Principal Architect - Edge Platform

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
Principal Architect - Edge Platform
Who is Mastercard?
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.
About the Role:
We are seeking a visionary and hands-on Principal Architect to lead the architecture and design of Mastercard's Edge Platform (MEP) - a globally distributed financial services edge platform. This platform handles high-throughput financial transactions using ISO8583 and ISO20022 standards, and will be deployed across thousands of global locations in cloud and on-premises environments.
Key Responsibilities:• System Architecture & Design• Architect scalable, secure, and high-performance edge systems for financial transaction routing.• Design distributed systems capable of handling persistent TCP connections, ISO message parsing, transformation, validation, and routing.• Define and evolve the platform's microservices architecture using Golang and gRPC.
• Platform Engineering• Lead development of core routing logic, timers, retries, and business logic integration.• Ensure seamless integration with Mastercard's backend systems via gRPC.• Oversee containerization and deployment strategies using Kubernetes (K8s) across cloud and customer data centers.
• Fleet Management• Design and implement a robust fleet management system for global deployments.• Ensure observability, operability, and lifecycle management of edge nodes.
• Security & Compliance• Collaborate with security teams to integrate platform with Mastercard's security subsystems.• Ensure compliance with financial regulations and data protection standards.
• Cloud & DevOps• Work closely with cloud infrastructure teams to define deployment pipelines, connectivity, and operational tooling.• Drive automation, CI/CD, and infrastructure-as-code practices.
• Cross-functional Leadership• Collaborate with product, engineering, and operations teams to align architecture with business goals.• Mentor and guide engineering teams on best practices in distributed systems, cloud-native development, and secure coding.
Required Skills & Experience:• Experience in software architecture, with deep expertise in distributed systems and edge computing.• Strong proficiency in Golang, gRPC, and TCP/IP networking.• Experience with ISO8583, ISO20022, or other financial messaging standards.• Proven track record in designing and operating Kubernetes-based platforms at scale.• Deep understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and on-premises deployments.• Experience with DevOps, CI/CD, observability, and fleet management.• Strong knowledge of security architecture, including authentication, authorization, and secure communication.• Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to influence across teams and geographies.
Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience in financial services or payment systems.• Familiarity with PCI-DSS and other financial compliance frameworks.• Experience with edge orchestration tools and service mesh technologies.
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.
Pay Ranges