PayPal Software Engineer Salary

PayPal is well known in the fintech industry and is a sought-after company by many software engineers across various levels and specialties. With a reputation for offering competitive compensation, benefits, and perks, PayPal stands out for paying its software engineers competitively among the leading names in the financial tech industry. However, PayPal software engineer salary will vary depending on role, level, location, and a few other factors. So, how much does a software engineer at PayPal make? Our salary negotiation team is here to help you figure that out.

With extensive experience negotiating hundreds of tech job offers, we provide insights based on real-world PayPal salary negotiations and compensation research. In this guide, you'll find detailed information on PayPal software engineer levels, the key components of a PayPal software engineer salary, and a breakdown of average PayPal SWE salary and total compensation packages by level and location.

Want to Negotiate Your Offer? Get offer-specific guidance from an PayPal Salary Negotiation Coach. We help software engineers negotiate competitive job offers.

Or leverage our Salary Negotiation Courses and Templates.

Understanding the PayPal software engineer levels are important before interviewing with and accepting a job offer with PayPal, as they influence your software engineering responsibilities, total compensation, and career trajectory within PayPal. PayPal determines the PayPal software engineer levels based on a combination of factors, including years of experience, the scope of responsibilities, software engineering focus, and the overall impact of the position.

PayPal organizes its software engineering roles within a tiered structure just like most competing big tech companies. However, unlike others that uses the standard 1- 8 numerical level designations, PayPal uses descriptive role tiers. The PayPal software engineer levels are categorized from T22 to T26, where "T" stands for "Tier” in this structure.

This section provides an overview of the PayPal software engineer levels to help you navigate their role levels. As a software engineer at PayPal, you can pursue the engineering track as an individual contributor (IC) or the Engineering Manager (EM) for leadership roles. Below are the PayPal software engineer levels for the IC track:

• PayPal Software Engineer 1 (T22)

• PayPal Software Engineer 2 (T23)

• PayPal Senior Software Engineer (T24)

• PayPal Staff Software Engineer 1 (T25)

• PayPal Staff Software Engineer 2 (T26)

• PayPal Senior Staff Software Engineer (T27)

• PayPal Principal Software Engineer (T28)

We focus on the PayPal software engineering levels for the IC track on this page, but for reference here are the PayPal Engineering Manager levels for the EM track:

• PayPal Engineering Manager (T26)

• PayPal Senior Engineering Manager (T27)

• PayPal Engineering Director (T28)

• PayPal Senior Engineering Director (T29)

In a PayPal software engineer salary package, you’ll find a few core compensation components. Below is a quick overview of what to expect before we cover the average total compensation for PayPal software engineer salary.

PayPal Base Salary

This is the fixed amount you’ll receive in each paycheck for your PayPal SWE salary. There are set base salary ranges for each PayPal software engineer level and location.

PayPal Performance Bonus

The PayPal performance bonus is a percentage of your base salary, determined by both individual and company performance. The performance bonus percentage will be a set target based on your PayPal SWE level which typically ranges between 10-25%.

PayPal Equity Package

Upon joining PayPal as a software engineer, you'll receive an initial grant of PayPal Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). This PayPal software engineer salary perk will vest over a three-year period in equal increments, meaning you'll receive 1/3 of your RSUs each year at PayPal.

PayPal Sign-on Bonuses

PayPal typically offers software engineers a sign-on bonus in the first year. This one-time bonus serves as an incentive to join PayPal or to compensate for any benefits or perks you may lose when leaving your current engineering position.

PayPal Stock Refreshers

These are annual PayPal RSU equity grants that you may receive based on your annual engineering review at PayPal. The size of these will differ in size depending on performance and the PayPal engineering levels.

For more in-depth details from us on PayPal’s compensation structure for software engineers, you can check out our PayPal Salary Negotiation and Software Engineer Salary Negotiation articles.

PayPal has a set base salary and total compensation range for each of the PayPal software engineer levels. PayPal follows most other large tech companies by aiming to pay new hire software engineers within the lower to mid-range of their pay bands, but we’ve successfully negotiated PayPal software engineer salaries closer to the top end of each PayPal SWE salary range.

Below, we’ve listed the average total compensation for PayPal software engineers across the PayPal software engineer levels. Note that these figures are PayPal software engineer salary averages based on our research and negotiation experience, and not the top end of the PayPal SDE salary bands. To identify and reach the top end of the pay range and secure a competitive PayPal software engineer salary, we recommend working with a PayPal Salary Negotiation Coach.

PayPal Software Engineer 1 Salary - T22

Here is the average compensation we’ve seen for a PayPal software engineer 1 salary (T22).

PayPal Software Engineer 2 Salary - T23

Here is the average compensation we’ve seen for a PayPal software engineer 2 salary (T23).

PayPal Senior Software Engineer Salary - T24

Here is the average compensation we’ve seen for a PayPal senior software engineer salary (T24).

PayPal Staff Software Engineer Salary - T25

Here is the average compensation we’ve seen for a PayPal staff software engineer salary (T25).

PayPal Staff Software Engineer 2 Salary - T26

Here is the average compensation we’ve seen for a PayPal staff software engineer 2 salary (T26).

PayPal Senior Staff Software Engineer Salary - T27

Here is the average compensation we’ve seen for a PayPal senior staff software engineer salary (T27).

PayPal Principal Software Engineer Salary - T28

Here is the average compensation we’ve seen for a PayPal principal software engineer salary (T28).

PayPal offers leading pay for its software engineers, but PayPal SWE salary can vary significantly depending on the location. For example, a PayPal software engineer salary in San Francisco won't be the same as a PayPal software engineer salary in Austin, and a PayPal software engineer salary in international locations will be different compensation than those in the US. Just like other companies that hire tech professionals in different geographies, PayPal does monitor cost-of-living differences when setting their base salary and total compensation ranges for software engineers.

Below, we’ve listed the average compensation for software engineers in some of PayPal's key hiring locations for software engineers at the PayPal senior software engineer salary level (T24). These figures are based on our research and negotiation experience and represent averages, not the top end of the PayPal SWE salary bands. To identify and reach the top end of the PayPal engineer salary range and secure a competitive offer at PayPal in your specific location, we recommend working with a PayPal Salary Negotiation Coach.

PayPal Software Engineer Salary Austin

Here is the average compensation we’ve seen for PayPal Software Engineer Salary Austin.

PayPal Software Engineer Salary Chicago

Here is the average compensation we’ve seen for PayPal Software Engineer Salary Chicago.

Increasing the pay in your job offer at PayPal requires a deep understanding of their compensation philosophy and the right salary negotiation strategy. If you’re ready secure a competitive job offer with PayPal then it’s time to connect with an expert PayPal Salary Negotiation Coach.

Or leverage our Salary Negotiation Courses and Templates.