DevEx · 2022
№ 01
PayPal API Postman Collection + Flows
PayPal
#4 most-forked Postman collection globally in 2023. Time-to-first-call under one minute with Flows. Cited by PayPal CEO in Q4 ’22 earnings.
→ #4 most-forked globally · 2023
¶ The arc, in one sentence
“I get called in to build new things inside big companies — and I run the global teams that ship them, end-to-end.”
§ I
About
B20+ years building and scaling global engineering teams at PayPal and Google. Known for launching greenfield products inside large companies and for people-first leadership that shields teams, builds trust, and ships measurable outcomes.
Most recently a Director of Engineering at PayPal, leading strategy and execution across Developer Experience, BillPay, and Global Custom Solutions — and the multi-year partner integrations with Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and eBay.
Returning from an intentional sabbatical taken to be present for family and to deepen platform-engineering, AI, and leadership credentials. Looking for Director or VP of Engineering at a small-to-medium company where I can own technical direction end-to-end.
§ II
Career
Twenty-plus years across defense engineering, satellite software, enterprise identity, e-commerce at Google, and — for thirteen of them — payments at PayPal. The pattern: greenfield inside a giant.
Apr 2024 — Present
Intentional career break
Sabbatical · family + study
Family-focused window after a layoff, plus deliberate professional development.
Mar 2022 — Apr 2024
Director of Engineering, Developer Experience
PayPal · Behind 10M+ live PayPal integrations
Owned PayPal's external DevEx platform — docs, sandbox, tooling, advocacy.
Mar 2021 — Mar 2022
Director of Engineering, BillPay / Franchise / Custom Solutions
PayPal · Global team across NA, APAC, EMEA
Hundreds of millions USD/month in TPV; quality and observability turnaround.
Mar 2018 — Mar 2021
Sr Manager → Director (2020), Global Custom Solutions
PayPal · Three portfolios, NA + APAC
Unified three engineering teams; replatformed the developer documentation stack.
Sep 2015 — Feb 2018
Sr Engineering Manager, Strategic Partner Integrations
PayPal · Apple · Microsoft · Google · Meta · eBay
Led the multi-year PayPal-Apple integration into iTunes and the Apple Store.
Jan 2015 — Aug 2015
Lead Partner Technology Manager, Google Express
Google · Mountain View
Led the PTM team supporting large-enterprise merchants integrating into the Google Shopping Express Mall for same-day delivery.
Apr 2010 — Jan 2015
Sr Engineering Manager, Custom Development
PayPal · Founding member of the SWAT team
Co-founded PayPal's Paid Professional Services practice from zero.
2002 — 2010
Software & security engineering
Defense / Enterprise · Radiant Logic · Space Systems Loral · Raytheon · prior
Customer-facing engineering at a startup, on top of a foundation in defense, satellites, and enterprise identity.
§ III
Selected Work
DevEx · 2023
№ 02
GitHub Codespaces — first third-party integration
PayPal × GitHub
First-ever third-party Codespaces integration. Pre-configured PayPal Checkout in <2 min from a browser. Featured at GitHub Universe 2023.
→ <2 min to live integration
AI + DevEx · 2023
№ 03
GenAI / RAG Developer Search
PayPal
Replaced traditional search on developer.paypal.com with a RAG-powered chatbot on Azure OpenAI. Hosted PayPal’s first Microsoft OpenAI training in early ’23.
→ 1st customer-facing GenAI in DevEx
Evidencedeveloper.paypal.com (live) ↗
DevEx · 2023
№ 04
PayPal VS Code Extension
PayPal
First PayPal extension in the VS Code Marketplace. In-IDE snippets, integration scaffolding, and direct quicklinks to the Developer Dashboard — meets developers where they already work.
→ 1st PayPal IDE extension
Platform · 2023
№ 05
PayPal OpenAPI 3.0 — first external spec
PayPal
Built a proprietary-to-OpenAPI pipeline so the public spec stays in sync with the live API on every build. Foundation for everything downstream.
→ Continuously generated
Platform · 2023
№ 06
Documentation Platform Modernization
PayPal
Headless CMS replatform across thousands of pages. Eliminated 20% of team capacity that was supporting docs work. Redocly auto-generates the API reference from the OpenAPI spec.
→ 99% update time · 8s → <1s
Evidencedeveloper.paypal.com (live) ↗
Platform · 2022
№ 07
Developer Dashboard — micro-frontend rebuild
PayPal
Replatformed the highest-traffic developer-facing surface to micro-frontends. Three public release waves; sustained monthly cadence after.
→ 50% feature delivery time cut
Partnerships · 2023
№ 08
Strategic Tech Partnerships — tooling & cloud
PayPal × Postman · GitHub · Redocly · Microsoft · NTT
Selected, negotiated, and ran the vendor relationships that powered the DevEx modernization end-to-end: Postman (Collection + Flows), GitHub (Codespaces), Redocly (auto-generated API reference), Microsoft Azure (OpenAI for RAG), and Dimension Data / NTT (cloud + hosting). Each one was chosen to compound on the upstream OpenAPI 3.0 spec investment so a single bet unlocked three or four downstream surfaces.
