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 (Network Security)

The Team
The Network Security Architecture team is responsible for defining, designing, and evolving the enterprise network architecture to ensure best in class performance, reliability, and security. This role partners with other Network Architecture teams to set the strategic direction for network platforms, develop architectural standards and roadmaps, and oversees the design and delivery of complex solutions supporting a global, hybrid, and highly distributed environment.

The Role:

This role blends software engineering, systems design, and network security architecture to deliver resilient services leveraged across Mastercard’s global network.

As a Lead Software Engineer for Network Security Architecture, you will design and build secure, scalable, automated network security platforms and services. You will integrate multivendor systems, develop tooling and automation that enforce security architectural standards, driving platform lifecycle excellence from strategy through operations.

Architecture, Design & Platform Ownership

-Define, design, and evolve network security services, automation frameworks, and platform capabilities at scale.
-Develop service-level procedures, reusable patterns, and engineering solutions aligned to architectural standards and business needs.
-Introduce new technologies in alignment with enterprise guidelines and evaluate emerging capabilities that enhance automation, security, or reliability.
-Partner with Network Architecture teams to ensure secure by design integration across data centers, cloud environments, and hybrid infrastructure.

Engineering & Delivery:

-Write high-quality, maintainable code to enhance network security tools and automation services.
-Build API-driven integrations across multivendor environments using Python, ensuring consistency, compliance, and operational efficiency.
-Automate and simplify processes, actively advocating for an automation first culture across the organization.
-Develop and maintain high-quality documentation for architecture, design, operations, and platform standards.

About You

-Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Infrastructure Technologies, or related field—or equivalent experience.
-Advanced proficiency in modern languages such as Go and Python, API integrations, and software-driven automation in multivendor environments.
-Advanced understanding of networking and network security fundamentals, including TCP/IP, routing, switching, subnets, SDN, and network segmentation.
-Strong grasp of modern software development methodologies: Git, CI/CD pipelines, testing frameworks, branching strategies, pull requests, and DevOps practices.
-Experience designing large-scale, platform-level services in global, distributed environments.
-Demonstrated leadership in technical direction, guiding engineering teams, and executing complex initiatives.
-Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to exercise sound technical judgment.
-Strong communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across all levels of the organization.
-Self-motivated, organized, and capable of driving work forward with minimal supervision.
-Comfortable adapting to new technologies, evolving architectural direction, and emerging automation patterns.
-You want to work on an awesome team!

Nice to Have:

-Experience with Ansible, Terraform, or Chef for infrastructure automation and orchestration.
-Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code workflows and Git Ops methodologies.
-Exposure to cloud networking and security constructs across AWS, Azure, or GCP.
-Experience with network security platforms, policy automation, compliance tooling, or large-scale inventory systems.

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: $140,000 - $231,000 USD