Lead Software Engineer

Mastercard is hiring a Lead Software Engineer. Level rates it ; you can apply on Mastercard.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this software engineer role is Uses AI ●●○○: an ordinary role that requires AI tools.
The posting mentions Claude, Copilot and Claude Code among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a lead role.
Mastercard has 948 other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

Shape the unified internal developer platform and lifecycle tools, integrating modern developer productivity assistants.

ClaudeCopilotClaude CodeGitHub CopilotDocker

ai-safetydeveloper-experiencesoftware-architecturetooling-governanceplatform-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

Lead Software Engineer

Overview:
The Mastercard Developer Workbench, part of the MSBX (Mastercard Software Builder Experience) division, is evolving from a cost-allocation construct into a unified, developer-centric platform. With over 11,500 software engineers across the organization, Mastercard is investing in a dedicated product team to deliver an integrated, end-to-end developer experience.

The Developer Workbench brings together five core MSBX products — BuildersHub, DevFlow, TestFlow, DevInsights, and Cloud DevEx — alongside cross-cutting tools including GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and Docker Desktop. This is a rare opportunity to shape the future of how engineers at one of the world's leading technology companies build, test, and ship software.

About the Role:
- Serve as a technical anchor on the team — setting the bar for engineering quality, driving architectural decisions, and providing hands-on guidance to fellow engineers across the platform.
- Design, build, and maintain core components of the Developer Workbench platform across the full development lifecycle, while actively supporting teammates in doing the same.
- Lead the technical direction and roadmap of the Developer Workbench, driving its evolution from a chargeback mechanism into a cohesive, productized developer experience — and bringing the engineering team
along through clear technical reasoning and collaborative decision-making.
- Own and advance the integration of software engineering tools across the development lifecycle, establishing patterns and practices the team can build on consistently.
- Lead the governance of the "birthright and optional tooling" catalogue — driving version lifecycle management, tool evaluations, and deprecation of redundant solutions in close coordination with engineering
stakeholders.
- Partner with product owners, platform teams, and engineering stakeholders to align workbench capabilities with organization-wide engineering priorities, acting as a technical voice in cross-functional
discussions.
- Lead the design and delivery of developer enablement features — onboarding flows, self-service tooling, feedback integrations — and help the broader team understand and extend these systems effectively.
- Architect and oversee the implementation of pre-provisioned onboarding environments that enable new hires to be productive within 30 minutes of day one.
- Drive the adoption and advancement of AI-augmented development capabilities including agentic coding tools, code assistants, and automated quality pipelines — acting as a technical authority and enabler for
the team.
- Define and champion meaningful instrumentation and metrics that surface developer productivity, satisfaction, and platform health across the organization.
- Engage across engineering, security, and compliance teams to ensure tooling implementations meet Mastercard's security and regulatory requirements, and help teammates navigate those constraints effectively.
- Actively contribute to and help lead the Software Engineering Guild — sharing deep technical expertise, elevating engineering standards, and mentoring engineers across the organization.

All About You:
- Proven track record as a technical leader among peers — known for raising the quality of the work around you through code reviews, design feedback, pairing, and shared ownership rather than through authority.
- Strong background in software engineering, including hands-on work on platform engineering, developer tooling, or developer experience (DevEx) products at enterprise scale.
- Demonstrated ability to decompose complex technical problems, communicate tradeoffs clearly to engineers at varying levels, and build shared understanding across a team.
- Deep familiarity with the modern developer tooling ecosystem, including:
- AI coding assistants: GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, or similar
- Containerization and desktop dev environments: Docker Desktop, Kubernetes, DevContainers
- CI/CD and pipeline tooling: GitHub Actions, Jenkins, ArgoCD, or similar
- Developer portals and inner-source platforms: Backstage, or similar
- Experience working with AI-powered developer tools in a regulated enterprise environment, including a strong understanding of policy compliance, access controls, and responsible AI usage.
- Deep command of developer experience (DevEx) principles and the ability to translate developer pain points into durable platform improvements — and to coach others in doing the same.
- Experience designing and delivering pre-provisioned, standardized development environments at scale, with an ability to guide teammates through the tradeoffs involved.
- Strong grasp of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), infrastructure automation, and cloud-native development patterns.
- Comfortable driving adoption through instrumentation, metrics, and feedback mechanisms — and helping others instrument their own work meaningfully.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to facilitate technical alignment across engineering teams and articulate complex concepts to non-engineering stakeholders.
- Fluent with software development productivity metrics (e.g., DORA metrics, onboarding time, tool adoption rates) and experienced at using data to steer technical decisions collaboratively.
- Self-driven and effective in ambiguous, fast-evolving technology environments — able to unblock yourself and others without waiting for full clarity.
- Strong command of Agile/Scrum methodologies and SDLC best practices, with a track record of raising process maturity within engineering teams.

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.

Pay Ranges

O'Fallon, Missouri: $140,000 - $231,000 USD

How we rate this

Lead Software Engineer at Mastercard rates 40 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Uses AI (AI Level 2 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Uses AI. An ordinary role that requires AI tools.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Lead Software Engineer is an open job at Mastercard.
Level rates this role AI Level 2 of 4: Uses AI.
The role is based in O'Fallon, Missouri.
The job was posted on September 10, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by Mastercard. Apply on Mastercard

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

AI SafetyDeveloper ExperienceSoftware ArchitectureTooling GovernancePlatform EngineeringClaudeCopilotClaude Code

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Python Java TypeScript React C++JavaScript

Pay

Typical software engineer job: $167k

This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical software engineer figure when pay comes up. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

How do you think about the risk of an AI system in this kind of role failing silently?
Tell me about a project where developer experience was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where software architecture was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where tooling governance was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where platform engineering was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: AI Safety, Developer Experience, Software Architecture, Tooling Governance, and Platform Engineering. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Put the AI tool in a bullet point about what you did, not just in a skills list. This role treats it as a required part of the job.

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