Senior Staff Software Engineer, AI Innovation

PayPal

Confirmed live today High trust
Hybrid

Quick summary

Work type
Hybrid
Location
San Jose, CA
Salary
$196,500–$291,500 / yr
Posted
7 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live today
Closes
Apr 18, 2027

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $205k
This role $244k
$125k $309k
below market most similar roles pay here above market

This role pays more than 82% of similar roles. Most pay $170,987–$238,250 — the blue band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $244k versus about $205k 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 $160,500–$259,158 across 91 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at PayPal

At a glance

TL;DR · Senior Staff Software Engineer, AI Innovation

The Sr Staff Software Engineer, AI Innovation joins the AI Growth & Innovation team to transition emerging artificial intelligence from initial concepts into production-ready systems. This role involves building and enhancing agentic systems, real-time voice, and multimodal experiences for real customers. You will research new models and frameworks, prototype fast to test hypotheses, and scale validated ideas into reliable, secure products. Key responsibilities include owning high-visibility bets end-to-end, managing multi-team initiatives, and establishing technical conventions. Required skills include hands-on experience with LLMs or agentic systems, strong engineering fundamentals in a modern language, and knowledge of automated evaluation and observability. You will solve complex business problems by developing platform capabilities, focusing on metrics like quality, latency, and cost while navigating technical ambiguity to deliver impactful AI solutions.

What does a Software Engineer earn in California?

Median $214500 from 1193 postings across 76 companies.

See salary data

What you'll do

  • Build and enhance agentic systems, real-time voice, and multimodal experiences directly in production.
  • Research new models and frameworks to turn ambiguous problems into technical points of view.
  • Build scrappy prototypes quickly to test hypotheses and prove technical feasibility.
  • Scale validated ideas into reliable, secure, and cost-efficient products for real customers.
  • Extend the agent platform's orchestration, tool use, and evaluation capabilities.
  • Track key performance metrics including quality, latency, cost, and overall impact.
  • Make technical decisions that affect multiple teams and cross organizational boundaries.
  • Communicate complex technical issues clearly to both engineering teams and non-technical audiences.

What we're looking for

  • 8+ years of relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • Senior or staff-level engineering experience with a track record of shipping and scaling products to real users.
  • Hands-on experience building with LLMs or agentic systems in a professional, startup, or serious independent project environment.
  • Strong engineering fundamentals in at least one modern programming language.
  • Ability to build scrappy prototypes quickly to test hypotheses and handle high levels of ambiguity.
  • Clear communication skills for explaining technical issues to both engineers and executives.
  • Real-time voice or multimodal experience (preferred).
  • Knowledge of automated evaluation, observability, and model fine-tuning for AI systems (preferred).

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