Lead Software Development Engineer

Overview
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.

• Lead software design and architecture decisions across multiple teams and

• Define engineering standards for software development, testing, security,

• Conduct architecture reviews and provide technical governance across

• Mentor engineers and cultivate a culture of engineering excellence.

• Architect highly available, fault-tolerant distributed systems capable of

• Drive performance engineering initiatives including load testing, capacity

• Design solutions supporting low latency, high throughput, resiliency, and

• Design and implement large-scale event-driven architectures utilizing Kafka

• Drive adoption of asynchronous processing and distributed system design

• Lead development and deployment using PCF, Kubernetes, Docker, and CI/CD

• Champion platform engineering and infrastructure automation practices.

• Establish secure coding standards and application security best practices.


• Drive operational readiness, observability, monitoring, and supportability

• Lead complex troubleshooting efforts, root cause analysis, and remediation

• Establish standards for unit, functional, and integration testing.

• Lead adoption of AI-assisted development, AI agents, MCP-based integrations,

• Evaluate and implement emerging AI engineering capabilities while ensuring

• 10+ years of software engineering experience.


• 3+ years leading large-scale distributed system initiatives.


• Expert-level Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, microservices architecture, and

• Strong software architecture and software design leadership experience.


• Deep expertise in performance engineering and reliability engineering.


• Extensive experience implementing secure coding standards and software

• Experience mentoring engineers and leading technical decision-making.


• Deep understanding of observability, monitoring, operability, and production

• Demonstrated experience with AI-assisted software development, AI agents,

• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and technical leadership

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_accommodation@mastercard.com 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 comes 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.

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 (and certain part time) employees generally include: insurance (including 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; 401k 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. Mastercard benefits for interns generally include: 56 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time; jury duty leave; and on-site fitness facilities in some locations.

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