Director, Mainframe Software Engineering

AI in this role

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

Overview
Mastercard is seeking a Director, Software Engineering to lead high-performing engineering teams responsible for building and evolving enterprise-scale platforms that power secure, innovative, and resilient payment solutions. This role combines technical leadership, organizational leadership, and strategic execution to drive engineering excellence across multiple products, platforms, and delivery teams.
As a senior technology leader, you will be responsible for defining engineering strategy, developing talent, fostering innovation, and ensuring the successful delivery of scalable software solutions. You will partner closely with Product, Architecture, Security, Operations, and Engineering leaders to execute against business objectives while advancing Mastercard's technology capabilities.
This position aligns with the expectations of a 500099 Director, Software Engineering role, requiring demonstrated expertise in engineering leadership, organizational development, modern software delivery practices, and large-scale distributed systems.
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Role Responsibilities
Engineering Leadership & Strategy
• Lead multiple software engineering teams responsible for delivering high-quality, secure, scalable, and resilient technology solutions.
• Develop and execute engineering strategies that align technology investments with business objectives and product roadmaps.
• Drive engineering excellence through the adoption of modern software development practices, architectural standards, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Establish measurable goals, key performance indicators, and operational metrics to evaluate team and product success.
• Champion innovation and promote the adoption of emerging technologies that improve customer experience and engineering efficiency.
Talent & Organizational Development
• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing engineering organization comprised of managers, senior engineers, and technical leaders.
• Recruit, retain, coach, and mentor top engineering talent while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Guide managers in performance management, career development, succession planning, and organizational effectiveness.
• Create an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives drive innovation and business outcomes.
Software Delivery & Execution
• Oversee the delivery of complex software initiatives across multiple teams and platforms.
• Ensure engineering teams consistently deliver secure, reliable, and maintainable software solutions.
• Drive Agile delivery practices, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and engineering automation.
• Manage execution risks, dependencies, resource allocation, and prioritization across initiatives.
• Ensure solutions meet performance, availability, scalability, and security requirements.
Technical Leadership
• Provide technical direction and architectural oversight for highly distributed, cloud-enabled software platforms.
• Partner with Architecture and Product teams to define scalable technical solutions and long-term platform strategies.
• Lead engineering reviews, technology decisions, and modernization initiatives.
• Promote best practices in software design, automated testing, observability, operational excellence, and platform reliability.
• Maintain awareness of industry trends and technology advancements to influence future engineering direction.
Stakeholder Management & Collaboration
• Collaborate with Product, Business, Architecture, Security, and Operations leaders to achieve strategic objectives.
• Communicate technical strategies, execution plans, risks, and outcomes to senior leadership and executive stakeholders.
• Influence cross-functional decision-making through strong business and technical acumen.
• Foster transparency, alignment, and accountability across globally distributed teams.
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Qualifications
Leadership Experience
• Significant experience leading software engineering organizations delivering enterprise-scale applications and platforms.
• Proven success managing engineering managers, senior technical leaders, and cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated ability to scale organizations, build talent pipelines, and develop future leaders.
• Experience driving organizational change, engineering transformation, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Technical Expertise
• Deep understanding of modern software engineering practices and software development lifecycle methodologies.
• Experience building and operating large-scale, distributed, highly available systems.
• Strong knowledge of cloud-native architectures, APIs, microservices, event-driven systems, and platform engineering.
• Experience with Agile, DevOps, CI/CD, automated testing, and engineering productivity frameworks.
• Familiarity with application lifecycle management tools such as Jira, Rally, or equivalent platforms.
• Knowledge of system reliability, observability, security principles, and performance optimization.
Business & Partnership Skills
• Ability to align engineering priorities with business strategy and customer outcomes.
• Strong financial and operational acumen with the ability to assess business cases and technology investments.
• Exceptional communication, influence, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven ability to make informed decisions in fast-paced environments and drive execution through ambiguity.
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Leadership Competencies
• Strategic Thinking
• Results Orientation
• Talent Development
• Organizational Leadership
• Customer Focus
• Innovation & Continuous Improvement
• Collaboration & Influence
• Technical Vision
• Operational Excellence
• Executive Communication
Education
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field.
• Advanced degree or equivalent practical experience preferred.

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. THIS POSTING RELECTS ONE OR MORE CURRENT VACANCIES ON OUR TEAM, AND MASTERCARD INTENDS TO FILL THIS POSITION BY 12/09/2026. If the fill date has passed, Mastercard intends to fill this position as soon as possible.

Pay Ranges

O'Fallon, Missouri: $170,000 - $281,000 USD

How we rate this

Director, Mainframe Software Engineering at Mastercard rates 35 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.