Staff Software Engineer

The Company

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has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalized, and secure, 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. 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 or Venmo account balance, 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 , 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:

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We are seeking an experienced Technical Lead to drive our L7 Routing team, owning critical ingress and egress routing capabilities that form the backbone of our infrastructure. This role combines deep technical expertise with leadership responsibilities, requiring someone who can architect scalable solutions while guiding and mentoring a team of engineers.

Job Description:

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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 to the outside world via interactions with partners, customers, or industry organizations

Minimum Qualifications:

• Minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience and a Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualification:

Key Responsibilities

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• Technical Leadership: Lead the design and implementation of L7 routing solutions, making critical architectural decisions that impact system performance, reliability, and scalability
• Team Coordination: Act as project leader, coordinating engineering activities, defining technical tasks, and establishing development priorities aligned with business objectives
• Process Improvement: Drive continuous improvement of existing systems, development processes, and operational procedures
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with management to establish technical standards and best practices across the organization
• External Representation: Serve as technical ambassador, representing the company's routing capabilities to external partners and stakeholders
• Mentorship: Provide technical guidance and career development support to team members, fostering a culture of learning and growth

Required Qualifications

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Education & Experience

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related technical field
• 12+ years of hands-on backend development experience with proven progression in technical leadership roles
• Demonstrated experience leading engineering teams and managing complex technical projects

Core Technical Skills

• Programming Expertise: Advanced proficiency in Golang with deep understanding of concurrent programming, performance optimization, and best practices
• System Architecture: Proven ability to design and implement scalable, resilient backend systems following industry standards (HTTP, REST, microservices architecture)
• L7 Routing & Proxies: Strong expertise with web and reverse proxies (Nginx, Apache, HAProxy) and advanced L7 routing concepts for traffic management, load balancing, and service mesh architectures
• Containerization & Orchestration: Hands-on experience with Docker and Kubernetes, including cluster management, service discovery, and network policies

Infrastructure & Operations

• Cloud Platforms: Practical experience with AWS or Google Cloud Platform, including networking services, load balancers, and traffic management solutions
• CI/CD & Automation: Proficiency with continuous integration/deployment pipelines and infrastructure automation tools
• Monitoring & Observability: Experience implementing comprehensive monitoring, logging, and alerting solutions using tools like Datadog, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, or Splunk
• Production Operations: Proven track record in troubleshooting complex production systems, incident response, and implementing reliability improvements

Development Practices

• Version Control: Expert-level Git usage and collaborative development workflows
• Code Quality: Experience establishing and maintaining code review processes, testing strategies, and documentation standards
• Performance Optimization: Skills in profiling, benchmarking, and optimizing high-throughput routing systems

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Technical Decision Making: Demonstrated ability to make sound architectural decisions that balance technical excellence with business requirements and timelines
• Mentorship: Track record of successfully mentoring engineers and contributing to their professional development
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Adaptability: Quick learner who can rapidly adapt to new technologies and changing business requirements
• Independence: Self-directed with ability to work autonomously while knowing when to seek input and collaboration

Preferred Additional Qualifications

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• Experience with service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd, Consul Connect)
• Knowledge of network protocols beyond HTTP (TCP, UDP, gRPC)
• Experience with edge computing and CDN technologies
• Familiarity with chaos engineering and reliability testing practices
• Contributions to open-source projects related to networking or routing
• Experience with high-availability, multi-region deployments
• Knowledge of security best practices for routing and network infrastructure

Subsidiary:

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Travel Percent:

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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 .

For the majority of employees, '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 office or your home workspace, ensuring that you equally have the benefits and conveniences of both locations.

Our Benefits:

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At , 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 .

Who We Are:

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Click Here to learn more about our culture and community.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

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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, 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 :

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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 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 .

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.