PayPal is hiring: Staff Machine Learning Engineer in San Jose

Job Summary

This role will lead the design, development, and implementation of advanced machine learning models and algorithms to solve complex problems. You will work closely with data scientists, software engineers, and product teams to enhance services through innovative AI/ML solutions. Your responsibilities include building scalable ML pipelines, ensuring data quality, and deploying models into production to drive business insights and improve customer experiences.

Job Description

• Lead the development and optimization of advanced machine learning models.


• Oversee the preprocessing and analysis of large datasets.


• Deploy and maintain ML solutions in production environments.


• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to integrate ML models into products and services.


• Monitor and evaluate the performance of deployed models, making necessary adjustments.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR an equivalent combination of education and experience.


• Extensive experience with ML frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or scikit‑learn.


• Expertise in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and tools for data processing and model deployment.

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AI or agentic systems, including exposure to LLM‑based agents, autonomous decision‑making components, or multi‑agent workflows; ability to integrate or operationalize these capabilities within data or ML solutions.


• Research experience in ML/AI areas with publications or open‑source contributions a plus.


• Experience with transformer‑based architectures (e.g., BERT, GPT, T5), including fine‑tuning and domain adaptation.


• Knowledge of reinforcement learning, including policy optimization, value function approximation, or bandit algorithms.


• Hands‑on experience with graph‑based models (e.g., GCN, GraphSAGE, GAT) or graph representation learning.


• Experience with semi‑supervised, self‑supervised, or unsupervised representation learning.


• Knowledge of causal inference, anomaly detection, and incremental/continual learning.


• Exposure to synthetic data generation techniques for model training or evaluation.


• Prior work in fraud detection, risk modeling, or other high‑impact, high‑noise domains.

Pay & Location

Pay Range – San Jose, California: $196,500.00 – $291,500.00 Annually.
Additional compensation may include an annual performance bonus, equity, or other incentive compensation as applicable.

Benefits

At PayPal, we offer comprehensive, choice‑based programs to support all aspects of personal wellbeing—physical, emotional, and financial—delivering meaningful value where it matters most. We provide generous paid time off, healthcare coverage for you and your family, and resources to create financial security and support your mental health.

Equal Employment Opportunity

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. We 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 paypalglobaltalentacquisition@paypal.com.