Lead Software 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 Software Engineer
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.
Using secure data and networks, partnerships, and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and businesses realize their greatest potential. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.
Role Overview
This is a hands-on Lead Engineer role focused on building backend and full-stack capabilities for Mastercard's next-generation Decision Management Platform, the real-time system that helps score and approve billions of payment transactions. The role is well suited for engineers with experience developing AI/ML systems, low-latency inference services, LLM-enabled applications, agentic harnesses, and AI-assisted software development workflows.
You will own technical areas end to end, write code, shape architecture, mentor engineers, and turn ambiguous goals into reliable services, APIs, workflow tools, and user-facing experiences.
Key Responsibilities
• Own meaningful backend and full-stack capabilities from problem definition through design, implementation, testing, deployment, and production support.• Design and build scalable services, APIs, workflow tooling, frontend experiences, and integrations.• Set technical direction, make pragmatic architecture decisions, and align engineers around maintainable solutions.• Use design reviews, code reviews, and hands-on coaching to raise engineering quality and reduce complexity.• Write code, build prototypes, and use AI coding tools to improve speed, quality, and team effectiveness.• Work closely with product, engineering, and senior stakeholders to turn ambiguous goals into working software and measurable outcomes.
What We're Looking For
• You lead through delivery. You have shipped meaningful backend, full-stack, or product-facing capabilities in complex production systems.• You think end to end. You connect user experience, AI capabilities, models, APIs, backend services, data flows, operations, and business outcomes.• You influence by doing the work. You guide technical direction through judgment, clear communication, and hands-on credibility.• You care about quality. Testing, observability, security, clean interfaces, and maintainability are part of how you build.• You are adaptable. You are comfortable with ambiguity, changing priorities, and small, fast-moving teams.
Relevant Experience• You do not need experience in every area, but should bring strong hands-on depth in several of the following:• Backend services, API design, service integration, and domain modeling.• Full-stack applications, workflow tooling, dashboards, authoring tools, or operational interfaces.• High-throughput, low-latency, event-driven, or distributed systems.• Decisioning, rules, data, feature platforms, or real-time transaction processing.• AI/ML systems, low-latency inference, or LLM-enabled product experiences.• AI-assisted development and agentic harnesses
Requirements
• Strong hands-on software engineering experience building backend services, APIs, full-stack applications, or complex production systems.• Experience owning technical areas end to end, including design, implementation, testing, deployment, and production support.• Strong fundamentals in software design, architecture, API design, data modeling, testing, code review, secure coding, performance, and troubleshooting.• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction through design reviews, code reviews, and clear communication.• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
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.THIS POSTING IS NOT FOR A CURRENT VACANCY, BUT MASTERCARD IS SEEKING RESUMES TO REVIEW IN THE FUTURE WHEN JOBS BECOME AVAILABLE.
Pay Ranges
Arlington, Virginia: $161,000 - $266,000 USD
Atlanta, Georgia: $140,000 - $231,000 USD