Sr Staff Software Engineer

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:

As the Senior Staff Engineer, Personalization, you will be responsible for shaping the strategy, development, and execution of our AI-driven personalization platform. You will lead initiatives that harness real-time personalization powered by customer data and context, delivering tailored experiences at scale.

This role requires deep expertise in personalization and recommendation systems, agentic AI, and cloud-native architecture. Success in this position will also demand strong strategic thinking, technical leadership and vision, and the ability to effectively manage and influence stakeholders.

Job Description:

Essential Responsibilities:

• Makes technical decisions affecting multiple teams, crossing organizational boundaries
• Establishes conventions & processes to be followed by other employees
• Actions determine the utilization of company resources (people, money, assets) and affect the effectiveness of the company
• Handles multiple, multi-team initiatives simultaneously, using judgement to prioritize among more issues than can be handled individually.
• Understands evolving industry capabilities & practices and can judiciously apply up--to-date information for optimal results
• Competent at communicating technical issues with non-technical audiences
• Spreads their behavior, principles, and knowledge as a means of improving technical results of other employees (via many means – modeling behavior, 1:1s, working sessions, quality documentation)
• Partners with product management, to ideate solutions to business problems & goals

Minimum Qualifications:

• Minimum of 12 years of relevant work experience and a Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualification:

Define & Drive Strategy

Establish and execute the long-term technical strategy for the personalization platform, ensuring alignment with company-wide goals and customer-first principles. Anticipate and capitalize on emerging trends in personalization, recommendation systems, and agentic AI to maintain competitive advantage.

Build Scalable Personalization Systems

Partner with AI, data science, and engineering teams to design and deliver real-time personalization capabilities that adapt dynamically to user context. Architect cloud-native, scalable systems that balance performance, reliability, and security while enabling rapid experimentation and innovation.

Deliver Hyper-Personalized Experiences

Lead efforts to power intelligent, AI-driven personalization across PayPal's digital ecosystem, delivering seamless and frictionless customer experiences. Leverage real-time data, behavioral analytics, and AI-driven decision-making to improve engagement, retention, and conversion.

Technical Leadership & Influence

Serve as a thought leader, mentoring engineers and influencing cross-functional stakeholders on personalization best practices and architectural trade-offs. Drive adoption of personalization frameworks and tools across teams, enabling consistency, reusability, and faster product integration.

Customer-Centric Innovation

Champion a customer-first mindset by ensuring personalization features respect privacy, foster trust, and deliver clear value. Continuously measure, analyze, and optimize personalization outcomes to maximize customer satisfaction and business impact.

Subsidiary:

PayPal

Travel Percent:

20

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PayPal is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices.

Actual Compensation is based on various factors including but not limited to work location, and relevant skills and experience.

The total compensation for this practice may include an annual performance bonus (or other incentive compensation, as applicable), equity, and medical, dental, vision, and other benefits. For more information, visit https://www.paypalbenefits.com

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The US national annual pay range for this role is $169,500 to $291,500

PayPal does not charge candidates any fees for courses, applications, resume reviews, interviews, background checks, or onboarding. Any such request is a red flag and likely part of a scam. To learn more about how to identify and avoid recruitment fraud please visit https://careers.pypl.com/contact-us

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For the majority of employees, PayPal's balanced hybrid work model offers 3 days in the office for effective in-person collaboration and 2 days at your choice of either the PayPal office or your home workspace, ensuring that you equally have the benefits and conveniences of both locations.

Our 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 benefits to help you thrive in every stage of life. We champion your financial, physical, and mental health by offering valuable benefits and resources to help you care for the whole you.

We have great benefits including a flexible work environment, employee shares options, health and life insurance and more. To learn more about our benefits please visit https://www.paypalbenefits.com

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Who We Are:

Click Here

to learn more about our culture and community.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

PayPal provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. In addition, PayPal will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you are unable to submit an application because of incompatible assistive technology or a disability, please contact us at paypalglobaltalentacquisition@paypal.com

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Belonging at PayPal:

Our employees are central to advancing our mission, and we strive to create an environment where everyone can do their best work with a sense of purpose and belonging. Belonging at PayPal means creating a workplace with a sense of acceptance and security where all employees feel included and valued. We are proud to have a diverse workforce reflective of the merchants, consumers, and communities that we serve, and we continue to take tangible actions to cultivate inclusivity and belonging at PayPal.