→ 5+ vendor engagements · compounding stack
Partnerships + Greenfield · 2017
№ 09
PayPal × Apple — iTunes & Apple Store
PayPal × Apple
Multi-year integration of PayPal as a default option in Apple Music and the Apple Store — expanded to 11 new markets in the 2017 announcement.
→ ~10% PYPL stock move
Greenfield · 2011
№ 10
PayPal Enterprise Portal
PayPal × eBay
Multi-tenant SaaS for large-enterprise merchants. XACML 3.0 ABAC, dual controls, full audit. Pitched to eBay’s CFO; live in 7 months. eBay Treasury onboarded 475+ accounts, moving ~$40MM/month. Later sold into Zappos, Microsoft, and other large enterprise partners.
→ 11 years in production · $40MM/mo through eBay alone
Greenfield · 2012
№ 11
PayPal Notification Portal
PayPal
First unified interface for millions of merchants and developers to subscribe to outage and maintenance notifications across PayPal’s product portfolio. Localized to 13 languages; sent millions of email and SMS notifications per month against strict SLAs. Internal CS portal for incident templates, audit, and a management API.
→ 13 languages · millions of notifications/month
Greenfield + DevEx · 2012
№ 12
mod_paypal_ec / Spring PayPal EC
PayPal · open-source
Open-source developer libraries wrapping PayPal Express Checkout — an Apache module (mod_paypal_ec) and a Spring framework library — so developers could add PayPal to their existing Apache or Spring stacks without writing the auth, IPN, and replay-protection plumbing themselves.
→ Apache + Spring drop-in EC
Greenfield · 2013
№ 13
PayPal Mobile Reload Portal
PayPal × French BU
First carrier-agnostic mobile top-up surface — consumers buy minutes for prepaid plans via PayPal across 60+ countries and 200+ mobile network operators (3.6B reachable prepaid users). Responsive UI for mobile, tablet, and web. Initially IP-locked to France; managed UX vendor and global rollout timeline.
→ 60+ countries · 200+ MNOs · 3.6B prepaid users (TAM)
Greenfield · 2013
№ 14
PayPal Franchise Portal
PayPal × Papa John’s · Panera
Modified the Enterprise Portal for franchise customers (Papa John’s, Panera) with custom reporting and a configurable money-withdrawal capability supporting customer-specific regulatory and tax requirements. Showed the multi-tenant pattern could flex to new verticals.
→ Multi-tenant pattern → 2nd vertical
Greenfield · 2013
№ 15
Excel Invoicing for SMB
PayPal SMB
Lightweight invoicing path for small and medium businesses through Microsoft Excel — generate, send, and reconcile PayPal invoices from the spreadsheet SMBs already lived in. Met merchants where they already worked rather than asking them to learn a new tool.
→ Met SMBs where they already worked
Greenfield · 2013
№ 16
Deutsche Telekom HotSpot Integration
PayPal × Deutsche Telekom
PayPal as the payment option for Deutsche Telekom HotSpot Wi-Fi access across DT’s European hotspot footprint — carrier-side integration enabling pay-per-use Wi-Fi via PayPal alongside the broader carrier-partnership pattern (cf. Vivo Brazil).
→ Pay-per-use Wi-Fi via PayPal
Greenfield · 2014
№ 17
PayPal × Vivo Brazil — USSD onboarding
PayPal × Vivo
Carrier-account top-up for feature-phone users; routed around a 90%+ funnel drop-off with a temporary email-to-SMS bridge (READ).
→ 4.3M Vivo Brazil customers · USSD top-up channel
EvidencePaymentsDive coverage ↗
Greenfield · 2014
№ 18
Gambling Merchants Configuration — EMEA
PayPal EMEA Merchant Services
Solution enabling configuration of merchants designated as gambling under EMEA regulatory requirements. Unlocked a category PayPal had previously been unable to serve at scale.
→ $500M TPV · new EMEA category unlocked
Greenfield · 2014
№ 19
Russia KYB Portal
PayPal Russia
Know-Your-Business onboarding portal that enabled PayPal’s Russia launch. Standalone verification, document handling, and underwriting flow aligned to Russian regulatory requirements.
→ Enabled country launch
Greenfield · 2014
№ 20
Latin American Payouts (Andes)
PayPal LATAM
Consumer fund-withdrawal portal letting users in the Andes region move PayPal balances out to local bank accounts. Bridged a gap PayPal’s core product didn’t serve in the region.
→ New withdrawal corridor
Platform · 2023
№ 21
Sandbox / Live Parity
PayPal
Built the parity-measurement harness, then drove it down. Daily auto-reports gave engineering leaders visibility into out-of-parity components.
