Director, Software Engineering

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.

Director, Software Engineering

Mastercard’s Data Analytics and AI Program is seeking a Director, Software Engineering to lead the design and delivery of full‑stack applications and data platforms within a fast‑paced, agile environment. This leader will partner closely with product, data, and business stakeholders to deliver scalable, high‑quality solutions that generate measurable customer and business impact.

As part of the Services Technology organization, the Data Analytics and AI program is a strategically critical and rapidly evolving initiative, delivering a portfolio of products across Portfolio Optimization, Merchant & Customer Ad Insights, and Location Insights. This is a high‑growth area where data, AI, and engineering converge to unlock next‑generation capabilities for Mastercard and its customers.

This is a hybrid role based in Arlington, VA or O’Fallon, MO, requiring three days per week onsite. You will lead a global organization of approximately 25 team members, including 4–5 direct reports, spanning the US, India, and Europe, with significant emphasis on cross‑functional collaboration, stakeholder management, and global execution.

• Define and drive end‑to‑end technology and product strategy across applications, architectures, and engineering practices.
• Architect, build, and scale complex, distributed systems across multiple engineering teams.
• Champion improvements in developer experience, engineering tooling, and best practices, including the adoption of AI to improve productivity and engineering effectiveness.
• Partner closely with Product Management to shape and execute product and technology roadmaps.
• Lead, coach, and develop engineers and engineering managers across global, cross‑functional teams.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate technical risks in collaboration with senior technology leaders.
• Drive modernization of platforms with a focus on scalability, security, reliability, and performance.
• Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and continuous technical learning.
• Set high standards for engineering excellence and elevate team performance.
• Navigate complex cross‑team dependencies and drive alignment across stakeholders.
• Promote agile ways of working and enable teams to adapt quickly to changing priorities and insights.
• Engage and influence senior stakeholders on technology direction and product decisions.
• Anticipate and plan for future scaling needs aligned with business growth and customer demand.

• Proven experience as a Software Engineering Manager or Director in an agile, production‑scale environment.
• Experience leading multiple engineering teams and developing engineering leaders in a global, distributed setup.
• Strong track record of defining architecture, design, and delivery of large‑scale, multi‑team systems.
• Hands‑on familiarity with full‑stack, data, and cloud technologies such as Databricks, AWS, Airflow, .NET/C#, Java, Spring Boot, React, Redux, Type Script, SQL Server, Python, Spark, Hive, Impala, NiFi, Sqoop, or similar.
• Strong technical foundation with ability to quickly learn and adopt new technologies.
• Relentless focus on customer value, business outcomes, and delivery excellence.
• Experience improving engineering organizations, structures, and delivery processes at scale.
• Ability to influence across teams, functions, and geographies to drive technical alignment.
• Proven success leading distributed global teams across multiple regions.
• Strong understanding of SDLC methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe) and when to apply them.
• Proven ability to build, mentor, and retain high‑performing engineering leaders.
• Excellent communication and…