Lead Software Engineer

Our Purpose

Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we're helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.

Title and Summary

Lead Software Engineer

OVERVIEW

As part of a fast-paced team delivering innovative payment, digital commerce, and platform solutions, this role provides technical leadership across architecture, software engineering, AI-enabled development, and cloud-native modernization initiatives. The successful candidate will lead large-scale engineering programs, design scalable and secure solutions, drive adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices, and collaborate with business and technology stakeholders to deliver high-quality products.

ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead complex software engineering initiatives with significant business impact.
• Define and execute technology strategy, architecture roadmaps, and modernization programs.
• Design, develop, and deliver scalable, high-performance, cloud-native applications and APIs.
• Drive decomposition of monolithic platforms into reusable microservices and domain-driven architectures.
• Partner with Product Managers, TPMs, Architects, and Engineering teams to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, AI capabilities, and third-party platforms to improve business outcomes and engineering efficiency.
• Develop Proofs of Concept (POCs) and validate new architectural approaches.
• Champion engineering excellence through code reviews, design reviews, automated testing, and continuous improvement.
• Drive adoption of AI-powered development tools and practices to improve developer productivity, code quality, testing efficiency, documentation, and operational excellence.
• Mentor engineers, foster technical growth, and promote a culture of innovation and continuous learning.
• Communicate architecture decisions, risks, trade-offs, and technical strategies effectively to leadership and stakeholders.
• Ensure adherence to security, compliance, quality, reliability, and software development standards.

ABOUT YOU

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience &

Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing, developing, and leading enterprise-scale software platforms.
• Strong expertise in Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, Microservices, PostgreSQL, and distributed systems.
• Experience building secure, resilient, high-availability applications in cloud environments.
• Proven ability to architect and deliver mission-critical systems at scale.
• Experience integrating external APIs, payment platforms, SaaS products, and third-party services.
• Strong understanding of software architecture patterns, domain-driven design, event-driven architectures, and API-first development.
• Hands-on experience with Agile, DevSecOps, CI/CD, infrastructure automation, and cloud-native engineering practices.
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, AI coding assistants, intelligent code generation, automated testing, and developer productivity platforms.
• Demonstrated ability to learn, evaluate, and adopt emerging technologies, frameworks, and AI innovations.
• Strong leadership, communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.

KNOWLEDGE & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead architecture and design decisions across multiple products, platforms, and engineering teams.
• Develop and maintain reference architectures, engineering standards, and best practices.
• Design and implement scalable APIs, microservices, integrations, and event-driven systems.
• Drive engineering quality through automated testing, code reviews, observability, reliability engineering, and operational excellence.
• Build secure solutions aligned with Security by Design principles, OWASP standards, PCI-DSS, and enterprise security requirements.
• Optimize application performance, scalability, resilience, and cost efficiency.
• Lead root cause analysis, troubleshooting, and resolution of complex production issues.
• Establish development standards, automation frameworks, and quality metrics.
• Influence technical direction, backlog prioritization, and management of technical debt.
• Partner with engineering leadership to improve delivery velocity, reliability, and customer experience.
• Coach and mentor engineers through design sessions, technical reviews, and knowledge-sharing activities.
• Support talent acquisition, technical interviews, and team development.
• Drive adoption of AI-enabled software engineering practices across the SDLC, including requirements analysis, coding, testing, documentation, observability, and operational support.
• Use data, metrics, and AI-driven insights to improve engineering effectiveness, developer experience, and platform reliability.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills with the ability to solve complex technical challenges.
• Expertise in software architecture, design patterns, distributed systems, and cloud-native application design.
• Ability to balance business priorities, technical strategy, and long-term platform sustainability.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills for working with global, cross-functional teams.
• Hands-on engineering leader capable of contributing to architecture, design, coding, code reviews, and technical decision-making.
• Experience driving innovation, modernization, automation, and engineering productivity initiatives.
• Ability to lead multiple concurrent programs in a matrixed, geographically distributed environment.

KEY TECHNOLOGY AREAS

Core Engineering

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