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Staff Software Engineer - Backend (Python)

PayPal

PayPal

Software Engineering
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Posted on Feb 24, 2026

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:

What you need to know about the role

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will provide technical leadership/Mentorship within the POD Engineering team and serve as a key interface to Core Engineering. You will drive system-level design, review HLD/LLD before Core submission, and ensure solutions align with PayPal/Venmo platform architecture and long-term strategy. You will lead complex initiatives across the full SDLC, contribute to high-impact code, and balance trade-offs across scalability, reliability, security, compliance, and delivery timelines.

Meet your team
Within the POD Engineering team, we are responsible for feature delivery, design preparation, and implementation, while partnering closely with Core Engineering teams for architectural governance and final approvals. This collaborative model allows us to move quickly while maintaining platform integrity, compliance, and long-term scalability.

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

Minimum Qualifications:

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

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications:

Your way to impact

You create impact by driving architectural clarity, elevating engineering standards,

Your way to impact

You create impact by driving architectural clarity, elevating engineering standards, and enabling teams to deliver scalable and resilient solutions. You focus on aligning design decisions with long-term platform strategy while reducing technical debt and improving system reliability. Beyond direct contributions, You multiply impact by mentoring engineers, strengthening design rigor before Core reviews, and fostering knowledge sharing across teams.

Your day to day

Review and refine HLD and LLD before submission to Core teams
Drive technical discussions to ensure alignment with platform architecture
Break down complex initiatives into clear technical direction for the team
Contribute to critical or cross-cutting code changes
Provide high-quality design and code reviews
Mentor senior and mid-level engineers on system design and trade-offs
Partner with Core teams to clarify feedback and resolve architectural concerns
Identify technical risks early and propose mitigation strategies
Improve engineering processes, patterns, and standards within the POD
Participate in architecture forums, tech councils, and knowledge-sharing sessions
Support incident reviews and guide long-term reliability improvements

What do you need to bring-

Strong system-level thinking with the ability to align solutions to long-term platform strategy
Proven architectural judgment in designing scalable, reliable, secure, and compliant systems
Deep hands-on expertise in Python, with strong coding, design, and review practices
Solid experience with MySQL and NoSQL databases, including data modeling and performance optimization
Understanding in Big Data Engineering, including building and optimizing large-scale data pipelines and distributed data systems
Practical experience with big data technologies (e.g., Spark, Kafka, distributed processing frameworks)
Hands-on experience with AI/ML systems, including integrating models into production environments
Experience building and operating systems on AWS and/or GCP
Strong refactoring skills to modernize legacy systems and improve maintainability
Demonstrated commitment to engineering excellence (design rigor, code quality, testing, standards)
Strong focus on operational excellence (observability, reliability, incident management, resilience)
Ability to lead complex initiatives across the full SDLC and influence cross-team technical decisions
Ownership mindset with proactive risk identification and continuous improvement

**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:

0

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.

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.

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.