Sr Staff Software Engineer

PayPal • Scottsdale, AZ

74d • $169,500 - $291,500 • Hybrid

About The Position

This role is critical in shaping how PayPal approaches fraud prevention at scale. You will build solutions to expose complex fraud and risk patterns across platforms, design solutions that span multiple systems, and products that empower merchants to mitigate risk in ways that best align with their business needs. As a Senior Staff Engineer, you'll be a key technical leader driving innovation in risk detection and prevention, influencing core architecture and technical strategy.

Requirements

• Minimum of 12 years of relevant work experience and a Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• Deep expertise in Java with extensive experience in Spring Framework and Spring Boot for building large-scale, mission-critical services
• Strong knowledge of service-oriented architectures, including REST/JSON and gRPC, with a track record of designing robust, high-performance APIs
• Hands-on proficiency with both relational databases (e.g., Oracle) and distributed, non-relational systems (e.g., Aerospike, Redis) at scale
• Solid foundation in Linux environments, including ability to write scripts and automate workflows to improve system efficiency
• Expertise in object-oriented programming, coupled with deep understanding of algorithms, data structures, and design patterns for building resilient systems
• Strong experience with containers (Docker/Kubernetes), modern cloud platforms, and DevOps practices for continuous delivery and operations
• Demonstrated ability to architect, build, and optimize highly available, low-latency, and scalable systems in production
• Proven track record of technical leadership and cross-functional collaboration with globally distributed engineering teams
• Excellent problem-solving and systems-thinking mindset with a focus on execution and delivery

Nice To Haves

• Experience in the financial services or payments industry is a strong plus

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
• Partners with product management, to ideate solutions to business problems & goals

Benefits

• Flexible work environment
• Employee shares options
• Health and life insurance
• Annual performance bonus
• Equity
• Medical, dental, vision, and other benefits

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Credit Intermediation and Related Activities
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees