PayPal Sr Software Engineer 

United States, Arizona, Scottsdale 

230590292

Essential Responsibilities:

• Delivers complete solutions spanning all phases of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) (design, implementation, testing, delivery and operations), based on definitions from more senior roles.
• Advises immediate management on project-level issues
• Guides junior engineers
• Operates with little day-to-day supervision, making technical decisions based on knowledge of internal conventions and industry best practices
• Applies knowledge of technical best practices in making decisions

Expected Qualifications:

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

What You'll Do

• Gateway Platform Deployment: Design, implement, and operationalize API Gateway on the cloud and for on-premises environments
• Develop Custom Capabilities: Design and build custom extensions to meet complex business requirements
• Drive Cloud Architecture: Architect scalable, resilient API gateway solutions leveraging GCP services (GKE, Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud Armor, etc.) and multi-cloud capabilities
• Own Technical Delivery: Independently manage complex project deliverables from design through production deployment with minimal oversight
• Innovate and Optimize: Drive innovation through rapid prototyping, performance optimization, and best-practice implementation for API management at scale
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Collaborate with product managers, platform teams, and stakeholders to define technical direction and prioritize platform capabilities
• Ensure Operational Excellence: Implement comprehensive monitoring, alerting, and disaster recovery strategies for mission-critical API infrastructure
• Elevate Engineering Standards: Lead design and code reviews, mentor team members, and champion engineering best practices

Required:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field
• 8+ years of backend engineering experience with proven technical leadership
• Excellent programming skills in Java
• Expert-level GCP knowledge: GKE, networking, IAM, Cloud Functions, service mesh integration
• Strong API Gateway platform experience including API proxy development, policy configuration, traffic management, and platform operations; Apigee experience strongly preferred
• API Gateway extensibility: Proven experience developing custom plugins, extensions, or middleware to extend platform capabilities beyond out-of-the-box features
• Deep understanding of API management concepts: traffic management, security policies, rate limiting, OAuth/JWT, API analytics
• Proven track record building resilient, high-performance backend systems (REST APIs, microservices, distributed systems)
• Strong experience with Kubernetes and containerization (Docker)
• Experience withinfrastructure-as-code(Terraform)
• Self-starter who thrives with autonomy and can drive initiatives with minimal guidance

Preferred:

• Multi-cloud experience (GCP. AWS, Azure) and hybrid cloud architectures
• Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines (Harness preferred)
• Familiarity withmonitoring/observabilitytools (Datadog, OpenTelemetry, Splunk, Apigee Analytics)
• Strong understanding of web proxies and L7 routing (Nginx, Traefik)
• Background in large-scale platform migrations
• Experience with service mesh technologies like Istio and Consul Connect

What Sets You Apart

• Thought leadership: You don't just implement—you shape technical direction and influence architectural decisions
• Ownership mindset: You see projects through from concept to production, taking accountability for outcomes
• Adaptability: You quickly learn new technologies and pivot as business needs evolve
• Communication: You articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences and build consensus across teams

Our Benefits:

Any general requests for consideration of your skills, please