Sr Staff Software Engineer

PayPal • San Jose, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

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: We are looking for a talented and experienced Senior Staff Software Engineer to join our engineering team. In this role, you will design, build, and scale web applications and services that power PayPal's commerce and payments ecosystem. You will work across the full stack — from crafting intuitive, high-performance user interfaces to building robust, secure backend services — while collaborating with cross-functional partners in product, design, and platform engineering.

Requirements

• 8+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with a focus on JavaScript/TypeScript.
• Strong proficiency in React (hooks, context, performance optimization) and modern frontend tooling (Webpack, Vite, ESBuild).
• Deep expertise in Node.js for building scalable backend services, REST APIs, and/or GraphQL APIs.
• Solid understanding of web fundamentals: HTML5, CSS3, browser rendering, accessibility (WCAG), and web security (OWASP Top 10).
• Experience with relational or NoSQL databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis).
• Proficiency with cloud infrastructure concepts (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks (Jest, Mocha, Cypress, Playwright), and observability tools.
• Strong understanding of software design patterns, distributed systems, and microservices architecture.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills; able to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with TypeScript at scale in a large production codebase.
• Familiarity with payments, fintech, or e-commerce domains.
• Contributions to open-source JavaScript projects.
• Experience with GraphQL Federation, micro-frontends, or edge computing patterns.
• Knowledge of A/B testing frameworks, feature flagging systems, and experimentation platforms.
• Prior experience mentoring engineers or leading a technical pod/squad.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable fullstack web applications using Node.js, React, and related JavaScript technologies.
• Lead the architecture and implementation of new features, from UI components to RESTful or GraphQL APIs.
• Write clean, well-tested, and maintainable code with a strong emphasis on performance, reliability, and security.
• Partner with product managers, designers, and data scientists to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Drive technical design reviews, participate in code reviews, and mentor junior engineers.
• Champion engineering best practices including CI/CD, test-driven development, and observability.
• Contribute to PayPal's internal developer tools, shared libraries, and platform infrastructure.
• Identify and address performance bottlenecks, scalability gaps, and technical debt.
• Collaborate with global teams across multiple time zones in an agile development environment.

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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees