Job Summary:The Senior Director, Experience Design - Checkout will lead the design vision, strategy, and execution for PayPal's checkout experiences, shaping how consumers move through complex payment flows from merchant experiences through completion. This leader will guide a team focused on optimizing and evolving experiences at scale, combining strong design craft with experimentation, iteration, and systems thinking. Partnering closely with Product and Engineering, this role will shape roadmaps and outcomes, strengthen design standards and governance, and build a culture where designers effectively advocate for the customer while delivering simple, intuitive, and high-quality checkout experiences.
Job Description:Essential Responsibilities: - Develop and articulate a clear, compelling vision and strategy in alignment with Experience Design strategy and operations that inspires others
- Oversee and direct the development of user interface plans with direct impact on PayPal revenue, expense, budget, and growth
- Negotiate with and influence the decision-making of senior internal and external executives and decision-makers
- Create operational and strategic objectives that enhance user and customer experiences using domain knowledge and extensive expertise
- Provide guidance to critical cross-functional and cross-organizational teams focused on experience design across PayPal
- Identify and resolve strategic user interface and interaction design with new or innovative solutions
Minimum Qualifications:- 12+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor's degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 5 years of experience leading others
Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications:PayPal is going through a once-in-a-generation transformation, creating a significant opportunity for a Design leader to help shape the next generation of interactions and systems for how humans and agents experience the world. This is a race to establish a durable system for the next generation of commerce as technology organizations shift and functions are redefined. Checkout is the proof point for when theoretical experiences become transactions that must meet regulation and navigate identity, compliance, safety, and security. PayPal shaped the first generation of putting money on the internet; we expect to equally influence and shape the next. We are looking for a leader who can hold big ideas while working tactically and incrementally - building, learning, and adapting in a rapidly shifting environment. Anchoring in first principles for customers and their rising expectations of experiences is a design challenge that has not been solved yet, and we are at the forefront of working on what that means around the world.
Role Scope & Priorities:• Influence and execute on an existing 3-year strategy and work with cross-functional partners to set a design direction for PayPal's checkout experiences, delivering within and beyond the strategy, with a focus on flows, handoffs, and orchestration through completion.
• Lead the optimization and evolution of existing experiences at scale, using experimentation, iteration, customer insight, and strong design judgment to improve outcomes.
• Lead design planning, prioritization, and execution in close partnership with Product and Engineering, translating customer, business, and technical needs into strong design outcomes.
• Strengthen design systems, governance, standards, and review mechanisms to improve consistency, quality, and scalability across teams and products.
• Strengthen the connection between the Checkout design team and the broader Experience Design organization, raising expectations for craft, quality, and design advocacy.
• Build and develop a high-performing design team that can operate effectively in ambiguity, challenge ideas constructively, and ship, learn, and iterate.
• Represent Design with senior stakeholders, using strong storytelling, partnership, and influence to shape priorities and outcomes.
Experience & Capabilities:• Significant product/experience design leadership experience, including experience leading design teams and managers.
• Demonstrated experience optimizing complex, existing products or flows at scale through experimentation and iteration;• Strong, current design craft and fluency with modern design tools, with the ability to engage directly in the work, review designs, and shape frameworks and solutions. The expectation is that we are all makers and in the work, knowing how to scale through your team and having foundational knowledge of how the work gets done.
• Experience working within and shaping design systems.
• Demonstrated experience building, scaling, or significantly improving design systems, governance models, or design review processes.
• Strong track record partnering with Product and Engineering while maintaining a clear design point of view and advocating effectively for customers and design quality.
• Ability to operate in ambiguity, make thoughtful tradeoffs, and combine high craft with a strong commitment to delivery.
• Exceptional storytelling, communication, stakeholder partnership, and executive influence skills.
• Experience designing checkout, commerce, payments, transactional flows, or similarly complex digital experiences strongly preferred.
• 10+ years design leadership experience strongly preferred.
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:New York City, New York: ($242,000.00 - $359,150.00 Annually)
Additional Location(s) | Pay Range:Chicago, Illinois: ($220,000.00 - $326,700.00 Annually)
Austin, Texas: ($220,000.00 - $326,700.00 Annually)
San Jose, California: ($242,000.00 - $359,150.00 Annually)
Additional compensation for this role may include an annual performance bonus, equity, or other incentive compensation, as applicable.
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.
