Staff Software Engineer

PayPal • San Jose, CA

6d • 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: Meet Your Team The Finance Technology Insights (FTI) team plays a critical role at PayPal, driving the modernization of our finance data platform and serving as the technical backbone for Finance, Accounting, Regulatory Reporting, Tax and Treasury operations. Our team leads transformational initiatives including the migration from legacy systems to the development of next-generation Service based/API-driven middleware architecture. We're replacing traditional batch ETL processes with real-time, scalable solutions that support PayPal's global financial operations across multiple regions and portfolios. Job Description: Essential 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 What do you need to know about the role As a Senior Full Stack Software Engineer, you will lead the design and development of high-performance, scalable applications that transform how PayPal processes financial data. This role requires deep expertise in both backend Java development and modern frontend technologies, with a strong focus on performance optimization, API design, and leveraging AI-powered development tools. You'll architect solutions for complex data pipelines, build robust APIs, optimize BigQuery performance, and implement comprehensive service validations. This is a technical leadership role where you'll mentor other engineers while driving critical infrastructure modernization initiatives. We operate with a startup mentality—you'll own features end-to-end, move fast, and ship code independently with minimal overhead. Your way to impact At PayPal, Senior Software Engineers are technical leaders who shape the future of our finance technology platform. You'll architect and build systems that process billions of dollars in transactions, ensure accurate financial reporting across global operations, and drive the transformation from legacy batch processes to modern, API-driven architectures. Your work will directly impact PayPal's ability to scale, innovate, and maintain financial integrity across the organization. You'll have the autonomy to make technical decisions, the freedom to innovate, and the support to move quickly from concept to production. Your day-to-day Design and develop full-stack applications using Java backend services and React frontend components Architect and implement RESTful APIs for efficient data querying and real-time transaction processing Lead performance tuning initiatives for BigQuery data warehouses, optimizing queries, partitioning strategies, and resource utilization Build rate limiting and throttling mechanisms for high-volume API services to ensure system stability Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins and Harness for automated testing and deployment Leverage AI development tools (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate development cycles and improve code quality Create thorough technical documentation for complex systems, APIs, and architectural decisions Mentor and lead software engineers through code reviews, technical design sessions, and pair programming Collaborate with Finance, Accounting, Payments, and Data Engineering teams on cross-functional initiatives Drive architectural decisions for microservices, API design, and data platform evolution Build automation scripts and tools to improve team productivity and operational efficiency

Requirements

• 5+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 6+ years of professional software development experience with strong expertise in Java backend development
• Proficiency in React and modern JavaScript (TypeScript) for frontend development
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs and microservices architecture
• Deep knowledge of BigQuery or similar cloud data warehouses (Snowflake, Redshift) including query optimization, partitioning, and clustering
• Experience implementing rate limiting, circuit breakers, and API gateway patterns
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, API design best practices, and integration patterns
• Experience with modernization, transformation, ETL/ELT processes, and pipeline validations

Nice To Haves

• Experience with finance/accounting systems, ERP platforms, or payment processing systems
• Knowledge of SAP integration and financial data workflows
• Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services including DataProc, Cloud Functions, and Pub/Sub, AMQ
• Familiarity with data migration projects and legacy system modernization
• Understanding of data governance, compliance requirements, and audit controls
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, and Agile/Scrum methodologies
• Knowledge of infrastructure optimization and cost reduction strategies
• Familiarity with Spring Boot, microservices patterns, and event-driven architectures

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
• Design and develop full-stack applications using Java backend services and React frontend components
• Architect and implement RESTful APIs for efficient data querying and real-time transaction processing
• Lead performance tuning initiatives for BigQuery data warehouses, optimizing queries, partitioning strategies, and resource utilization
• Build rate limiting and throttling mechanisms for high-volume API services to ensure system stability
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins and Harness for automated testing and deployment
• Leverage AI development tools (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate development cycles and improve code quality
• Create thorough technical documentation for complex systems, APIs, and architectural decisions
• Mentor and lead software engineers through code reviews, technical design sessions, and pair programming
• Collaborate with Finance, Accounting, Payments, and Data Engineering teams on cross-functional initiatives
• Drive architectural decisions for microservices, API design, and data platform evolution
• Build automation scripts and tools to improve team productivity and operational efficiency

Benefits

• This role is also eligible for a range of benefits which may include, medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, parental and family leave, 401(k) savings plan, paid time off, and other benefits.
• We have great benefits including a flexible work environment, employee shares options, health and life insurance and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level