PayPal's Experimentation Platform (ELMO) needs to design and build backend services and distributed systems that power experimentation at enterprise scale, handling billions of experiment evaluations per day with high throughput and low latency.
Requirements
- Expertise in one or more backend programming languages (Java, Python, or equivalent), with experience designing high-throughput, low-latency services.
- Hands-on experience with BigQuery or other large-scale data warehouses, including SQL proficiency, data modeling, and performance tuning.
- Experience with distributed data pipelines, streaming/messaging systems (e.g., Kafka, Spark), or large-scale analytics platforms.
- Deep understanding of system design trade-offs for scalability, resiliency, and fault tolerance.
- Proficiency in cloud-native architectures, microservices, and container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
- Familiarity with experimentation platforms, A/B testing frameworks, or measurement systems.
- Track record of mentoring engineers and driving technical improvements in backend systems.
Responsibilities
- Lead the design and implementation of backend services and distributed systems supporting experimentation workflows at PayPal scale.
- Build fault-tolerant, high-performance APIs and data services that integrate with BigQuery and other analytics platforms.
- Drive end-to-end ownership of backend features, from architecture and implementation to deployment and operational support.
- Partner with Product, Data Science, and ML teams to evolve experimentation methodologies, scorecarding, and analytics integrations.
- Mentor engineers, conducting design/code reviews and fostering best practices for backend and distributed system development.
- Troubleshoot complex distributed system issues and implement sustainable, long-term fixes.
- Contribute to scaling experimentation capabilities across PayPal’s ecosystem (mobile, web, backend services).
Other
- 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
