In this edition of our Professional Series, which delves into the extraordinary professionals working in the PayPay group, we spoke with Clement, the leader of the Technology Department in the Financial Services Product Division. We interviewed him about his recent projects of note and what’s great about working at PayPay.
Clement Ong
Senior Manager, Technology Department, Financial Services Product Division, Product Group
After developing systems and releasing services for 10 years in the travel industry and 2 years in asset management, he joined PayPay as an engineering manager in the financial services domain in January 2023. The first assignment he was put in charge of was the digital payroll project. He currently manages and supervises engineering throughout the Financial Services Product Division as a senior manager.
Creating innovative services through pursuing speed and security
Tell us about your career and what brought you to PayPay.
I learned mechanical engineering as a student at a Japanese university, but I was interested in then-growing e-commerce platforms, so I joined a rapidly growing IT startup after graduating. After being involved with engineering travel services, I switched jobs to an asset management company out of an interest in finance.
However, I wanted to do more than satisfy my interest in finance – to take on a new challenge that could change the world. This nurtured my interest in PayPay, with its continuing and challenging initiatives in the field of finance. I was drawn to PayPay by its clear-cut, simple culture centered around being user first, and the success of its diverse members of a medley of nationalities and backgrounds.
Tell us about your team’s mission and main responsibilities.
Our mission as the Technology Department is to deeply understand the challenges in the Financial Industry today and to tackle these problems using new and modern engineering methods and technologies. We aim to contribute to the growth of the PayPay ecosystem and the resolution of user issues by releasing new financial services that are stable and reliable without sacrificing engineering velocity. The services include banking, securities, and credit cards domains, sometimes in cooperation with external companies.
One specific example is the project I’ve been in charge of since right after joining: digital payroll. We succeeded in becoming the first company in Japan to receive a designation from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (or MHLW) as eligible to provide this service. Like with digital payroll, we work every day to craft services that go beyond common sense through maximally utilizing the PayPay group’s assets.
Changing Japan through digital payroll
Tell us about your recent noteworthy projects.
My most remarkable project of late was, you guessed it, developing digital payroll. The MHLW amended the law in April 2023, enabling salary payments using e-money in Japan. However, to release such a service that handles people’s wages, it was necessary to to clear a large number of screening items one by one, and as of September 2024, there are no companies other than PayPay who have done so. In other words, we now provide the completely unprecedented customer experience of your monthly salary being deposited to your financial service accounts directly, and immediately available without having to move it from your bank account.
The digital payroll project went into full swing at PayPay in January 2023, initially with an utterly overtighten target release schedule of June the same year. However, behind PayPay’s service winning about two-thirds of Japan’s cashless payments market despite joining it late is a history of continuously delivering new user experiences under the motto of forerunning competitors and releasing first. Over 100 members drove the project, motivated by the desire to change Japan through delivering services no other Japanese companies have undertaken.
What was especially difficult was building consensus with many stakeholders across the company, while also balancing quality assurance of services including existing systems and data privacy protection with the usability of paying/receiving payroll. While fulfilling measures to protect payroll data and disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity plans (BCPs) to keep the service running no matter what happens, we were also meticulous about the details, as when making sure payroll transfers complete by the morning of users’ paydays.
To form consensus among stakeholders, I placed the most weight on close, quick communication. Specifically, through always having one or two sync ups a week. Through personally participating in not just product internal, but also business-side meetings, I brought an engineers’ perspective to the planning phase before the fact, enabling early discovery and resolution of concerns. The MHLW came up with a few additional screening requirements delaying the June 2023 release, but driving development so speedily is what allowed us to run improvement cycles so quickly.
How was digital payroll received?
Its reception was huge. Many media and articles covered it, and we internally were thrilled to accomplish the long-awaited release. In a user survey, 56% of PayPay users gave neutral to positive responses regarding their intent to use the service, indicating reasons such as no longer needing to top up their PayPay Balance. I have high hopes that we will soon see users who manage all their money entirely through PayPay.
Leaving our mark on society through building new services and systems
What’s most compelling about working at PayPay?
Always being able to make new projects, and being able to make a large impact on society. The services we develop affect the 65 million users on PayPay. Of course, there is the pressure of potentially inconveniencing many users if we fail, but there is even more fulfillment in being able to watch society change as PayPay is used in the daily lives of many.
Also, our team comprises members of over 10 nationalities, enabling us to work in an environment of diverse backgrounds from various locations with the help of remote work. I see the language differences as simply different communication tools, and I believe the reason we’re able to develop high-quality products across linguistic differences is because we all share fundamental values such as being user first. I also find it quite interesting to explore and implement ways to improve how productively our members work in a remote environment, since PayPay employees haven’t returned to the physical office even since the Covid-19 pandemic ended.
What are your goals and vision for the future?
My goal is to create more chances for people to interact with PayPay through digital payroll as an entry point, and to encourage as many people as possible to use the PayPay group’s services. To do so, we must increase the convenience of using other services from digital payroll. Specifically, reducing the need to carry around much cash and a cash card through withdrawing digitally paid salaries from an ATM, seamlessly moving Balance to PayPay Securities, and – the list goes on and on. There is a mountain of challenges to delivering a user experience that goes beyond their imagination.
Although it is still being formulated, having an entry point for money within PayPay through digital payroll allows us to think about what we should do with that money and how we can enhance user convenience and ultimately transform Japanese society. As an engineer creating new products that impact the world and change users’ lives, I am fully committed to envisioning the future after the release.
Any last words for our readers?
Technical and communication skills are important, but I want to work with someone who shares a liking for and belief in the possibilities of finance. The finance industry has so many regulations and constraints – which sometimes feel frustrating – precisely because it deals with valuable money. Despite this, PayPay continues to build new, never-before-seen services like digital payroll one after the other because we want to change established beliefs around money and improve our users’ experience.
I look forward to teaming up with anyone who wants to work in a highly diverse environment to deliver new value to society through projects changing the face of Japan’s finance market!
Current job openings
*Job openings and employee affiliations are current as of the time of the interview. Editor: PayPay Inside-Out Editorial Team