Staff Machine Learning Engineer

PayPal • San Jose, CA

4h

About The Position

- Design, build, and deploy production-grade machine learning models that power personalization, search, ranking, discovery, and other core product experiences. - Use machine learning to drive monetization and deliver user value—supporting initiatives such as pricing strategy, feature optimization, and behavioral targeting. - Partner with product managers, engineers, and designers to identify high-impact opportunities, frame problems as ML tasks, and define measurable success. - Lead the full lifecycle of model development—from data exploration and feature engineering to validation, deployment, and monitoring in production. - Conduct rigorous offline evaluations and design online experiments (e.g., A/B tests) to assess model impact and guide iteration. - Collaborate with data and platform engineering teams to ensure scalable infrastructure, low-latency serving, and long-term system maintainability. - Communicate technical insights and data-driven recommendations clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. - Mentor junior scientists and contribute to the evolution of Venmo's machine learning strategy, practices, and team culture.

Requirements

• Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in a quantitative field such as Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, or Applied Mathematics.
• 8+ years of industry experience applying machine learning to real-world problems at scale, preferably in product or platform settings.
• Strong proficiency in Python and experience with modern ML libraries (e.g., scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, XGBoost).
• Expertise in supervised and unsupervised learning; experience with NLP, ranking systems, or user behavior modeling is a plus.
• Proficiency in SQL and experience working with large-scale data systems in cloud-based environments (e.g., BigQuery, Spark, Airflow).
• Demonstrated success deploying ML models in production, including monitoring, retraining, and debugging.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical ideas into actionable product insights.
• A collaborative mindset with a passion for mentoring, experimentation, and continuous improvement.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in social platforms, fintech, consumer apps, or payments ecosystems.
• Familiarity with real-time ML model serving and streaming infrastructure.
• Contributions to research publications or open-source ML projects.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and deploy production-grade machine learning models that power personalization, search, ranking, discovery, and other core product experiences.
• Use machine learning to drive monetization and deliver user value—supporting initiatives such as pricing strategy, feature optimization, and behavioral targeting.
• Partner with product managers, engineers, and designers to identify high-impact opportunities, frame problems as ML tasks, and define measurable success.
• Lead the full lifecycle of model development—from data exploration and feature engineering to validation, deployment, and monitoring in production.
• Conduct rigorous offline evaluations and design online experiments (e.g., A/B tests) to assess model impact and guide iteration.
• Collaborate with data and platform engineering teams to ensure scalable infrastructure, low-latency serving, and long-term system maintainability.
• Communicate technical insights and data-driven recommendations clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Mentor junior scientists and contribute to the evolution of Venmo's machine learning strategy, practices, and team culture.

What This Job Offers

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