Lead Software Engineer

Mastercard • O'fallon, MO

2d • $140,000 - $231,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Secure Access team within the Technology organization is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to lead the architecture and design of microservices responsible for both API and web authentication authorizations. This role requires deep technical expertise, end-to-end ownership, and the ability to lead complex engineering initiatives.

Requirements

• 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)
• Proven experience in backend development with applicable JAVA technologies (Core JAVA, Spring Integration, Spring Boot, Hibernate, REST/SOAP web services)
• 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
• 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)
• Excellent communication and technical leadership skills
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field preferred

Nice To Haves

• Knowledge and experience working within the security/ access domain is preferred

Responsibilities

• 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
• Own delivery of robust, secure, and high-performance software across backend platforms and frontend applications (React)
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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

Benefits

• 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

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior