Staff Product Security Engineer

PayPal•Austin, TX

46d•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Staff Product Security Engineer at PayPal, you'll drive secure design practices that safeguard 434M accounts and $1.6T in annual payment volume. You'll lead the Security Design Reviews Program and Security Champions Program, partner with engineering and product leaders to scale consistent security processes, and serve as the escalation point for complex design assessments. Through technical leadership and mentorship, you'll influence product architecture decisions across PayPal's global ecosystem.

Requirements

8+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor's degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
8+ years of experience in software development, application security, or cybersecurity, with proven ability to influence architecture and design decisions.
Expertise in application security vulnerabilities (e.g., OWASP Top 10) and secure design practices.
Proven experience driving global or enterprise-wide security initiatives or programs.
Track record of partnering with developers to remediate vulnerabilities and implement robust security controls.

Nice To Haves

Experience architecting and operating security review programs or equivalent governance initiatives.
Hands-on familiarity with application security tools (SAST, DAST, SCA, WAF, Burp Suite).
Strong programming experience in at least one language such as Ruby, Java, Python, JavaScript, or Swift.
Knowledge of Kubernetes, Terraform, and version control systems such as Git.
Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud vendor (AWS, Azure, GCP).
Strong understanding of authentication and authorization protocols (OAuth 2.0, SAML).
Experience with AI or ML security, including model security and data protection considerations.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence both technical and executive audiences.
Experience mentoring and developing engineers.

Responsibilities

Lead and evolve PayPal's Security Design Reviews and Security Champions programs, defining processes, tooling, and automation to enable scalable, high-quality reviews across all business units.
Serve as the primary escalation point for complex product design and architecture reviews, guiding resolution of nuanced or high-risk issues.
Define product architecture security strategy and drive the integration of security design practices into global engineering workflows.
Determine methods and procedures for evaluating, prioritizing, and remediating security risks at scale.
Deliver targeted training and coaching that empowers teams to build securely at scale.
Partner with senior engineering and product leadership to influence technology direction, ensuring security is embedded in platform and product architecture decisions.
Drive cross-functional, global initiatives that improve security posture and engineering efficiency, focusing on systemic risk reduction and process modernization.
Lead the secure design and integration of AI and large language models (LLMs) in PayPal products and internal tooling.
Develop and scale self-service security tooling, automation, and metrics for consistent program performance and visibility.
Mentor and develop engineers across Product Security and the wider organization, fostering a culture of secure-by-design thinking.
Stay ahead of emerging security technologies and threats, adapting program strategy to evolving risks and business priorities.