As a Senior Software Engineer on PayPal s Risk Decision Platform, you will build the core platform powering decision systems for 80+ internal teams in risk, compliance, and limits. This backend role involves developing distributed, scalable, high-performance systems supporting rule-based decisioning, real-time analytics, and resilience. You will work through the full SDLC from architecture and development to deployment and operations. Strong Java and distributed systems skills, teamwork, communication, mentoring, and passion for continuous improvement are essential.
Meet your team The Risk Decision Platform Team supports fraud prevention and compliance with dynamic rule-based services. Serving 80+ teams, we adapt to new requirements and scale. Agile-driven, we focus on reliability, innovation, and quick delivery. We handle design, development, testing, release, monitoring, and DevOps.
Job Description
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
Minimum Qualifications
- Minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience and a Bachelors degree or equivalent experience.
Preferred Qualification
What you need to bring
Experience & Education
- 5+ years of backend development experience.
- Bachelor s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
Core Technical Skills
- Advanced proficiency in Java EE with deep experience in Spring MVC.
- Solid knowledge of software engineering principles, algorithms, data structures, and object-oriented design.
- Hands on experience building and scaling RESTful APIs and services with a focus on high availability and reliability.
- Hands-on experience with distributed systems and data technologies such as Hadoop and Spark.
- Proficiency with build and version control tools (Maven, Git).
- AI-powered developer tools for faster day to day tasks and automation.
System Knowledge
- Experience with SQL and NoSQL databases.
- Familiarity with message queues and data pipelines.
- Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and working in Scrum/Agile environments.
- Exposure to shell scripting, networking concepts, and DevOps practices.
- Experience with rule engine products will be added advantage.
- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP)
Soft Skills & Teamwork
- Proven ability to mentor junior engineers and contribute to code and design reviews.
- Analytical thinking and problem-solving skills, including the ability to perform root cause analysis effectively.
- Ability and flexibility to work in cross-functional roles and support all phases of the SDLC.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Strong sense of ownership, accountability, and ability to operate in a high-change, fast-paced environment.
4. Your day to day
- Collaborate with Product Owners and cross-functional teams to comprehend business requirements and deliver scalable solutions.
- Proactively identify and communicate potential issues to the team and management in a timely manner.
- Collaborate with a team of skilled engineers, product managers, and architects to design and develop a highly scalable and configurable Risk Platform.
- Contribute to design meetings, proposing, discussing, and refining new features and functionalities.
- Engage in all phases of the project life cycle, from kickoff through requirements analysis, design, and implementation.
- Demonstrate self-starting capabilities, working independently or as part of a team, and possess strong communication skills for interfacing with business partners and Technology.
- Communicate technical standards, principles, methodology, and trends to stakeholders effectively.
- Apply analytical and innovative thinking to develop comprehensive detailed specifications.
- Excel in cross-functional collaboration and achieve results in matrix organizations.
- Utilize experience in engineering support throughout the product development life cycle (PDLC).
- Possess working knowledge of fintech standards and practices, preferred.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with large-scale, high-performance systems.
- Knowledge of the payment processing industry and relevant regulations.
- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure).
- Contributions to open-source projects.
