We will be holding a PayPay Recruiting Event on January 21, where we will introduce a PayPay Enterprise IT Engineer (Java and AWS). Ahead of this event, we decided to cover the details of the work and the interesting aspects of PayPay’s unique environment. If this article piques your interest, please feel free to join our event!
Hiroshi Okada
Enterprise Engineering Department
After graduating from university, he joined a system integrator (SI) company as a programmer, where he was in charge of design work, PM, and developing business applications for corporate clients. He joined PayPay in October 2019 after working for several companies, the last one being a social-network game company. There, he was responsible for global business development, launching the internal information systems department, and heading the development and planning department directly under the CTO.
I spent the first half of my career at an SI company, the second half at a web company, and now I’m at PayPay, a FinTech company. Looking back, I think my diverse experiences in the IT industry are being put to good use in my current work related to the financial system of PayPay.
Job Description of Development Team 2, Enterprise Engineering Department
The Enterprise Engineering Department is the unit that develops and operates PayPay’s business systems, and Development Team 2 is the team that develops PayPay’s unique system, which cannot be covered by existing packages, in-house from scratch. We develop systems necessary for efficiently handling the various back-end operations that keep expanding as the scale of the company’s business increases. Specifically, this includes the identity verification (eKYC) system, campaign management system, merchant screening system, and credit management system.
About the Team
Currently, there are about 15 members in Development Team 2, which we further divide into three units: application development, infrastructure, and PM.
Most Recent Major Project: In-house eKYC Production
I was involved in the internal eKYC production project which lasted for a few months. This was a crucial feature release for PayPay. Prior to that, we used a third party system in some parts of PayPay’s identity verification process. Due to limitations in the system the screening lead time took too long, which was a nuisance to our users. So, we decided to develop this function in-house. After months of hard work, we finally were able to release it the other day, which drastically reduced the lead time from days to minutes.
In addition, the Billion Yen New Year’s Lottery campaign that was implemented at the end of last year required users to verify their identity using their My Number. This caused a higher-than-expected load on some servers in the system we developed. We quickly responded in collaboration with the operation department and product team, and took technical measures such as scaling up and query tuning. As a result, we were able to handle the access load without any major problems.
What Challenges Do You Want to Take Up in PayPay?
Now that PayPay has grown to over 44 million users, it needs to be reliable and stable as a social infrastructure. On the other hand, we are releasing new features and services all the time, like PayPay Coupons and Stamp Cards. Although there can be a lot of pressure, I really enjoy being at the forefront of developing services that change our society. SI companies develop for clients. In comparison, I derive great pleasure from what I’m doing right now, being involved in developing our own services that can impact the world.
Going forward, I want to try creating both a system and engineering organization that can steadily keep up with the scale of our business in the long-term.
PayPay’s Work Style and Its Benefits
The biggest benefit of working for PayPay as I see it is the WFA (Work From Anywhere At Anytime) system. As long as you have an internet connection, you can work from anywhere in Japan. The HR system and internal IT environment are also built with WFA as the premise, so you can work comfortably even in a fully remote setting. The annual telecommute allowance of 100,000 yen is also quite helpful.
My favorite part of PayPay’s culture is that there are a lot of really nice people. Currently, we have a remarkably diverse workforce of about 40 nationalities. You may think that misunderstandings and miscommunication frequently occur under these conditions. But in the two years since I joined the company, I’ve seen over and over again that our culture and environment, where anyone can simply ask for help if they have a problem, is alive and well. It’s great.
PayPay’s culture and values are summarized in the “PayPay 5 Senses.” I feel that a company where anyone can seek advice with no hindrance, as suggested in these five points, is a manifestation of our corporate culture. Personally, I really like the phrase “Be Sincere to Be Professional” in the 5 Senses, and I think about it whenever I get the chance to.
A Message to People Considering Joining PayPay
At PayPay, we have people from quite a few different backgrounds working hard to build our products and services. At the Recruiting Event, we’d like to talk more in-depth, so if you want to know more about PayPay, please join us!
Event Date, Time, Location, and Registration
Friday, January 21, 2022, 19:00-20:00 (JST), Zoom
To register for the event, please fill out the application form below. You will be sent the Zoom link along with further information.
Click here to register
*This event is for experienced Java and AWS engineers. Please note that it may not be possible to participate in some cases.
Author: Hiroshi Okada / Editor: Az, Keiko (PayPay Inside-Out Editorial Team)
*Employees’ affiliations and other information are as of the time of the interview.