→ 77% → 4% mismatch
Turnaround · 2019
№ 22
Unifying Three Engineering Teams — say/do turnaround
PayPal Global Custom Solutions
Inherited three separate engineering teams that had drifted on culture, ownership, and delivery rhythm. Set a new culture centered on urgency and ownership, aligned planning and operating cadence across the org, and made commitments meaningful again. Productivity rose 50%; on-time delivery — the say/do ratio — moved from 20% to over 90%.
→ On-time delivery 20% → 90% · productivity +50%
Turnaround · 2021
№ 23
BillPay Quality Turnaround
PayPal
Inherited a product moving hundreds of millions USD/month. Stood up a dedicated observability team and shifted issues left.
→ +110% detection · P1: 1/wk → 1/qtr
Greenfield · 2020
№ 24
QR Merchant Servicing Portal
PayPal
Stood up a new merchant servicing portal for the QR-code platform during COVID-19, opening revenue when other channels were disrupted.
→ New revenue line
§ IV
Strengths
Validated by peers, direct reports, and leaders. Attributions anonymized for privacy. Sourced from the 30-stories exercise in MIT Professional Education's Leadership & Innovation course (2024) plus 20 public LinkedIn recommendations.
MethodologyEach × N is the number of distinct colleagues who attested to that strength.
On people-first leadership
“He is a people-first leader and always had an empathetic ear available, rational sense of direction and responsibility, and constantly speaking up for his team.”
Direct Report
Sr Program Manager
§ IV.b
Technical depth
Years of practice
Engineering Leadership16 yrs
Professional Services16 yrs
Hiring & Calibration16 yrs
Strategic Partnerships11 yrs
Engineering Org Design11 yrs
Greenfield Product Development8 yrs
Developer Advocacy8 yrs
Developer Experience6 yrs
Platform Engineering6 yrs
GenAI / RAG / LLMOps3 yrs
§ V
Recommendations
Public endorsements from people I’ve worked with at PayPal, Google, and Radiant Logic. See all on LinkedIn ↗
Direct manager · Mar 2024 · PayPal
“Brian built and scaled an organization that developed custom solutions for some of PayPal's highly strategic clients — he loves to roll up his sleeves while empowering his team to innovate and execute.”
Junaid Razzak ↗
VP, Global Professional Services · PayPal
R·01
Cross-team peer · Feb 2024 · PayPal
“Brian possesses a rare combination of technical prowess, strategic vision, and interpersonal skills… a top-choice candidate for any leadership role where innovation, customer-centricity, and technical expertise are paramount.”
Karen Shields ↗
Operating Partner · Chief of Staff (Finance / IT)
R·02
Direct report · Apr 2019 · PayPal
“His leadership style is easy-going and targeted toward supporting one another as a team — yet his quick decision-making and disciplined approach have helped the team always successfully fulfill critical deliverables.”
Arjun Shukla ↗
AI-first iOS Engineer · ex-PayPal
R·03
Direct report · Aug 2015 · Google
“Brian handled the ambiguous and constantly changing nature of the work with ease, while maintaining a calm and approachable demeanor. He introduced project management techniques that greatly aided our ability to prioritize work and meet deadlines.”
Keith Hall ↗
Product Lead @ Google · advisor
R·04
Peer · Mar 2012 · PayPal
“Brian has several key strengths that make him stand out — deep technical vision, business acumen, great presentation skills, and strong commitment to tasks on hand. One of the colleagues I would love to work with in a dream start-up.”
Srini Vadhri ↗
Product
R·05
Customer-side · Apr 2010 · Radiant Logic
“At a crucial point in the sales cycle I required Brian to take ownership of the relationship to convince NT Govt that Radiant Logic had the best Virtual Directory solution. Brian is a star performer who will be remembered for winning us the deal.”
Mark Refardt ↗
Secure Modern Workplace (Microsoft stack)
R·06
§ VI
Recent study
Platform EngineeringDeveloper ExperienceIDP ArchitectureGolden Paths
Platform EngineeringDeveloper Experience
Platform EngineeringCloud Computing
Platform EngineeringObservability
Platform EngineeringKubernetes
Gen AIPrompt EngineeringLLMsRAG
Strategic Technology PlanningRoadmappingInnovation Portfolio
Leadership DevelopmentStrengths-Based FeedbackOrg Behavior
Platform EngineeringTwo-Sided MarketsAPI StrategyNetwork Effects
Technology PortfolioTechnical PresentationsStrategic Investment
Strategic Technology PlanningTechnical PresentationsRoadmapping
§ VII — Get in touch
Let’s build something.
Currently exploring Director / VP of Engineering roles at small-to-medium companies. San Francisco Bay Area preferred, remote considered. Fintech, dev tools, AI infrastructure, e-commerce.
The best way to reach me is on LinkedIn.