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

Overview

Mastercard Send, part of the Mastercard Move portfolio, powers near real-time money movement to billions of cards, bank, and digital accounts worldwide. The platform enables financial institutions, fintechs, businesses, and digital partners to deliver fast, secure, and reliable payment experiences across domestic and cross-border use cases.

We are seeking a Vice President, Software Engineering to lead the strategy, architecture, delivery, and operation of the Mastercard Send engineering organization. This leader will drive the development of resilient, secure, scalable software platforms while building high-performing teams and fostering a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate is a skilled technology executive with deep expertise in software architecture, software development, operational excellence, and organizational leadership. They will combine strong technical judgment with strategic thinking to deliver business outcomes, support platform growth, and advance Mastercard's technology vision.

Role

The Vice President, Software Engineering is responsible for defining engineering strategy, guiding architectural direction, ensuring delivery excellence, and developing engineering talent across the Send platform. This role partners closely with Product, Operations, Security, Risk, and other technology leaders to deliver secure, reliable, and scalable solutions that support Mastercard's global payments ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities
Software Architecture & Engineering Excellence
• Define and govern the architecture, design standards, and engineering practices that support scalable, secure, and maintainable software solutions.
• Establish technical direction for complex distributed systems, ensuring alignment with business objectives and long-term platform strategy.
• Drive engineering excellence across software design, development, testing, deployment, and operational readiness.
• Promote best practices in secure software development, code quality, system resilience, and technology modernization.
• Serve as a trusted technical leader, providing guidance on complex architectural, design, and delivery decisions.

Software Quality & Reliability
• Champion a quality-first engineering culture through robust testing, automation, and validation practices.
• Ensure software solutions meet requirements for reliability, performance, scalability, maintainability, and security.
• Establish standards for unit, functional, and integration testing across engineering teams.
• Drive continuous improvement in platform observability, operational readiness, incident management, and service reliability.
• Promote proactive identification and mitigation of operational and technical risks.

Strategy & Business Alignment
• Shape and execute engineering strategies that support product roadmaps, customer needs, and organizational objectives.
• Translate business priorities into actionable technology initiatives and engineering investments.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, industry trends, and innovative approaches to drive competitive advantage and platform growth.
• Balance delivery speed, quality, risk, and long-term sustainability when making strategic decisions.

Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness
• Build, lead, and develop diverse, high-performing engineering teams and leaders.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, ownership, learning, and continuous improvement.
• Coach leaders and team members to strengthen technical capability, leadership effectiveness, and career growth.
• Support succession planning and workforce development initiatives to ensure organizational strength and scalability.
• Drive employee engagement and inclusion across geographically distributed teams.

Enterprise Leadership & Change Management
• Foster an enterprise mindset by encouraging collaboration and shared accountability across teams and functions.
• Lead through complexity by aligning stakeholders, navigating ambiguity, and driving informed decision-making.
• Champion organizational and technology transformation initiatives that improve customer outcomes and operational effectiveness.
• Influence and partner effectively with executive leadership to achieve business objectives.

Risk, Security & Operational Governance
• Ensure software solutions adhere to security, privacy, risk, and regulatory requirements.
• Embed secure coding and operational excellence principles throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Oversee engineering participation in audits, risk assessments, governance reviews, and compliance initiatives.
• Maintain effective controls supporting platform integrity, availability, and customer trust.

All About You
Technical Expertise
• Expertise in software architecture, software design, and software development for large-scale, business-critical platforms.
• Experience establishing engineering standards that support scalability, maintainability, reliability, and security.
• Strong understanding of modern software engineering practices, testing strategies, and operational excellence principles.
• Ability to guide teams through complex architectural, design, and technology decisions.
• Experience operating highly available platforms with demanding resiliency, performance, and service expectations.

Leadership & Business Acumen
• Demonstrated success leading and developing engineering leaders and high-performing teams.
• Ability to align engineering strategy with business objectives and customer outcomes.
• Experience managing large-scale delivery programs and driving measurable results across complex organizations.
• Strong stakeholder management and executive communication skills.
• Proven ability to lead change, navigate ambiguity, and influence across organizational boundaries.

Core Skills
• Software Architecture
• Software Design
• Software Development
• Secure Coding Practices
• Unit, Functional & Integration Testing
• Operability Engineering
• Performance Engineering
• Technical Problem Solving & Troubleshooting
• Strategic Leadership
• Team Leadership & Talent Development
• Enterprise Thinking
• Organizational Change Leadership
• Delivery & Execution Excellence

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

O'Fallon, Missouri: $212,000 - $339,000 USD