Lead Software Engineer (mastercard)

Job Description

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

Lead Software Engineer – Small & Medium Enterprise Engineering
Mastercard is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to drive innovation and build cutting-edge solutions within the Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Engineering group. In this pivotal leadership role, you will shape technical strategies, guide engineering teams, and deliver scalable, high-performing software solutions that empower small and medium-sized businesses worldwide.
As a Lead Software Engineer, you will play a crucial role in Mastercard’s mission to create value, grow together, and move fast by fostering a culture of decency, inclusion, and innovation. You will leverage Mastercard’s robust technology ecosystem to develop APIs, cloud-native solutions, and distributed systems that redefine the SME landscape.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture
• Design and develop scalable, resilient, and secure software solutions aligned with Mastercard’s standards and best practices.
• Drive architectural decisions, adopting design patterns that optimize performance, maintainability, and cost-effectiveness.
• Lead Proof of Concepts (PoCs) to assess emerging technologies and recommend strategic directions.
• Champion API-first development, ensuring seamless integration within Mastercard’s ecosystem.
Innovation & Strategy
• Identify growth opportunities within the SME space by leveraging Mastercard’s technology portfolio.
• Spearhead enterprise-wide initiatives, ensuring successful execution of complex, multi-program projects.

Collaboration & Cross-functional Engagement
• Partner with business and product teams to define technical roadmaps and align engineering efforts with Mastercard’s SME strategy.
• Engage with security and compliance teams to ensure adherence to Mastercard’s regulatory and security frameworks.
• Work closely with global engineering and operations teams to deliver solutions that meet performance and scalability requirements.
Mentorship & Engineering Excellence
• Lead and mentor software engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation.
• Conduct code reviews, technical deep-dives, and troubleshooting sessions to uphold engineering quality.
• Establish documentation and knowledge-sharing frameworks to streamline development practices.

Required Skills & Experience

Core Technical Expertise
• Programming: Proficiency in Java, Spring Boot, and object-oriented design principles.
• Experience in React, Node.js, or full-stack development.
• Hands-on experience with event-driven architectures
• API Development: Hands-on experience with RESTful API design, SDK development, and API
security best practices.
• Cloud & DevOps: Strong expertise in Azure, AWS, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Microservices & Distributed Systems: Deep understanding of domain-driven design, event-driven architecture, and high-resilience distributed systems.
• Containerization & Orchestration: Hands-on experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and service mesh technologies.
• Databases: Expertise in PostgreSQL, NoSQL databases, and optimizing data performance at scale.
• Security & Compliance: Knowledge of vulnerability management, authentication mechanisms, and regulatory compliance.

Leadership & Collaboration
• Proven ability to lead Agile teams, drive sprint planning, and resolve technical blockers.
• Exceptional problem-solving and debugging skills, with experience in root cause analysis (RCA) and performance optimization.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, capable of influencing stakeholders and articulating technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Mentorship mindset, fostering a collaborative engineering culture through coaching and best practice adoption.

Nice to Have
• Contribution to technical blogs, public speaking, or thought leadership initiatives.

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.