below marketmost similar roles pay hereabove market
This role pays more than
71%
of similar roles. Most pay
$202,482–$254,812
— the blue band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$244k
versus about
$229k
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
96 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$168,500–$248,929
across 90 roles with salary data.
The Sr Staff Backend Engineer - Venmo Product joins the Consumer Financial Services team to lead the backend platform features, capabilities, and quality for Venmo's fastest-growing segment. This role involves making high-level technical decisions across organizational boundaries, establishing engineering conventions, and managing multi-team initiatives. You will own the technical direction for authentication, authorization, verification, and fraud risk systems while translating regulatory requirements like KYC, AML, and GDPR into implementable engineering solutions. The position requires deep expertise in Python, Java, or Go, along with proficiency in API management, OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, and FIDO2/WebAuthn. You will build and scale distributed systems on AWS using Terraform, ensuring high availability and security for complex financial services while mentoring senior engineers and collaborating with product and compliance stakeholders.
What does a Backend Engineer earn?
Median $218100 from 30 postings across 15 companies.
Set the technical direction for Venmo's CFS platform, including authentication, authorization, and fraud risk systems.
Make technical decisions that affect multiple teams and cross organizational boundaries.
Establish engineering standards, conventions, and processes for building, scaling, and securing systems.
Partner with product management to translate business goals and regulatory requirements into technical solutions.
Lead architectural reviews and mentor senior engineers through design docs, code reviews, and technical debates.
Manage multi-team initiatives simultaneously while prioritizing issues based on company resource utilization.
Own the performance and availability of services and participate in on-call rotations during incidents.
Communicate complex technical issues and tradeoffs to non-technical stakeholders and executive audiences.
What we're looking for
8+ years of relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Bachelor’s and/or Master's in computer science, or a related field of study, or equivalent experience (preferred).
12+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time spent on backend platforms, authentication, or security-critical systems at scale (preferred).
Deep expertise in Python and API management, including protocols like OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, and FIDO2/WebAuthn (preferred).
Proven track record of defining and shipping large-scale distributed systems and leading technical strategy across multiple teams (preferred).
Hands-on comfort with backend systems (Python, Java, Go, or similar), Cloud (AWS), and security engineering fundamentals (preferred).
Experience designing systems that meet regulatory requirements such as KYC, AML, GDPR, or similar (preferred).
Experience in managing infrastructure as code using Terraform (preferred).
OAuth 2.0
OIDC
SAML
FIDO2
WebAuthn
AWS
Terraform
Python
Java
Go
Distributed Systems
Identity and Access Management
KYC
AML
GDPR
PCI
Infrastructure as Code
Backend Systems
Python
Java
Go
AWS
Terraform
OAuth 2.0
OIDC
SAML
FIDO2
WebAuthn
Distributed Systems
Identity and Access Management
Infrastructure as Code
KYC
AML
GDPR
PCI