Sr Staff Experience Designer

PayPal•San Jose, CA

38d•Hybrid

About The Position

In this role, you'll be a key driver in scaling the Venmo ads platform. As a Senior Staff Designer, you'll partner with cross-functional teams to create cohesive, user-centered ad products and experiences for customers and merchants worldwide. Your deep understanding of design patterns will help build trust and security within our financial products. We're building a new PayPal Ads division to grow our advertising business and connect PayPal, Venmo, and Honey users with advertisers and merchants. Leveraging data from nearly 400 million active accounts and a quarter of the world's $6 trillion in digital commerce, our platform empowers advertisers to engage customers across the full marketing funnel-from awareness to purchase and loyalty. As a Senior Staff Experience Designer, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping how millions of users experience ads in the Venmo product. You'll craft end-to-end experiences that not only solve complex problems but also inspire delight through thoughtful design, strategic insight, and compelling storytelling. You'll partner closely with cross-functional teams-product, engineering, data, and marketing-to define what's possible, align around a shared vision, and turn complex challenges into elegant, intuitive solutions. You'll lead by example, guiding teams through ambiguity with clear thinking, strong communication, and a user-first mindset. As an early member of the ad platform team, you'll have the opportunity to shape the experience by identifying opportunities for innovation, crafting cohesive journeys, and creating systems that are scalable, ethical, and impactful. You'll champion design excellence across the organization, mentoring others and elevating the craft to ensure that every experience tells a compelling story and delivers measurable value.

Requirements

8+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor's degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
At least 8+ years working in product design, with a substantial focus on consumer-facing ads.
Bachelors, Masters, or equivalent experience in one of the following areas: Design, Information Architecture, Human Factors, or equivalent project/portfolio experience.
A portfolio of work, showcasing design excellence in delivering impactful business outcomes, and a high bar for craft.
Experience working in the B2C advertising space, either agency side or from within a consumer facing app.
Mastery of product design methodology and lifecycle across significant channels and platforms.
Customer-focused, with experience using design research methods to uncover customer insights.
Effectively operates within an iterative design team, managing product design responsibilities against defined milestones and plans with little day-to-day oversight.
Thorough knowledge of essential channels and platforms, with experience in mobile, dedicated, web and native solution design.
Exceptional communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
Extensive experience working with resources such as pattern library, repositories, and internal communication tools.
Sound understanding of technology mediums (i.e., JavaScript, HTML/CSS) including differences between them.

Responsibilities

Develop and articulate clear objectives in enhancing user and customer experiences that deliver results and meet organizational goals
Influence decision-making at the senior leadership level
Perform the most highly complex digital and physical products and services using domain knowledge and extensive business expertise
Develop and deliver innovative strategies that benefit customers and product users
Lead major business projects which impact the Experience Design job family
Design, evaluate, and select process, product, and service improvements based on thorough understanding of user and customer needs and industry trends
Mentor and guide junior team members in user-centered design practices.
Lead end-to-end design strategy and execution for complex, high-impact initiatives that shape the future of Venmo's ads ecosystem.
Define and drive a cohesive vision across multiple products, ensuring consistency, usability, and delight in every interaction.
Translate business goals and user insights into clear design strategies and scalable experience frameworks.
Craft compelling narratives and storytelling that communicate design rationale, inspire teams, and influence senior stakeholders.
Use data, research, experimentation, and a robust testing approach to measure impact and drive continuous improvements.
Work with cross-functional team members driving the strategy, execution, and delivery for initiatives on our Venmo ads platform, using a customer-focused, iterative design process.
Create high-quality deliverables and execute based on product design goals and priorities without prescriptive guidance or direction, managing work to a more extensive schedule.
Create opportunities to foster collaborative cross-discipline dynamics. Drive product design team delivery excellence, furthering influence to achieve product design goals.
Stay ahead of emerging trends in UX, advertising technology, and digital product design to inform innovation and differentiation.
Contribute to the planning and estimating of work; maintain close connection to cross-product work streams
Create well-crafted interactive prototypes, templates, and presentations
Ability to work across design systems fluidly, and driving cohesion across related products and surfaces that span across the PayPal network
Play an active role in our thriving, inspiring and rewarding UX Design practice and culture.