Lead SW Engineer

Visa is hiring a Lead SW Engineer in Austin, United States. It pays $173k-$277k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Visa.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
The posting mentions ChatGPT, Copilot and Microsoft Copilot among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a lead role.
Visa has 833 other open roles on Level.
Posted within the past two weeks.

AI in this role

Design, implement, and improve software applications with hands-on coding and testing while leveraging generative AI productivity tools.

chatgptcopilotmicrosoft-copilot

software-engineeringcodingdebuggingcode-reviewtesting

About Us
Visa is a world leader in payments technology, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories, dedicated to uplifting everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

At Visa, you'll have the opportunity to create impact at scale — tackling meaningful challenges, growing your skills and seeing your contributions impact lives around the world.

Join Visa and do work that matters – to you, to your community, and to the world. Progress starts with you.

Job Description

Role Summary:
Lead Software Engineers are responsible for designing, implementing, and improving software applications and systems. The role involves hands-on coding, working with data and modern tools to deliver secure, scalable, and high-quality technology solutions. Collaboration with cross-functional teams is essential to translate business requirements into robust technical solutions, while adhering to best practices, security standards, and regulatory requirements.

All roles require digital fluency, including the ability to work with emerging technologies such as Generative AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot) to support everyday work.

Key Responsibilities:

Collaborate with stakeholders to interpret requirements for project components and incorporate feedback into future designs or solution fixes.
Informally lead junior engineers in understanding requirements and solution development.
Design and develop specific product components based on needs and requests of senior engineers, contributing to design documentation and validating alignment with requirements.
Participate in project estimation and escalate issues that may cause delays.
Create and implement extensible and maintainable code, applying coding patterns, guidelines, and best practices.
Apply debugging tools to verify assumptions and proactively flag issues before they occur.
Participate in code reviews to ensure coding standards are followed and address routine pull requests.
Identify appropriate techniques and create test plans for testing procedures to resolve defects.
Respond to incidents during on-call rotations, troubleshooting issues and deploying fixes to resolve root causes.
Leverage and build knowledge of software developer tools to create, debug, and maintain code for components.
Remain current in skills by investing time in training resources to improve product availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance.

Visa requires at least 3 days in office, expectations of these days will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

10+ years of relevant work experience with a bachelor’s degree or at least 7 years of work experience with an Advanced degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 4 years of work experience with a PhD, OR 13+ years of relevant work experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

Specialist: 4 or more years of relevant work experience.
Experience in technologies/software systems, or a directly related field.
Experience in developing and/or implementing web-based or mobile applications.
Experience in collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver technical solutions.
Experience in applying secure coding practices and managing code quality.
Experience in debugging and troubleshooting software issues.
Experience in creating and executing test plans for software features.
Experience in responding to support requests and resolving incidents.
Experience in leveraging software developer tools for code creation and maintenance.
One (1) year(s) experience building and testing enterprise-scale web services.
One (1) year(s) experience working on client-facing project or technical teams.
Experience in mentoring junior engineers.
Experience in contributing to design documentation and validating technical requirements.
Experience in participating in project estimation and addressing issues impacting timelines.

Information for US Applicants

For roles located in the US, the estimated salary range for this position is $173,200.00 to $ 277,200.00 USD per year, which may include potential sales incentive payments (if applicable). Salary may vary depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this position may be eligible for bonus and equity.Visa has a comprehensive benefits package for which this position may be eligible that includes Medical, Dental, Vision, 401(k), FSA/HSA, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, and Wellness Program.

Work Hours

Varies upon the needs of the department.

Travel Requirements

This position requires travel 5-10% of the time.

Mental/Physical Requirements

This position will be performed in an office setting. The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

Visa is an EEO Employer

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protect veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.

How we rate this

Lead SW Engineer at Visa rates 20 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.

●●●● 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 SW Engineer is an open job at Visa.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The listed salary is $173k-$277k a year.
The role is based in US - Austin, TX.
The job was posted on October 14, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by Visa. Apply on Visa

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Software EngineeringCodingDebuggingCode ReviewTestingChatGPTCopilotMicrosoft Copilot

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where software engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where coding was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where debugging was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where code review was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where testing was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Software Engineering, Coding, Debugging, Code Review, and Testing. 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.

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