The Company
PayPal has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalized, and secure, PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy.
We operate a global, two-sided network at scale that connects hundreds of millions of merchants and consumers. We help merchants and consumers connect, transact, and complete payments, whether they are online or in person. PayPal is more than a connection to third-party payment networks. We provide proprietary payment solutions accepted by merchants that enable the completion of payments on our platform on behalf of our customers.
We offer our customers the flexibility to use their accounts to purchase and receive payments for goods and services, as well as the ability to transfer and withdraw funds. We enable consumers to exchange funds more safely with merchants using a variety of funding sources, which may include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products such as gift cards, and eligible credit card rewards. Our PayPal, Venmo, and Xoom products also make it safer and simpler for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. We offer merchants an end-to-end payments solution that provides authorization and settlement capabilities, as well as instant access to funds and payouts. We also help merchants connect with their customers, process exchanges and returns, and manage risk. We enable consumers to engage in cross-border shopping and merchants to extend their global reach while reducing the complexity and friction involved in enabling cross-border trade.
Our beliefs are the foundation for how we conduct business every day. We live each day guided by our core values of Inclusion, Innovation, Collaboration, and Wellness. Together, our values ensure that we work together as one global team with our customers at the center of everything we do – and they push us to ensure we take care of ourselves, each other, and our communities.
Job Summary:
PayPal’s Global Fraud Prevention Team addresses financial loss identifies fraudulent transaction real time by leveraging state-of-the-art technology to detect and mitigate fraud without impacting the customer experience. As a manager, you will be leading this effort through building a data science team to develop and implement strategies which drive impactful business results across the global organization.Job Description:
Essential Responsibilities:
- Lead and manage data science projects, ensuring timely delivery and alignment with business goals.
- Develop and maintain data models, algorithms, and reporting systems to support data analysis and decision-making.
- Analyze complex datasets to identify trends, patterns, and insights that drive strategic initiatives.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand data needs and provide actionable insights.
- Ensure data quality and integrity through regular audits and validation processes.
- Mentor and guide junior data scientists, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Minimum Qualifications:
- 5+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications:
Day-to-Day Responsibilities
Portfolio Ownership: Lead a group of Data Scientists to manage fraud and loss metrics for assigned product lines or markets.
Strategy Development: Collaborate cross-functionally to develop and iterate on fraud-prevention frameworks that optimize transaction declines and minimize customer friction.
Model Lifecycle Management: Guide the team in data preparation, feature engineering, model training, and validation—leveraging Python/R and cloud-native platforms (e.g., BigQuery, Snowflake).
Stakeholder Alignment: Host regular syncs with Business Units, Risk Operations, and Compliance to ensure models and business rules remain aligned with evolving policy and regulatory requirements.
Performance Monitoring: Track model health (drift, false-positive/false-negative rates) and lead root-cause analyses for any anomalies or spikes in loss.
What You’ll Bring
8+ years of relevant experience working with large-scale, complex datasets, including at least 3 years managing a team of 3–6 Data Scientists in a fraud-risk or financial-services environment.
Proven ability to decompose ambiguous business requirements into a structured analytic plan and deliver data-driven recommendations.
Advanced proficiency in SQL and Python (or R) for data wrangling, EDA, and model development.
Expertise in exploratory data analysis and preparing clean, structured datasets for modelling
Hands-on experience applying supervised and unsupervised learning techniques (regression, classification, clustering, decision trees, anomaly detection).
Familiarity with production ML frameworks (scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch) and cloud data platforms (BigQuery, Snowflake).
Deep understanding of fraud-risk principles, including AML/KYC, regulatory compliance, and performance metrics (Precision, Recall, ROC-AUC).
Strong track record of partnering with engineers, product managers, and business leaders.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to distill complex findings into clear narratives for both technical and non-technical audiences.
A passion for inventing new approaches to big, ambiguous problems—always looking to build novel solutions that stay ahead of evolving threat vectors.
Subsidiary:
PayPalTravel Percent:
0PayPal does not charge candidates any fees for courses, applications, resume reviews, interviews, background checks, or onboarding. When making an application directly, we will never ask you to share passwords, one-time passcodes (OTP), or verification codes. Any such request is a red flag and likely part of a scam. All communication regarding your application will come from official PayPal email domains. If you suspect fraudulent activity, please report it immediately. To learn more about how to identify and avoid recruitment fraud please visit https://careers.pypl.com/contact-us.
For the majority of employees, PayPal's balanced hybrid work model offers 3 days in the office for effective in-person collaboration and 2 days at your choice of either the PayPal office or your home workspace, ensuring that you equally have the benefits and conveniences of both locations.
Our Benefits:
At PayPal, we’re committed to building an equitable and inclusive global economy. And we can’t do this without our most important asset-you. That’s why 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 strive to create a flexible, balanced work culture with a holistic approach to benefits, including generous paid time off, healthcare coverage for you and your family, and resources to create financial security and support your mental health.
Who We Are:
Click Here to learn more about our culture and community.
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
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. In addition, PayPal 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 us at [email protected].
Belonging at PayPal:
Our employees are central to advancing our mission, and we strive to create an environment where everyone can do their best work with a sense of purpose and belonging. Belonging at PayPal means creating a workplace with a sense of acceptance and security where all employees feel included and valued. We are proud to have a diverse workforce reflective of the merchants, consumers, and communities that we serve, and we continue to take tangible actions to cultivate inclusivity and belonging at PayPal.
Any general requests for consideration of your skills, please Join our Talent Community.
We know the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates. Please don’t hesitate to apply.
