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 Software Engineer:

Overview:

Mastercard is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the design complex distributed system archtecture, lead the development and delivery of high throughtput and performance applications. In this role, you will operate across teams and domains, setting technical direction, influencing architectural decisions, and solving complex problems with broad organizational impact. You will balance deep hands-on engineering with strategic leadership, mentorship, and close collaboration with business and technical partners to deliver innovative, secure, and cost-effective solutions aligned with Mastercard’s long-term objectives.

• Role
• Work on complex enterprise-wide initiatives spanning multiple services/programs and drives resolution
• Work with business/product owners to architect and deliver on new services to introduce new products and bundles
• Drive the architectural design, including dependent services, service interactions, and policies
• Take ownership to improve the customer experience of an entire set of services/applications sold as products or bundled services
• Contribute and lead Guild initiatives by engaging and mentoring Engineers at all levels to improve the craftmanship of Software Engineering
• Simplify and improve the cost/benefit of a function/service/architecture strategy
• Apply judgment and experience to balance trade-offs between competing interests
• Venture beyond comfort zone to take on assignments across different areas of Software Engineering
• Take on organization-wide and public speaking engagements and publishes white papers and blogs on relevant and emerging technical topics
• Consult across teams and across organization lines to identify synergies and reuse opportunities
• Participate and contribute to Principal review architecture meetings and drive resolutions to enterprise-wide challenges and regulatory needs
• Write recommendations for job promotions based on an unbiased view of one's accomplishments
• Conduct technical interviews for hiring engineering staff and raising the performance bar
• Identify and raise awareness to Silo-ed behaviors within the organization and teams

All about you

• Demonstrated progression from Software Engineer to senior technical leadership roles, with a strong foundation in hands-on software development.
• Hands-on experience designing, building, and evolving large-scale, distributed, cloud-native systems using modern programming languages (e.g., Java, .NET/C#, Python).
• Strong expertise in microservices, APIs, and event-driven architectures, with a focus on scalability, resiliency, and security.
• Deep understanding of CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and operational excellence for highly available production systems.
• Solid foundation in data and storage technologies, including relational and non-relational databases, with an emphasis on performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Experience with PCF, Relational DBs, Redis, Splunk, Dynatrace, and related enterprise tools.
• Extensive experience delivering enterprise-grade, secure software solutions, preferably within regulated or financial services environments.
• Proven ability to lead and influence technical direction across teams without direct authority.
• Strong experience evaluating, selecting, and implementing technologies, frameworks, and engineering methodologies.
• Demonstrated success driving productivity, efficiency, and quality through process improvement and innovation.
• • Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for diverse audiences.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent practical 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 reasonable_accommodation@mastercard.com 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.

Pay Ranges

O'Fallon, Missouri: $170,000 - $281,000 USD