Staff Software Engineer - Platform & Infrastructure

Engg; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 177,000 - 262,000; Full time

Job summary

PayPal’s AI Tech Platform Enablement and Quality team seeks a Staff Software Engineer in San Jose, CA. You will design scalable platform frameworks, developer tooling, and quality solutions to empower engineering teams to ship faster with confidence.

You will bring 5+ years in software engineering, hands-on Docker/Kubernetes, cloud experience, and strong cross-team collaboration to influence platform strategy and reliability.

Qualifications

• 5+ years relevant engineering experience with a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
• 8+ years in software engineering with 3+ years in platform/infrastructure
• Strong expertise in test automation, CI/CD pipelines, and platform tooling

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of scalable platform frameworks and developer tooling
• Drive quality engineering solutions including observability and testing across services
• Collaborate to set standards for reliability, performance, and developer productivity

Skills

Java

Python

Go

CI/CD

Kubernetes

Docker

Cloud platforms

Observability

Distributed systems

Chaos engineering

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

ArgoCD

Job description

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:

AITech is a dynamic PayPal unit comprised of Machine Learning, Data, and Software Engineers dedicated to innovation. The Platform Enablement and Quality team within AITech builds the foundational infrastructure, developer tooling, and quality frameworks that power PayPal's AI/ML platform at scale. We enable engineering teams to ship faster, with higher quality and greater confidence through robust CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, developer experience tooling, and platform reliability standards. As a Staff Software Engineer on PayPal's Platform Enablement and Quality team, you will lead the design and implementation of scalable platform frameworks, developer tooling, and quality engineering solutions. You are a technical leader who sets the engineering bar for reliability, testability, and developer productivity across AITech's platform.

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

Minimum Qualifications:

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

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications :

BS/MS in Computer Science or equivalent with 8+ years of software engineering experience, including 3+ years in platform or infrastructure engineering. Proven track record designing and building large-scale distributed platform services with high availability and reliability. Deep expertise in quality engineering: test automation frameworks (unit, integration, contract, end-to-end), test pyramid design, and CI/CD pipeline architecture. Strong experience with platform enablement tools: GitHub Actions, Jenkins, ArgoCD, or similar CI/CD systems. Proficiency in Java, Python, or Go; experience building or contributing to internal developer platforms (IDPs). Hands-on experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, or Azure). Experience building observability solutions: metrics, logging, and distributed tracing (OpenTelemetry, Datadog, Prometheus, etc.). Strong understanding of API design, microservices architecture, and distributed systems patterns. Excellent communication skills — ability to influence technical decisions across teams and articulate platform strategy to engineering leadership. Experience with chaos engineering frameworks (Gremlin, or similar). Background in AI/ML platform engineering or MLOps tooling. Experience with developer experience (DevEx) initiatives and internal tooling. Familiarity with compliance and governance standards for platform services in the financial sector.

Subsidiary: PayPal Travel 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: ($176,500.00 - $262,350.00 Annually) Additional Location(s) | Pay Range: No other locations are assigned to this requisition currently. Additional compensation for this role may include an annual performance bonus