Lead Software Engineer

Our Purpose

Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200 countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers were helping build asustainableeconomy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices making transactionssecure 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

Overview

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry focused on powering an inclusive digital economy that makes transactions safe simple smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks our innovations enable individuals financial institutions governments and businesses worldwide to realize their greatest potential.

About the Role

The Mastercard Treasury Services Program owns the settlement platform for all Mastercards transactions. The primary purpose of this role will be to lead a team of software engineers to deliver the next generation of this settlement platform.

Role

Software Design & Architecture

Lead end-to-end software design and architecture translating business and system requirements into scalable reliable and maintainable solutions
Define high- and low-level design artifacts including APIs data models system interactions and component boundaries
Establish and enforce architecture standards design patterns and engineering best practices across teams
Apply deep knowledge of data structures algorithms and distributed system design to solve complex performance and scalability challenges

Software Development Excellence

Own delivery of robust secure and high-performance software across backend platforms
Drive engineering excellence in coding standards modular design and maintainability
Build and enhance internal developer platforms using Backstage or similar frameworks leveraging plugin-based architectures
Develop data-driven user interfaces that surface observability and operational insights

Testing Strategy & Quality Engineering

Define and implement comprehensive testing strategies including:
Unit testing
Integration testing
Functional/end-to-end testing
Embed automated testing within CI/CD pipelines to enforce quality gates and prevent regressions
Ensure systems meet correctness reliability and backward compatibility requirements at scale

Performance Engineering

Lead performance engineering initiatives including system benchmarking load testing and capacity planning
Analyze system bottlenecks and optimize latency throughput and resource utilization across distributed architectures
Ensure applications meet strict performance SLAs in high-volume mission-critical environments

Secure Coding & Compliance

Enforce secure coding practices and integrate security into every phase of the SDLC
Design systems that meet enterprise security regulatory and compliance requirements
Partner with security teams to proactively identify and remediate vulnerabilities

Troubleshooting & Incident Management

Serve as a senior escalation point for complex production issues across distributed systems and user-facing platforms
Lead root cause analysis incident resolution and postmortem activities
Drive systemic improvements to prevent recurring issues and improve system reliability

Code Review & Technical Leadership

Lead rigorous code reviews ensuring adherence to best practices in design performance security and maintainability
Mentor engineers and elevate team capability in software design testing debugging and operational excellence
Provide hands-on guidance in solving high-complexity technical problems across system layers

Collaboration & Ownership

Partner with product platform and business stakeholders to shape technical roadmaps and delivery priorities
Own and deliver cross-functional initiatives spanning frontend backend and platform engineering
Contribute to the Software Engineering Guild by sharing reusable frameworks patterns and innovations

All About You

We are looking for someone who:

Demonstrates deep expertise across software development system design and architecture
Brings a strong foundation in data structures algorithms and distributed systems
Leads with a quality-first mindset emphasizing testing security and performance
Excels at troubleshooting complex systems and driving resolution under pressure
Proactively improves operability reliability and developer experience
Influences technical direction and mentors engineers across teams

Technologies

Java microservices RESTful APIs
Frameworks: Spring (Spring Boot Spring Data Spring Batch Spring REST Spring Cloud AOP) Hibernate
API design and tooling best practices
Cloud and DevOps: Kubernetes Docker Pivotal Cloud Foundry
Databases: Oracle PostgreSQL Redis
Tools: IntelliJ/Eclipse Sonar Git Maven Jenkins CI/CD Gatling GitHub Copilot Claude Code

Qualifications

Proven ability to coach teams on full-stack development and end-to-end service ownership
Strong communicator with the ability to clearly articulate complex architecture decisions to technical and business stakeholders
Skilled in driving trade-off discussions across competing priorities (security regulatory technical debt etc.)
Experience leading advanced operational and failure testing practices such as chaos engineering
Experience with Agile and modern SDLC practices: Scrum Kanban CI/CD DevOps and Quality Engineering
Ability to operate under pressure while managing complex initiatives and competing priorities
Adaptability in fast-changing environments with evolving technologies
Strong hands-on experience designing solutions and full-stack development in modern technologies for large-scale enterprise systems
Advanced experience building microservices in JAVA with the Spring Boot framework
Working knowledge of application security principles: encryption/ decryption PKI Hashing JWT OAuth OIDC zero trust
Proven experience working with Oracle/SQL Databases
Extensive experience in software development and system design data structures algorithms and a demonstrated ownership to maintain and troubleshoot complex large-scale distributed systems
Experience in technical design activities to ensure alignment with Non-Functional Requirements Solution Architecture and System Functional Design specifications
Strong hands-on experience with:
Unit Integration and Functional Testing frameworks and strategies
Performance Engineering and system optimization
Secure coding practices and application security principles
Code reviews and engineering quality standards
Operability engineering (observability monitoring reliability)
Hands-on experience with AWS (Azure a plus) Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies
Strong experience with CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform CloudFormation)
Experience with observability platforms (e.g. Splunk or equivalent)
Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science Engineering or related field preferred
Knowledge and experience working within the security/ access domain is preferred

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 the US or Canada if you require accommodations or assistance to complete the online application process or during the recruitment process please contact 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 Mastercards 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 Mastercards guidelines.

In line with Mastercards 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 RELECTS ONE OR MORE CURRENT VACANCIES ON OUR TEAM AND MASTERCARD INTENDS TO FILL THIS POSITION BY 12/27/2026. If the fill date has passed Mastercard intends to fill this position as soon as possible.

Pay Ranges

OFallon Missouri: $140000 - $231000 USD