Lead Software Development Engineer

Lead Software Development Engineer

The Lead Software Development Engineer is a technical leader responsible for driving software architecture, engineering strategy, and delivery of Mastercard's next-generation payment platforms. This role combines hands‑on engineering leadership with architecture ownership, modernization initiatives, and adoption of Agentic AI‑powered engineering practices.

• Software Architecture & Engineering Leadership
  • Lead software design and architecture decisions across multiple teams and platforms.
  • Define engineering standards for software development, testing, security, operability, and deployment.
  • Conduct architecture reviews and provide technical governance across projects.
  • Mentor engineers and cultivate a culture of engineering excellence.
• Scalable Distributed Systems
  • Architect highly available, fault‑tolerant distributed systems capable of processing millions of transactions daily.
  • Drive performance engineering initiatives including load testing, capacity planning, scalability analysis, and production optimization.
  • Design solutions supporting low latency, high throughput, resiliency, and operational excellence.
• Event‑Driven Architecture
  • Design and implement large‑scale event‑driven architectures utilizing Kafka and modern messaging patterns.
  • Drive adoption of asynchronous processing and distributed system design best practices.
• Cloud Native Engineering
  • Lead development and deployment using PCF, Kubernetes, Docker, and CI/CD platforms.
  • Champion platform engineering and infrastructure automation practices.
• Security, Reliability & Operations
  • Establish secure coding standards and application security best practices.
  • Drive operational readiness, observability, monitoring, and supportability strategies.
  • Lead complex troubleshooting efforts, root cause analysis, and remediation activities.
  • Establish standards for unit, functional, and integration testing.
• Agentic AI Engineering
  • Lead adoption of AI‑assisted development, AI agents, MCP-based integrations, autonomous workflows, and modern engineering productivity tools.
  • Evaluate and implement emerging AI engineering capabilities while ensuring governance and responsible AI practices.

• 10+ years of software engineering experience.
• 3+ years leading large‑scale distributed system initiatives.
• Expert‑level Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, microservices architecture, and distributed systems expertise.
• Strong software architecture and software design leadership experience.
• Deep expertise in performance engineering and reliability engineering.
• Extensive experience implementing secure coding standards and software quality practices.
• Experience mentoring engineers and leading technical decision‑making.
• Deep understanding of observability, monitoring, operability, and production support.
• Demonstrated experience with AI‑assisted software development, AI agents, MCP, RAG, and agentic workflows.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and technical leadership skills.

Mastercard is a merit‑based, inclusive, equal‑opportunity employer that considers applicants without regard to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We hire the most qualified candidate for the role.

In the US or Canada, if you require accommodations or assistance to complete the online application process or during the recruitment process, please contact reasonable and identify the type of accommodation or assistance you are requesting. Do not include any medical or health information in this email. The Reasonable Accommodations team will respond to your email promptly.

All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks come with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:

• Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices;
• Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;
• Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.

O’Fallon, Missouri: $140,000 - $231,000 USD