Senior Vice President, Software Engineering

Mastercard•Arlington, VA

5d•$220,000 - $400,000

About The Position

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and businesses realize their greatest potential. Decision Stream is Mastercard's next-generation, AI-native decisioning platform designed to deliver intelligent, real-time decisioning across payments, fraud, authentication, and adjacent risk domains. The platform is being built as a startup-style venture within Mastercard, combining the speed and innovation of a product startup with the scale, security, and reach of an enterprise platform. We are seeking an Engineering Co-Founder to lead the engineering vision, architecture execution, talent strategy, and platform delivery for Decision Stream. This leader will partner closely with Product, Architecture, AI, Platform, and Foundry teams to build an industry-leading, cloud-native decisioning platform that redefines how decisions are made across Mastercard's ecosystem.

Requirements

Engineering leadership experience.
Proven experience building and scaling large-scale distributed platforms.
Deep expertise in cloud-native architecture, microservices, event-driven systems, and modern software engineering practices.
Demonstrated success leading engineering organizations through transformation and growth.
Experience delivering platforms requiring high availability, resiliency, and performance at significant scale.
Strong executive communication and stakeholder management skills.
Operate as an entrepreneur and builder.
Demonstrate bias for action and comfort with ambiguity.
Make decisions quickly using data and customer insights.
Foster radical transparency and cross-functional collaboration.
Inspire teams through vision, technical credibility, and execution excellence.
Challenge conventional thinking while remaining focused on business outcomes.
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.

Nice To Haves

Experience with AI/ML product platforms and intelligent decisioning systems.
Expertise in streaming technologies such as Kafka, Flink, or similar event-processing architectures.
Experience in payments, fraud, risk, authentication, or financial services technology.
Background building startup ventures, innovation labs, or greenfield platforms.
Record of leading globally distributed engineering organizations.

Responsibilities

Establish and execute the engineering vision for Decision Stream.
Drive engineering priorities, technical investment decisions, and platform evolution.
Create a high-performance culture built on ownership, innovation, accountability, and speed.
Partner with executive leadership to define long-term technology strategy and roadmap.
Lead the development of a cloud-native, AI-native decisioning platform capable of operating at Mastercard scale.
Drive architectural decisions across streaming, orchestration, rules execution, AI inference, observability, resiliency, and platform services.
Ensure platform reliability, scalability, security, and operational excellence.
Balance rapid experimentation with enterprise-grade engineering discipline.
Build and scale world-class engineering teams across platform engineering, AI, distributed systems, and product development.
Develop a lean operating model built around empowered cross-functional pods.
Partner closely with the Product Co-Founder to align engineering investments with customer outcomes and business objectives.
Work collaboratively across Product, Architecture, Foundry, Operations, and AI teams as one integrated leadership team.
Drive a culture where engineering teams own outcomes.
Lead the platform through MVP validation, commercialization readiness, and scaled adoption.
Establish engineering metrics, governance, and operating rhythms.
Drive rapid iteration cycles focused on learning, experimentation, and measurable outcomes.
Remove organizational barriers and accelerate decision making across teams.
Create an environment where innovation and accountability coexist.

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