Principal Engineer, Agentic Systems

PayPal

Hybrid

Quick summary

Work type: Hybrid
Location: San Jose, CA
Salary: $218,000–$323,950 / yr
Posted: 81 days ago
Nearby: 99+ roles within 25 mi

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $213k

This role $271k

$154k most similar roles pay here $342k

This role pays more than 81% of similar roles. Most pay $173,850–$251,862 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $271k versus about $213k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About PayPal

PayPal is a leading global digital wallet and online payment system, founded in 1998, that allows individuals and businesses to send, receive, and manage funds securely in over 200 markets.

PayPal currently has 84 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $160,500–$235,826 across 84 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at PayPal

At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Engineer, Agentic Systems

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As a senior technology leader at PayPal, you will enhance the effectiveness of software engineers in a large domain by setting the technology roadmap and adapting your role to achieve technical goals. You will provide strategic advice to senior executives, influencing multi-year business strategies while handling ambiguous situations creatively. Your responsibilities include conducting exploratory research to inform decisions, identifying trends across projects for broad improvements, and determining when to adopt industry standards versus developing novel solutions. Additionally, you will mentor others to propagate technical influence and enhance organizational performance. Ideal candidates have over 10 years of experience in software or machine learning engineering with expertise in LLM-based agent systems, strong systems design skills, and production experience building agentic platforms that handle millions of requests reliably. Familiarity with payment APIs, authentication flows, financial transaction systems, and the emerging landscape of agent protocols is essential.

Skills

Python Java Go LLM-based systems Kubernetes Docker CI/CD PostgreSQL AWS Azure Payment APIs Authentication flows Financial transaction systems MCP/ACP protocols Multi-agent orchestration Terraform Git Jenkins

What you'll do

Sets the technology roadmap for a large domain.
Adapts role to achieve technical goals effectively.
Provides strategic advice to senior executives on multi-year business strategies.
Uses exploratory research across domains to make successful decisions.
Identifies improvement opportunities spanning projects and teams.
Mentors others to enhance organizational performance and propagate technical influence.

What we're looking for

10+ years of experience in software/ML engineering with expertise in LLM-based agent systems.
Proven track record in building agentic platforms, including multi-agent orchestration and tool-use frameworks.
Strong background in systems design for high-reliability platforms handling millions of requests.
Experience with payment APIs, authentication flows, and financial transaction systems.
Knowledge of emerging agent protocols and large-scale LLM tool-use patterns.
Ability to provide strategic advice to senior executives on multi-year business strategies.

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