Mastercard Director - AI Development Engineer

Director - AI Development Engineer Overview

The Director – AI Development Engineering leads the end-to-end delivery of AI use cases within the AI Center of Excellence. Acting as the technical face of each initiative, this role partners with business stakeholders, data and platform teams, and compliance functions to translate strategy into scalable, secure solutions. The Director builds and manages a high‑performing engineering team, delivering AI systems using both low‑code and pro‑code platforms.

Success is measured by business value realization, solution adoption, quality, and speed to market.

• Own and execute a multi‑quarter roadmap for AI capabilities across diverse use cases.
• Lead engineering teams delivering AI solutions using low‑code (Copilot Studio, Power Platform) and pro‑code (Databricks, Azure, AWS) platforms.
• Act as technical liaison with business sponsors; drive discovery, requirements, and solution design.
• Provide executive‑level updates on progress, risks, and value, influence decisions with data.
• Architect solutions aligned with enterprise standards; promote reuse via reference architectures and shared components.
• Implement enterprise‑grade SDLC and MLOps practices: CI/CD, automated testing, model registry, version control.
• Ensure reliability through monitoring, observability, and incident response for models, pipelines, and applications.
• Integrate AI systems with enterprise data platforms, APIs, identity, and security controls.
• Guide teams on LLM and classical ML patterns (e.g., RAG, evaluation, guardrails); balance low‑code and pro‑code approaches.
• Embed Responsible AI, privacy, and model risk management throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Hire, mentor, and retain top engineering talent; manage vendors and foster a learning culture.
• Define and track OKRs; continuously improve velocity, deployment frequency, and change failure rates.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field; advanced degrees (MS/PhD or MBA) preferred.
• Proven leadership in delivering enterprise‑scale AI/ML solutions across software, data, and platform engineering.
• Hands‑on experience with low‑code tools (Power Platform, Copilot Studio) and pro‑code environments (Databricks, AWS, Azure).
• Deep expertise in MLOps/LLMOps: CI/CD, automated testing, model/version registry, evaluation frameworks, and guardrails.
• Strong understanding of enterprise architecture (APIs, microservices, event‑driven systems) and data platforms (Delta Lake, feature stores).
• Skilled in cloud infrastructure (Azure, AWS), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and observability (logs, metrics, tracing).
• Experience with Responsible AI, identity and access management, data protection, and integration with vector databases and enterprise apps.
• Effective communicator and strategic leader with experience in regulated environments, stakeholder alignment, and team development.

In line with Mastercard’s total compensation philosophy and assuming that the job will be performed in the US, the successful candidate will be offered a competitive base salary and may be eligible for an annual bonus or commissions depending on the role. The base salary offered may vary depending on multiple factors, including but not limited to location, job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Mastercard benefits for full‑time employees generally include: insurance (medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, disability, life insurance); flexible spending account and health savings account; paid leaves (including 16 weeks of new‑parent leave and up to 20 days of bereavement leave); 80 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time, 25 days of vacation time and 5 personal days, pro‑rated based on date of hire;

10 annual paid U.S. observed holidays; 401(k) with a best‑in‑class company match; deferred compensation for eligible roles; fitness reimbursement or on‑site fitness facilities; eligibility for tuition reimbursement; and many more.

O'Fallon, Missouri: $165,000 - $264,000 USD

Atlanta, Georgia: $165,000 - $264,000 USD

Austin, Texas: $165,000 - $264,000 USD

• Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and…