Snigdha Ghosh Ray: Reboot your career every couple of years to reinvent yourself

Written by Mala Gupta

Snigdha Ghosh Ray, Senior Global Product & Technology Executive at PayPal, has total faith in innate human goodness and a strong bias for high integrity, respect, and authenticity.

With a background in Product, Technology & Marketing, Snigdha Ghosh Ray has delivered several user-centric & insight-driven SAAS solutions for multi-billion-dollar markets. She has consciously sought challenges in her career and truly aced them. Currently, she is working as a Senior Global Product and Technology Executive at PayPal and has been an inspiring leader for many years now.

On being asked about the highlights of her professional journey, she shared, “I made it to the Dean’s List at ISB, pursuing my MBA, while parallelly taking up a step up role as the India head, Global Product & Technology at ADP where I led more than one thousand persons. The skills, network & confidence that I acquired were instrumental in the rapid career progression at ADP to CEO-2 level and directly managing more than two thousand persons. The ‘Open Door Policy’ at ADP motivated me to connect with Global senior leaders across the organization, who were a rich source to learn the ropes of the business & manage a VUCA environment. Supported by an amazing team and a fearless attitude, I connected the dots across business and technology and drove changes leading to an increase in revenues, margins and client engagement. After an enriching 12 years at ADP, I started my new innings at PayPal to democratize financial services. Many people questioned this decision at the peak of my career, but I took the leap of faith and soon launched global Recurring Payments product at PayPal within my first 6 months of joining.”

On being asked about the challenges she faced in her profession as a woman, she said, “I had to cross many mental hurdles — learning to let go of my inhibitions of being a sole women leader in global senior leadership circles, finding my voice and not attributing my success to gender diversity initiatives. I am extremely fortunate — my husband & family have tremendous faith in me and challenge me to move out of my comfort zone.”

She also advised, “One should consciously reboot their career every couple of years to bring in diverse experiences, which are completely out of their comfort zone to reinvent themselves. Also, focus on building interpersonal skills and a trusted network. Never hesitate to give candid and critical feedback to your peers and teams. Be authentic and pay it forward.”

“Consciously reboot your career every couple of years to reinvent yourself”
- Snigdha Ghosh Ray