravel Percent:0-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: 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. All communication regarding your application will come from official PayPal email domains.

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 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, including generous paid time off, healthcare coverage for you and your family, and resources to create financial security and support your mental health.

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.

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.