Vice President, Software Engineering

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
Vice President, Software Engineering
Role Overview
As the Vice President of Software Engineering within the AI & Data Platform Engineering organization, you will provide enterprise-scale technology leadership for the next generation of Mastercard's Decision Management Platform (DMP). You will shape long-term architecture strategy, lead modernization of a mission-critical platform, and guide engineering excellence across large, complex initiatives.
You will collaborate closely with technology executives, product leaders, and engineering teams to deliver real-time AI inferencing and decisioning capabilities that enhance product effectiveness, improve business agility, strengthen resiliency, and reduce cost of ownership. Your leadership will play a pivotal role in defining the future direction of AI & Data Platform Engineering.
Key Responsibilities:
Enterprise Architecture & Technical Leadership• Lead architectural strategy and design for large-scale, enterprise-wide initiatives spanning multiple services and programs.• Define and evolve service interactions, dependency models, and architecture policies to ensure scalability, security, resiliency, and regulatory compliance.• Partner with business and product leaders to architect services that enable new products and decisioning capabilities.• Guide modernization of existing systems and influence long-range technology planning.
Customer Experience & Platform Strategy• Own and improve the end-to-end customer and developer experience across a portfolio of services and applications.• Simplify and optimize architecture strategies to balance performance, cost efficiency, and business value.• Use sound judgment to make trade-offs among competing priorities, risks, and technical constraints.
Thought Leadership & Influence• Drive organization-wide initiatives that elevate engineering craftsmanship, operational excellence, and architectural standards.• Represent the organization through speaking engagements, technical publications, and contributions to the broader technology community.• Participate in highest-level architecture reviews and provide guidance on complex, enterprise-wide technical challenges.
Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing• Consult across teams and organizational boundaries to identify synergies, reduce duplication, and eliminate operational silos.• Mentor engineers and architects at all levels, fostering a strong technical leadership pipeline.• Promote knowledge sharing within guilds, programs, and communities of practice.
Talent & Culture• Lead technical interviews, help raise the engineering performance bar, and contribute to strategic hiring decisions.• Provide objective, impact-based promotion recommendations.• Champion behaviors that reinforce organizational values and build a high-performance engineering culture.
Qualifications:• Proven software engineering leadership experience, including leading large-scale, distributed systems or high-volume transaction platforms.• Significant experience overseeing architecture for real-time decisioning, data platforms, or enterprise-scale AI/ML-driven systems.• Proven track record modernizing legacy systems and guiding long-range technology strategies across complex organizations.• Demonstrated ability to lead multiple engineering teams and drive alignment across product, architecture, and operations.• Deep experience with cloud, data platforms, real-time processing, and enterprise-grade resiliency, security, and compliance requirements.• Strong understanding of service interactions, dependency management, and high-throughput system design.• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with experience influencing executives, engineers, and cross-functional stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications:• Experience with high-volume, low-latency platforms processing mission-critical transactions.• Background working in environments involving business rules engines, analytic model integration, or real-time decisioning workflows.• Familiarity with streaming technologies and complex event processing.• Demonstrated expertise in architectural governance, engineering best practices, and organization-wide technical initiatives.• Prior leadership experience within AI, data, or decisioning platform domains.
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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 [email protected] 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
New York City, New York: $254,000 - $407,000 USD
Chicago, Illinois: $212,000 - $339,000 USD
O'Fallon, Missouri: $212,000 - $339,000 USD
Remote - New York: $212,000 - $339,000 USD
Remote - Washington: $212,000 - $339,000 USD
San Francisco, California: $254,000 - $407,000 USD
Job Posting Window
Posting windows may change based on the volume of applications received and business necessity. Candidates are encouraged to apply expeditiously.