went through PayPal's behavioral round as part of an engineering manager loop this spring. sharing this because I couldn't find good intel on what their specific values framework looks like.
PayPal has 5 core values: inclusion, innovation, collaboration, wellness, and... something about customers. I don't remember the exact wording but customer centricity is definitely in there. the thing is, the interviewers don't necessarily announce which value they're probing for. you have to read the question and map it yourself.
questions I was actually asked: "tell me about a time you had to deliver a project under significant constraints. what did you cut and how did you decide?" "describe a situation where you disagreed with a senior stakeholder. how did you handle it?" "give me an example of when you took initiative on something outside your official scope." "tell me about a time a project failed. what was your role and what did you do after?"
all fairly standard STAR-method territory. what PayPal seemed to care about more than some companies: the stakeholder alignment piece. multiple questions had a collaboration/influence angle. they want to see that you can work across teams and don't just execute in a vacuum.
for the EM loop specifically, I got a "tell me how you approach performance conversations with underperforming engineers" which is not technically behavioral but felt like it. have a framework ready.
what tripped me up: I over-indexed on results in my stories. PayPal interviewers kept asking follow-up questions about the process, the team dynamics, how I brought others along. the "how" mattered as much as the outcome.
prepared about 8 stories beforehand mapped to common themes. used maybe 5 of them. more than enough.