10 PayPal engineering leaders
PayPal engineering here includes three former PayPal CTOs, for blockchain and digital currencies, Small and Medium Business, and Branded Checkout, alongside seven current leaders: two SVPs, three VPs of engineering and two directors. Their PayPal roles name core platforms, payments platform, large enterprise platforms, consumer experiences, checkout and growth markets, which helps a payments company deciding how to split platform and product engineering.
Professionals to explore
Amit Athavale
LinkedInExperience: VP of Engineering · PayPal
Amit Athavale became VP of Engineering at PayPal in 2025 and was Sr. Director, Payments Platform Engineering (2021–2025) and Director, Payments Platform Engineering (2019–2021). Amit describes building global platforms for the entire payments lifecycle, including Issuance, Tokenization, Vault, 3DS, Pricing, FX, Money Movement and Payments Data, and held Sr. MTS Engineer (2014–2018) at PayPal.
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Chris Pruett
LinkedInExperience: VP of Engineering · PayPal
The PayPal Consumer Experiences team is where Chris Pruett has been VP of Engineering since 2025. Chris was SVP of Engineering at Yahoo (2024–2025) and Co-Founder and CTO at Jam (2021–2024) and advised Truework (2020–2022), a mix that suits questions on consumer product engineering and on moving from a co-founder and CTO seat to a PayPal VP role.
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Edwin Aoki
LinkedInExperience: Former Tech Fellow and CTO, Blockchain, Crypto, and Digital Currencies · PayPal
For payments architecture and digital currency engineering, Edwin Aoki brings PayPal titles of Tech Fellow and CTO, Blockchain, Crypto, and Digital Currencies (2021–2025), Vice President and Technology Fellow, Architecture (2011–2021) and Chief Architect (2010–2011). Since 2025 Edwin has been SVP, Global Technologies at Nasdaq, and was Technology Fellow at AOL (1996–2010).
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Jon Southall
LinkedInExperience: Former VP Engineering, Large Enterprise Platforms · PayPal
Since 2023 Jon Southall has been VP Engineering, Large Enterprise Platforms at PayPal, following Senior Director, Braintree Engineering (2021–2023). Outside PayPal, Jon was Director, Software Engineering at Salesforce (2019–2021) and VP Labs and Innovation at Boku (2017–2019), which makes Jon a fit for questions on building engineering platforms for large enterprise merchants.
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Papanii Okai
LinkedInExperience: Former CTO & VP of Engineering Branded Checkout, Merchant SDKs and PayPal Giving · PayPal
At PayPal, Papanii Okai was Head of Engineering Branded Checkout (2022), then CTO & VP of Engineering Branded Checkout (2022) and CTO & VP of Engineering Branded Checkout, Merchant SDKs and PayPal Giving (2022–2023). Since 2024 Papanii has been EVP of Product Engineering at Rocket, and was Advisory Board Chairman at Sika Financial Group (2022–2023), a fit for questions on checkout and merchant SDK engineering.
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Prasanna Annamalai
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director Of Engineering · PayPal
Growth markets engineering questions suit Prasanna Annamalai, Senior Director Of Engineering at PayPal since 2022, following Director Of Engineering, Growth Markets (2019–2022). Earlier PayPal titles include Senior Manager, Software Development, PayPal India (2016–2019), Engineering Manager - Emerging Initiatives (2013–2015) and Engineering Manager - Developer Tools (2012–2013); Prasanna is based in Tamil Nadu.
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Rohit Dudani
LinkedInExperience: Former VP & Chief Technology Officer, PayPal Small and Medium Business · PayPal
Rohit Dudani was VP & Chief Technology Officer, PayPal Small and Medium Business (2022–2024) and has been SVP and Chief Technology Officer, Zelle at Early Warning since 2024. Rohit also held VP of Engineering and Product at SoFi (2021–2022) and GM, Large Parcel & 3rd Party Shipping Last Mile, Amazon (2019–2021), and advises SIERRA Ventures, a fit for questions on engineering for small and medium merchants.
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Ryan Prichard
LinkedInExperience: SVP, Small-Medium Business and Financial Services Engineering · PayPal
Merchant lending, onboarding platforms, strategic partnerships and the infrastructure behind them make up the current scope as Ryan Prichard describes it. Ryan has been SVP, Small-Medium Business and Financial Services Engineering at PayPal since 2026, after VP, Small-Medium Business and Financial Services Engineering (2024–2026), and also held VP, Consumer Engineering (2024) and VP, CTO Financial Products and Experiences (2022–2024).
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Sreenivas R.
LinkedInExperience: Senior Vice President, Core Platforms · PayPal
An 1,800-person global engineering organization transforming identity, risk and payments infrastructure is how Sreenivas R. describes the remit as Senior Vice President, Core Platforms at PayPal since 2025. Sreenivas was Senior Vice President, Core Services Product, Engineering & Operations at Expedia Group (2021–2024) and is a PopID board member, a fit for questions on modernizing identity, risk and payments platforms.
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Warren Zhang
LinkedInExperience: Director of Engineering · PayPal
Warren Zhang has been Director of Engineering at PayPal since 2023, leading the Checkout organization, after Engineering Leader at Stripe (2021–2023) and Senior Engineering Manager at Stripe (2021–2023). Warren was also Software Engineering Manager at Google (2017–2021), which gives Warren a view of checkout engineering from both PayPal and Stripe.
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Choose the right perspective
For platform questions, Sreenivas R. (core platforms) and Amit Athavale (payments platform) are the first calls, with Jon Southall for large enterprise merchants. Rohit Dudani and Ryan Prichard cover small and medium business engineering, Papanii Okai and Warren Zhang cover checkout, Chris Pruett consumer experiences, Prasanna Annamalai growth markets, and Edwin Aoki architecture and digital currencies.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How do you split engineering ownership between shared payments platforms and product teams such as checkout and consumer apps?
- 02What does it take to modernize core payments infrastructure without disrupting live transaction volume?
- 03How should an engineering organization support large enterprise merchants differently from small businesses?
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot; roles marked former had ended by then. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.