Staff Software Engineer

PayPal•Austin, TX

36d•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will be a technical leader who shapes the direction of our web SDK ecosystem and influences engineering excellence across PayPal. You will design and guide the development of scalable, performant, and secure JavaScript-based SDKs that enable seamless integration experiences for developers worldwide. In this role, you will collaborate with multiple teams across the company-including backend, platform, and infrastructure-to deliver technical solutions that advance PayPal's product and platform strategy. You are an experienced engineer with deep technical expertise, strong architectural vision, and a proven ability to lead complex initiatives. You set the standard for quality and rigor, mentor engineers at all levels, and drive improvements in systems, processes, and practices across teams.

Requirements

5+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor's degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
8+ years of software engineering experience with a focus on modern web technologies and SDK development.
Deep expertise in JavaScript, TypeScript, and front-end application architecture, including frameworks, build systems, and packaging.
Proven experience designing and scaling SDKs, APIs, or developer platforms used by third-party developers.
Strong understanding of backend systems and API integration patterns; ability to collaborate effectively with backend teams.
Experience leading large technical projects, influencing architecture decisions, and driving consensus across diverse teams.
Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and elevate team performance through guidance and feedback.
Strong judgment and ability to make sound technical decisions in complex or ambiguous situations.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to translate technical goals into actionable outcomes.
Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

Team developer experience: open source, outside of current team, developer for developers, developing SDKs

Responsibilities

Acts as a project or system leader, coordinating the activities of other engineers on the project or within the system
Determines the technical tasks that other engineers will follow
Actions result in the achievement of customer, operational, program or service objectives
Proactively improves existing structures & processes
Exercises judgement in reconciling diverse and competing priorities (time, quality, complexity risk) to identify optimal solutions to problems
Notices patterns and condenses repetition into densely meaningful generalized solutions
Collaborates with management to set/improve standards for engineering rigor
Trusted to represent PayPal, Inc to the outside world via interactions with partners, customers, or industry organizations
Be a major part of the design, development, and evolution of PayPal's JavaScript Web SDKs, ensuring they are performant, secure, and easy to integrate.
Drive architectural decisions and establish engineering best practices across teams, contributing to long-term technical strategy.
Collaborate cross-functionally with backend, infrastructure, and product teams to define and implement end-to-end solutions.
Act as a technical leader and mentor, guiding other engineers in design, implementation, and problem solving.
Identify and proactively resolve complex technical challenges, balancing tradeoffs between performance, scalability, and maintainability.
Influence and contribute to the evolution of PayPal's engineering standards, coding conventions, and design patterns.
Participate in code reviews and technical discussions to promote excellence and consistency across projects.
Represent PayPal in external developer communities and industry discussions where appropriate, sharing expertise and promoting technical leadership.
Continuously improve our engineering systems and processes to optimize developer productivity and code quality.
Acts as a project or system leader, coordinating the work of other engineers and aligning efforts toward shared objectives.
Defines technical direction and ensures alignment with PayPal's business and platform goals.
Exercises sound judgment in balancing competing priorities-time, quality, complexity, and risk-to identify optimal solutions.
Proactively improves existing structures and processes to enhance reliability, scalability, and developer experience.
Trusted to represent PayPal externally in interactions with partners, customers, or industry organizations.