Staff Database Engineer

MySQL
UNITED STATES
October 20, 2026
Full Time
Apply Now

Job Description

Company: Venmo (PayPal)
Location: San Jose, CA
Workplace Type: Hybrid
Employment Type: Full-time
Pay / Compensation: $176,500.00 – $262,350.00 Annually

About the Role

The Venmo Data Platforms team is responsible for engineering and operating Venmo’s internal and customer-facing production data stores, including Aurora MySQL, Amazon DocumentDB, Cassandra, ElastiCache, OpenSearch, and DynamoDB. As a Staff Database Engineer on the Data Platforms team, you will partner closely with engineering leadership to prioritize initiatives that align service operations with business goals. You will be a hands-on technical leader who leads by example, mentoring engineers and product owners to improve service availability, reliability, and scalability through best practices.

What You’ll Do / Key Responsibilities

  • Engineer and Operate Data Stores: Design, implement, automate, and operate next-generation, cloud-native database systems supporting internal and customer-facing production traffic.
  • Drive Operational Excellence: Drive service availability, reliability, and scalability through automation, infrastructure as code, and AI-driven optimization.
  • Technical Leadership: Act as a project or system leader, coordinating the activities of other engineers, setting technical tasks, and establishing standards for engineering rigor.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with infrastructure and product teams to support Venmo’s data-driven innovation, platform resilience, and continued growth.
  • Mentorship: Mentor and develop engineers and product owners, sharing expertise to elevate team capabilities.

Requirements & Qualifications

  • Education & Experience: 5+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR any equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • Database Expertise: Deep expertise with database operations and design for relational and non-relational data stores, including MySQL, AWS Aurora, AWS DynamoDB, AWS DocumentDB, Cassandra, Redis, and Elasticsearch.
  • Automation & Scripting: Proficiency with infrastructure as code (AWS CLI, AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, Ansible, Puppet) and programming/scripting languages (Python, Java, Bash, Lambda, API GW).
  • Communication & Leadership: Strong communication skills with the ability to understand and explain technical issues to a non-technical audience, alongside experience mentoring engineering leads.

Preferred / Bonus Qualifications (if applicable)

  • AWS Solutions Architect certification preferred.

Benefits & Perks (if applicable)

  • Comprehensive, choice-based health and wellness programs supporting physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing.
  • Generous paid time off and healthcare coverage for you and your family.
  • Financial security resources and mental health support.
  • Balanced hybrid work model offering flexibility between office and home workspaces.

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.

Related Jobs