Lead Software Engineer

Director, Software Engineering

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

Director, Software EngineeringWho 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.
Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

Overview
The Digital Network Solutions - Switching Gateway provides a single payment connection that supports Mastercard and non-Mastercard branded financial transactions. It is a streamlined interface that enables transaction originators and receivers (e.g., merchants, financial institutions, and processors) to connect to other players in the payment ecosystem. Our team of integrators, analysts, testers and subject matter experts work together to build four platforms that encompasses full lifecycle of payment processing. We are looking for a Manager, Software Development Engineering to run a team of IT Professionals for the development and delivery of quality software solutions with Passion, in a timely and cost-effective manner.

What You Will Do

* Drive modernization from legacy switching architecture to microservices-based, event-driven platforms
* Lead and develop a high-performing engineering team supporting NEX Settlement systems
* Own end-to-end technology delivery from design through production operations
* Ensure high availability, scalability, and performance for real-time financial transaction processing
* Define and enforce development standards, quality controls, and CI/CD practices
* Partner with Domain Owners, Payment Networks, and cross-functional teams to shape platform strategy
* Lead performance engineering for high TPS, low-latency payment systems
* Provide architectural guidance for system integration across Authorization, Clearing, and Settlement
* Champion AI-assisted engineering practices across development lifecycle
* Represent the platform in executive forums and cross-domain architecture reviews

All About You

* 12+ years of engineering experience in high-volume, low-latency systems (payments switching, financial transaction systems, real-time streaming platforms)
* 5-7 + years of people management experience with proven ability to lead and grow teams
* Experience delivering large-scale modernization or platform transformation initiatives
* Strong background in Java/Spring Boot, Go, C++, or similar backend technologies
* Experience with microservices, REST APIs, and event-driven architectures (Kafka/NATS)
* Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins or similar), containerization (Docker), and Kubernetes/Cloud-native platforms
* Experience working in strong matrix organizations and conducting formal performance reviews
* Deep understanding of software engineering best practices, resiliency, and production support
* Strong communication skills and ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders

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.

Experience Level

Executive Level