Lead Architect, Developer Platforms

Job Description

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:

The Developer Platforms Engineering team at PayPal focuses on enabling engineering teams to build, deploy, and manage their applications with improved velocity, reliability, and scalability. As part of the ADAPT Infrastructure Architecture Team, the Developer Platforms Lead Architect drives the vision for Developer Experience by building tools, frameworks, and environments that empower PayPal's engineering teams to thrive. This role serves as a key bridge across Enterprise Architecture, Developer Platform Engineering (DPE), Infrastructure, SRE, Cloud domains, and more.

Ideal candidates will possess both a technical vision and hands-on experience shaping world-class internal developer platforms and workflows. This is an opportunity to foster a high-impact engineering culture while delivering solutions that prioritize developer success, scalability, and innovation.

Job Description:

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy & Planning

- Define and maintain the Long-Term Architecture (LTA) for Developer Platforms and Experience, ensuring alignment with Enterprise Architecture.
- Develop a vision and roadmap for Developer Platforms and ensure alignment across Infrastructure, Cloud, SRE and AI/ML domains.
- Champion developer-centric practices across PayPal's engineering organization while managing technical debt related to CI/CD, test environments, and developer portals.
- Lead decision-making processes for technology investments, focusing on industry standards (e.g. COTS, open-source solutions) for developer productivity tools and frameworks.
- Apply organizational principles like Conway's Law to optimize team alignment and system design in ways that improve developer workflows.

Technical Architecture

- Architect scalable integration patterns for internal Developer Platforms, test environments, CI/CD pipelines, and other productivity engineering solutions.
- Develop and maintain technical standards, architectural blueprints, and design patterns for internal developer tools.
- Design and lead the implementation of developer-focused solutions such as portals, API management/gateway integrations (e.g., Kong, GraphQL), and environments for full-cycle development.
- Evaluate and guide strategic architectural investments (e.g., service mesh, staging environments scalability, API observability).
- Prioritize reliability, scalability, traceability, monitoring, observability, and security in all design and architecture decisions.

Developer Productivity

- Drive enhancements in CI/CD environments with tools like Harness (current), Jenkins (legacy), GitHub EMU, and JFROG Artifactory.
- Build and enhance internal developer portals, consolidating workflows and orchestrating developer environments such as staging and sandbox layers.
- Advance developer automation strategies, improving iteration cycles, development speed, and usability across frameworks like UrbanCode Velocity and API Management platforms.
- Partner with teams managing messaging systems, L7 load balancers, and application environments (e.g., JVM frameworks for Java/JavaScript).
- Leverage observability tools such as Datadog to provide visibility into developer ecosystems and identify areas for optimization.
- Explore AI and ML-enabled technologies for code analysis, test automation, and developer productivity insights.

Technical Leadership

- Serve as a thought leader advocating for engineering best practices and architecting world-class Developer Platforms.
- Lead cross-functional program architecture reviews, including High-Level Designs (HLDs) and Architectural Decision Records (ADRs).
- Guide teams dealing with incident management, RCA processes, and overarching developer ecosystem strategies.
- Partner with PayPal leaders and engineers to foster collaboration, eliminate inefficiencies, and reduce duplicate efforts.
- Mentor teams on scalable development strategies and foster a culture of engineering excellence and innovation.
- Distill complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for stakeholders across technical and non-technical domains.

Qualifications:

- 12+ years of experience in development, infrastructure, or cloud architecture roles, with at least 5 years focused on Developer Platforms or Developer Productivity Engineering.
- Strong understanding of systems design, enterprise architecture principles, distributed systems, and developer-centric environments.
- Proven experience with modern CI/CD architectures, developer environment tooling, and internal developer platform solutions like Harness, Jenkins, and GitHub EMU.
- Expertise in designing and implementing scalable integration patterns (API management, GraphQL architecture, etc.).
- Familiarity with tools and frameworks such as Kong API Gateway, JFROG Artifactory, UrbanCode Velocity, JVM frameworks (Java/JavaScript), messaging systems, and Datadog for observability.
- Experience with developer environments such as test and staging systems, load balancing strategies, and monitoring systems for developer success.
- Ability to drive technical strategy, governance frameworks, and architectural decision-making with a focus on developer productivity.
- Strong problem-solving skills, particularly in high-availability and mission-critical environments.
- Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder management abilities.
- Familiarity with AI capabilities to augment developer platforms and productivity strategies is a plus.

Who You Are

You are a visionary architect with deep expertise in Developer Platforms and Developer Productivity Engineering. You thrive on empowering developers to build faster, better, and with greater confidence. You bring a blend of technical acumen and leadership abilities, leveraging tools, processes, and collaboration to deliver best-class developer-centric solutions. If you are passionate about shaping the future of Developer Experience and building platforms that unlock the potential of engineering teams, this is the role for you.

Preferred Qualification:

Subsidiary:

PayPal

Travel Percent:

-

PayPal is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices.

Actual Compensation is based on various factors including but not limited to work location, and relevant skills and experience.

The total compensation for this practice may include an annual performance bonus (or other incentive compensation, as applicable), equity, and medical, dental, vision, and other benefits. For more information, visit .

The US national annual pay range for this role is $188,000 to $323,950

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 .

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.

Who We Are:

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 .

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 .

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