Lead Database Platform 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 Database Platform Engineer
Overview
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible.
The Database Engineering team is responsible for delivering secure, scalable, resilient, and highly available database platforms that support Mastercard's critical applications globally. We are seeking a Lead Database Platform Engineer to provide technical leadership, platform strategy, automation expertise, and operational excellence across our enterprise database ecosystem.
This role combines deep database engineering expertise with modern platform engineering practices, including cloud infrastructure engineering, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), CI/CD, software automation, security, reliability engineering, and developer enablement. The successful candidate will drive platform modernization, establish engineering standards, improve operational efficiency, and influence the strategic direction of Mastercard's database platforms.
The ideal candidate is a technical leader who thrives in complex environments, embraces continuous improvement, and is passionate about building scalable, secure, and reliable data platforms that enable engineering teams to deliver business value.
Major Accountabilities• Lead the design, engineering, implementation, administration, and operational support of enterprise database platforms supporting Mastercard applications.• Establish and maintain database engineering standards, governance frameworks, operational procedures, and platform best practices.• Drive platform engineering initiatives focused on automation, scalability, reliability, security, and developer experience.• Design and support highly available, resilient, and secure database infrastructure solutions.• Develop and implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions and configuration management practices to improve consistency and operational efficiency.• Integrate database platforms into CI/CD pipelines and modern software delivery processes.• Develop automation capabilities that support provisioning, deployment, patching, upgrades, monitoring, and recovery activities.• Partner with engineering, architecture, product, and security teams to deliver enterprise database services aligned with business and technology objectives.• Lead troubleshooting, root cause analysis, performance analysis, capacity planning, backup, recovery, and disaster recovery initiatives.• Support infrastructure engineering efforts for database services (Oracle/Redis/PostgreSQL) across hybrid and cloud-native environments.• Enable database services that support distributed systems and microservices-based application architectures.• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend platform improvements that increase reliability, scalability, security, and operational effectiveness.• Ensure adherence to security requirements, risk controls, regulatory obligations, and corporate governance standards.• Provide technical leadership through mentoring, coaching, and knowledge sharing.• Lead internal projects and strategic initiatives that advance the Database Engineering organization's capabilities and long-term roadmap.• Identify opportunities for delegation and provide appropriate oversight to ensure successful delivery of initiatives and operational activities.• Participate in rotational production support and incident management activities.
Education• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
Knowledge and Experience• Advanced expertise in Oracle Exadata/RAC/Redis/PostgreSQL database engineering, administration, platform operations, and automation within large-scale enterprise environments.• Deep understanding of database architecture, resiliency, performance optimization, security, data governance, and operational best practices.• Strong knowledge of platform engineering principles, including cloud infrastructure engineering, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using tools like Ansible, Chef or Puppet, CI/CD, and operational reliability.• Experience supporting enterprise IT infrastructure and modern application platforms using automation at scale• Understanding of distributed systems management and microservices-based architectures.• Experience establishing engineering standards, operational procedures, and platform governance practices.• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction and contribute to technology strategy and platform modernization efforts.• Advanced understanding of the role database platforms play in supporting business capabilities, data governance, security, and regulatory requirements.
Skills and Abilities• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence technical decisions and promote engineering best practices. • Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and develop engineers while driving technical initiatives and operational excellence. • Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills. • Excellent collaboration skills with the ability to lead cross-functional teams and build effective partnerships. • Ability to manage multiple priorities, drive continuous improvement, and deliver customer-focused solutions. • Proven ability to establish standards, implement best practices, and influence engineering outcomes.• Database Technologies Include (not limited to): Oracle, Redis, Oracle Exadata Administration, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Cassandra.
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 [email protected] 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.
Corporate Security Responsibility
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.
Pay Ranges
O'Fallon, Missouri: $122,000 - $207,000 USD