Lead Software Engineer

Mastercard•O'fallon, MO

10d•$140,000 - $231,000•Onsite

About The Position

Mastercard is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to serve as a technical leader and subject matter expert responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining secure, scalable, and reliable software solutions. This role drives software engineering excellence by leading architecture and design activities, promoting engineering best practices, mentoring team members, and ensuring high-quality delivery across the software development lifecycle. The ideal candidate applies deep technical expertise to solve complex engineering challenges, influence technology decisions, and contribute to the continuous improvement of products, services, and engineering processes.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience designing, developing, and supporting enterprise-scale software solutions.
Strong expertise in software design, software architecture, and software development principles.
Experience implementing and maintaining unit, functional, and integration testing strategies.
Strong understanding of performance engineering, scalability, and reliability best practices.
Experience applying secure coding standards and software security principles.
Proven ability to perform code reviews and maintain high standards of software quality.
Experience designing solutions with operational excellence, observability, and maintainability considerations.
Strong troubleshooting and root cause analysis capabilities in complex technical environments.
Ability to independently manage complex technical work while influencing broader engineering initiatives.
Experience mentoring engineers and providing technical leadership across teams.
Strong collaboration, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing and supporting distributed systems and microservices architectures.
Experience with cloud-native technologies, automation, and modern software delivery practices.
Experience evaluating and adopting emerging technologies, tools, and engineering methodologies.
Familiarity with AI-assisted software development and other modern engineering productivity capabilities.

Responsibilities

Lead the design and architecture of scalable, maintainable, and secure software solutions that support business and technology objectives.
Define architectural patterns, standards, and technical approaches that promote performance, reliability, and long-term maintainability.
Evaluate complex requirements and translate them into effective technical designs and implementation strategies.
Conduct design and architecture reviews to ensure alignment with organizational standards and engineering best practices.
Design, develop, test, and maintain high-quality software solutions across the full software development lifecycle.
Drive adoption of modern engineering practices that improve software quality, delivery velocity, and operational effectiveness.
Contribute to the creation of technical documentation, design specifications, deployment strategies, and other engineering artifacts.
Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend solutions that improve products, services, or engineering efficiency.
Establish and promote standards for unit, functional, and integration testing.
Ensure software solutions are thoroughly validated through effective testing strategies that support quality, reliability, and maintainability.
Drive continuous improvement of quality engineering practices throughout development and deployment processes.
Analyze, design, and optimize software systems to meet performance, scalability, and reliability requirements.
Lead performance testing, monitoring, capacity planning, and tuning initiatives.
Identify and resolve bottlenecks to ensure solutions operate efficiently under varying workloads.
Apply and champion secure coding practices throughout the software development lifecycle.
Ensure software solutions adhere to security standards and protect against vulnerabilities and emerging threats.
Partner with stakeholders to identify and remediate security risks while maintaining compliance with organizational standards.
Design solutions with observability, maintainability, and operational readiness in mind.
Support production environments through monitoring, incident management, problem resolution, and root cause analysis.
Lead troubleshooting efforts for complex technical issues across applications and systems.
Drive continuous improvements that enhance system stability, resiliency, and supportability.
Conduct code reviews to ensure adherence to coding standards, maintainability requirements, and quality expectations.
Provide constructive feedback and technical guidance to engineering teams.
Influence engineering decisions through technical expertise and collaboration with cross-functional stakeholders.
Mentor and coach engineers to foster professional growth and technical excellence.

Benefits

insurance (including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, disability, life insurance)
flexible spending account and health savings account
16 weeks of new parent leave
up to 20 days of bereavement leave
80 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time
25 days of vacation time
5 personal days
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