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:
This role leads the end-to-end product strategy for merchant onboarding and growth, with the mission of reducing time-to-first-transaction, improving activation rates, and driving sustainable merchant revenue expansion across PayPal’s global platform. The Director will own the merchant onboarding funnel – from signup through activation and early retention – and will partner with Growth, Sales, Marketing, and Engineering to design and scale experiences that enable merchants to realize the value of PayPal’s payment solutions.
The ideal candidate brings an analytical mindset, a proven track record of leveraging experimentation (A/B testing) and data to drive product decisions, and deep expertise in merchant lifecycle management. This leader will establish a cohesive product vision, build a high-performing team, and deliver measurable business outcomes that contribute to PayPal’s merchant growth targets.
Job Description:
**Essential Responsibilities: **
- Establish a shared vision across the company for one or more products, or a platform product enabling development & scalability, with a deliberate and cohesive strategy.
- Leads product strategy development, and develops a clear, executable view of the product strategy with cross-functional stakeholders.
- Influences the architectural roadmap and balances innovative design and technical implementation, while balancing regulatory requirements, time-to-market, meeting customer needs and product profitability.
- Champions the customer experience and prioritizes customer needs in product requirements and decision making.
- Defines and uses metrics that inform the success of products including usability studies, research and market analysis.
- Standardizes workstreams to include analytics, customer discovery, market research and competitive analysis to drive data-driven decision-making.
- Responsible for product profitability, including budgetary decisions.
- Leads operational mechanisms that drive execution and accountability including Product Reviews, Operating Reviews, and Business Reviews. Interfaces with senior leadership as needed.
- Maximizes efficiency in a constantly evolving environment where the process is fluid and creative solutions are the standard.
Minimum Qualifications:
- 10+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 2 years of experience leading others
Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications:
Product Vision & Strategy
- Establish a shared product vision and multi-year roadmap for merchant onboarding and growth, ensuring alignment with PayPal’s broader merchant experience and revenue goals.
- Define and execute a cohesive merchant onboarding strategy that reduces friction at every stage of the merchant journey from account creation and identity verification through payment integration, first transaction, and early activation.
- Influence the architectural roadmap, balancing innovative design and technical implementation with regulatory requirements, time-to-market objectives, and product profitability.
- Own the end-to-end merchant product lifecycle, ensuring experiences are scalable, personalized, and optimized for merchants across SMB and enterprise segments.
Merchant Onboarding & Activation
- Own and optimize the full merchant onboarding funnel, with clear ownership of KPIs including time-to-onboard, activation rate, and drop-off metrics at each funnel stage.
- Drive improvements in merchant activation by identifying and removing key friction points across sign-up flows, verification steps, integration options, and early product education experiences.
- Design merchant onboarding experiences that are tailored to merchant segment, vertical, and geography, enabling faster time-to-first-transaction for new merchants.
- Partner with Compliance, Risk, and Legal teams to streamline identity verification and onboarding requirements without compromising regulatory standards.
Merchant Growth & Retention
- Drive merchant revenue growth by identifying and executing on upsell, cross-sell, and product adoption opportunities within the existing merchant base.
- Define and track merchant growth metrics including Transaction Processing Volume (TPV) contribution, Monthly Active Merchants, product penetration depth, and cohort-level retention rates.
- Develop product strategies that reduce early-stage merchant churn by improving onboarding quality, time-to-value, and ongoing engagement with PayPal’s value proposition.
- Champion the merchant experience and ensure customer needs are prioritized in all product requirements, trade-off decisions, and roadmap prioritization.
Analytics, Experimentation & Data-Driven Decision Making
- Lead a rigorous experimentation culture by designing, executing, and interpreting A/B tests to validate onboarding flow changes, messaging strategies, feature rollouts, and growth initiatives.
- Standardize analytics frameworks across the merchant onboarding portfolio, including funnel analytics, cohort analysis, segmentation studies, and statistically sound experimentation methodologies.
- Define and track success metrics for onboarding and growth products; translate complex data insights into actionable product improvements and executive-level narratives.
- Partner with Data Science and Analytics teams to build self-serve dashboards and reporting infrastructure that enable rapid iteration and data-informed prioritization.
- Leverage customer discovery, market research, and competitive analysis to identify whitespace opportunities and inform product strategy.
Cross-Functional Leadership & Execution
Lead cross-functional teams – including Engineering, Design, Data Science, Marketing, Sales, and Operations – to deliver high-quality merchant onboarding and growth products on time and at scale.
Establish and lead operational mechanisms including Product Reviews, Operating Reviews, and Business Reviews; interface with senior leadership to communicate roadmap progress and business impact.
Responsible for product profitability, including budgetary decisions and ROI analysis for onboarding and growth investments.
Collaborate with global regional teams to ensure merchant onboarding solutions address local market nuances, regulatory requirements, and growth opportunities across PayPal’s international footprint.
Maximize efficiency in a constantly evolving environment where the process is fluid and creative, scalable solutions are the standard.
Experience with merchant onboarding flows including identity verification (KYC/KYB), payment integration, and compliance workflows in a regulated payments environment.
Familiarity with merchant segmentation strategies and differentiated product experiences for SMB, mid-market, and enterprise merchant segments.
Experience building and scaling growth product capabilities including personalization, in-product messaging, progressive onboarding, and automated merchant lifecycle triggers.
Strong executive presence with the ability to influence and communicate effectively with senior stakeholders, C-suite leaders, and cross-functional partners.
Experience in global product development with an understanding of regional market nuances across North America, Europe, or APAC.
MBA or advanced degree is a plus.
Subsidiary:
PayPal
Travel Percent:
0
- The base pay for this role will depend on where you work and the relevant experience and expertise you bring. The expected range of pay for this role by location is:
Primary Location | Pay Range:
San Jose, California | ($218,000.00 - $323,950.00 Annually)
Additional Location(s) | Pay Range:
No other locations are assigned to this requisition currently.
Additional compensation for this role may include an annual performance bonus, equity, or other incentive compensation, as applicable.
PayPal 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 paypalglobaltalentacquisition@paypal.com.
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.