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 Description Summary:

What you need to know about the role-

This role requires strong product sense to directly support the business. Scale data management capabilities and drive high-impact, cross-functional initiatives that shape the future of data at GCSC Risk. Provides technical leadership, business and technical strategic alignment, and advanced problem-solving at an org-wide level. To successfully execute on cross-org initiatives, we need someone who can innovate, drive technical strategy, and ensure that our data solutions are scalable, efficient, and aligned with GCSC Risk’s broader goals.

Meet our team

As the Senior Staff Engineer, Global Risk Data Management within the Credit Infrastructure and Data organization, you will implement common data practices across functional areas that drives standardization, quality, ease of access, accelerates governance practices by treating data as a product and facilitates a data-driven culture across PayPal where data is considered a strategic asset and treated accordingly-with the proper controls and quality.

Job Description:

Your way to impact

This position will report to the Head of Credit Internal Data and will require a significant amount of collaboration across all business, technologies, product & platform teams within PayPal and its associated business entities.

We are helping rethink how we use data to make credit decisions at PayPal to fulfill the needs of our customers (both internal and external). We drive the creation of delightful, frictionless, and compliant payment experiences while maximizing the value of our data. In this role you will get an opportunity to support the implementation and adoption of the Enterprise Data Management & Governance (EDG) program across the company.

Your day to day

In your day to day role you will

Work independently or as a team member. Proactively remove obstacles to ensure timely delivery of product and goals

Write clean and solid code that scales over PB of data and enforce engineering excellence in the organization

Improve data management efficiency through AI capabilities, better process and best practices

Embed Privacy-by-Design principles into all data solutions and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

Provide expertise across the data product development lifecycle—spanning data engineering, architecture, and analytics—to design and deliver reusable, accessible, and high-quality data solutions.

Design data structures and taxonomies that support standardization, integration, and alignment with business processes.

Deliver technical leadership through analytical thinking, innovation, and detailed specifications.

Drive data product execution and adoption through a metrics-based approach

Define and communicate data strategy for credit products, aligned with PayPal’s technical direction, evolving credit strategies, and the external data ecosystem

Strong product sense to identify data challenges and opportunities, and assess the impact of data-driven solutions

Leverage enterprise frameworks, governance tools, and reusable architecture patterns for Credit Risk and cross organizations

Foster influential cross-functional relationships through collaboration, proactive planning, and decisive leadership to design scalable solutions across platforms and products.

Technical Leadership Qualities:

Strong collaboration skills and ability to influence across all organizations and levels within the company

Ability to communicate clearly and succinctly to all levels within the organization- translating the organizations goals into execution plans & metrics

Possess the ability to connect, engage and lead with empathy

Motivate others through a shared vision and confidence that empowers employees and teams to perform at their best

Demonstrate ability to delegate work

Operate with transparency and honesty in all interactions

What do you need to bring-

12+ years of experience in enterprise data management, with deep expertise in data governance, architecture, modelling, and platform design

Proven experience enabling data products at scale within large, cross-functional organizations

Strong business acumen and interest to deeply understand of PayPal’s credit use cases, data producers, and consumer needs.

Strong technical acumen with the ability to quickly grasp the technical details of products and systems

Expertise in data modelling using domain-driven design principles and a strong grasp of data architecture best practices.

Proficient in building and optimizing data platforms and pipelines using streaming and batch processing, including Lambda and Kappa architectures

Technical proficiency data management stacks and techniques such as Python, SQL, BigQuery, Airflow, Spark, Kafka, and data modelling, with experience in integrating ML/AI into scalable data solutions.

Experience with cloud-based data platforms, preferably GCP, and associated services

Demonstrated success in supporting ML/AI workloads (e.g., feature stores, training pipelines, model monitoring) and integrating AI into data workflows

Familiarity with AI-enhanced data systems (e.g., automated data discovery, quality monitoring, ML-assisted ETL)

Able to independently drive complex and ambiguous problem-solving efforts, balancing technical and strategic trade-offs

Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across engineering, risk, product, and compliance teams.

Adaptive, self-motivated, and comfortable navigating shifting priorities while maintaining focus on the end-to-end impact of data across systems.

Bonus Qualifications

Proven experience bridging the gap between data engineering and machine learning engineering.

Experience in financial services, with a strong preference for exposure to the credit risk domain.

Education:

BS or advanced degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field.

Additional Job Description:

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

Subsidiary:

PayPal

Travel Percent:

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.

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 talentaccommodations@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.

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.

Principal Data Engineer

PayPal

Job Description

About Company

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