Staff Software Engineer - Cloud Infrastructure and DevOps

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

This job acts as a project leader, coordinating the activities of other engineers, determining technical tasks, and improving existing structures and processes. It involves making technical decisions, collaborating with management to set standards, and representing the company to external partners.

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

Expected Qualifications

• 5+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor's degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications

Engineering at Venmo

At Venmo, we are creating a product that people love. We strive to create a delightful user experience while connecting the world and empowering people through payments. We are looking for intellectually curious people who want to be inspired and inspire others to change the world.

Engineering is a craft, and at Venmo we want the internals of our software to be as elegant as the end user experience we are designing. We spend our days scaling our infrastructure and building new features to meet and exceed our users' needs and wants. We work with a product team that is data-driven and human-centered in its design principles. We teach and learn from one another and push each other to be at our creative and analytical best.

Job Description: Cloud/DevOps Engineer

Our team is dedicated to ensuring the seamless operation of all user-facing services, as well as production and development systems. We manage Venmo's infrastructure comprehensively, encompassing operations, automation, security, compliance, and release engineering. While we are focused on Cloud Engineering, our work integrates elements of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and DevOps projects as well.

On the DevOps front, we oversee CI/CD infrastructure, develop smart and secure pipelines, implement self-service secret management systems, create development environments, and establish microservices scaffolding and testing frameworks. The quality of the systems we build is paramount to the company, and we prioritize it highly. Our infrastructure must be delivered automatically, thoroughly tested, and scanned for vulnerabilities through synthetic tests.

As a Staff Engineer, you will support our critical domains, leading major initiatives related to your domain. You will be part of the architect group that defines the future of the Company's technical development. This individual will be a hands‑on contributor that teaches by example and mentors other engineers and product owners on how to improve their development, using our systems, by driving best practices. We have a lot of independence in our decisions, but we are kept accountable for the results.

As a Staff Engineer, you will

• Contribute and help drive the strategic direction to one or more of our domains, leading initiatives in your area of expertise.
• Act as a hands‑on contributor, while leading by example
• Mentor senior and junior engineers
• Enjoy a high degree of independence in decision‑making while being accountable for results of yourself and your team
• Be part of a team dedicated to driving the scalability and reliability of Venmo's AWS cloud infrastructure
• Provide guidance, thought leadership, and mentorship to application teams to build and strengthen their cloud competencies

Our technical stack

• AWS
• EKS
• Docker
• GitHub Enterprise
• CDK
• Terraform
• GitHub Actions
• Datadog
• Bash
• Python
• Go

What You'll Do

• Lead major initiatives end‑to‑end: internal teams rarely have dedicated project managers. You will define the design, identify stakeholders, navigate risks and changes, coordinate colleagues' work, implement solutions, and be accountable for timely and quality project delivery.
• Continually raise the bar through assisting fellow engineers in developing and delivering their code more efficiently and securely.
• Troubleshoot incidents, identify root causes, fix and document problems, and implement preventive measures.
• Coach and mentor engineers on design principles and best practices.
• Recognize, validate and evangelize emerging technologies and architectures that align with business objectives.
• Strategically and tactically leading by example, making meaningful contributions to the improvement of engineering teams' production operations.
• Develop and improve tools and automation to manage infrastructure and application configuration as code.
• Enhance the quality, reliability, and stability of our infrastructure and operations.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelors and/or master's in computer science or related field of study
• 7+ years' experience in software development or a related field
• 5+ years' experience operating distributed applications 24x7x365, as part of a Cloud Engineering, DevOps, and/or SRE team. 2+ years technical leadership experience
• Extensive hands‑on experience with designing, implementing and supporting infrastructure (AWS experience preferred) to support global‑scale services
• Deep hands‑on experience with IaaS and PaaS solutions from AWS (or similar cloud provider):
  • Hands‑on programming and scripting (Python, Java, Bash, Go)
  • Hands‑on experience with containers & container orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes
• Strong communication skills with the ability to understand and explain technical issues to a non‑technical audience

Subsidiary

• Venmo

Travel Percent

• 0

Compensation

Primary Location | Pay Range

• San Jose, California | ($176,500.00 - $262,350.00 Annually)

Additional Locations | Pay Range

• Texas - (Virtual) | ($160,500.00 - $238,700.00 Annually)
• Austin, Texas | ($160,500.00 - $238,700.00 Annually)
• Northern California - (Virtual) | ($169,000.00 - $250,800.00 Annually)
• Arizona - (Virtual) | ($152,500.00 - $226,600.00 Annually)
• Scottsdale, Arizona | ($152,500.00 - $226,600.00 Annually)

Additional compensation for this role may include an annual performance bonus, equity, or other incentive compensation, as applicable.

Recruitment Notice

PayPal does not charge candidates any fees for courses, applications, resume reviews, interviews, background checks, or onboarding. When making an application directly, we will never ask you to share passwords, one‑time passcodes (OTP), or verification codes. Any such request is a red flag and likely part of a scam. All communication regarding your application will come from official PayPal email domains. If you suspect fraudulent activity, please report it immediately. To learn more about how to identify and avoid recruitment fraud please visit https://careers.pypl.com/contact-us.

Hybrid Work Model

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 comprehensive, choice‑based programs, to support all aspects of personal wellbeing—physical, emotional, and financial—delivering meaningful value where it matters most. We strive to create a flexible, balanced work culture with a holistic approach to benefits, including generous paid time off, healthcare coverage for you and your family, and resources to create financial security and support your mental health.

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.

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.

Talent Community

Any general requests for consideration of your skills, please Join our Talent Community.

We know the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates. Please don't hesitate to apply.