Principal Software Engineer

Who you are

• Extensive experience designing, building, and supporting production software
• Strong background as a software architect, principal engineer, or senior technical lead
• Deep knowledge of modern architecture, APIs, distributed systems, cloud-native platforms, and security
• Strong PDLC experience across discovery, architecture, delivery, and production readiness
• Hands-on experience building prototypes, proofs of concept, or reference implementations
• Comfortable using AI-assisted coding tools to accelerate development and validation
• Skilled at translating complex needs into practical technical approaches
• Strong communicator across engineering, product, business, and executive audiences
• Able to influence technical direction across teams without direct authority
• Experience in payments, commerce, fraud, identity, cybersecurity, or trust platforms preferred
• Experience with agentic commerce, AI agents, or generative AI is a strong plus

What the job involves

• The Principal Engineer shapes technical architecture, solution patterns, and engineering approaches for strategic initiatives within Mastercard’s Security Solutions Organization (SSO)
• Sitting within Solutions Engineering, the role partners across Product, Engineering, Data Science, Security, and Platform teams to turn business opportunities into practical architecture concepts, reusable patterns, and prototypes
• The role is primarily strategic but includes hands-on prototyping to validate concepts and accelerate decisions
• It supports a range of emerging capabilities with a strong emphasis on reusability and cross-product platform thinking
• Agentic Trust Data, Platforms & Non Network Intelligence is a key focus area, and this role will help define the architecture patterns and reusable foundations that enable Mastercard’s agentic and AI-driven solutions to scale
• Architecture & Platform Strategy
• Define solution architectures, reusable patterns, and shared components across SSO initiatives
• Translate product and business needs into clear engineering concepts and architecture options
• Evaluate trade-offs across scalability, security, interoperability, and maintainability
• Identify connective architecture and reusable capabilities across products and platforms. Product Development Lifecycle Enablement
• Apply strong PDLC experience to move initiatives from concept through validation to production readiness
• Partner with Product and Engineering teams to clarify technical requirements, dependencies, and risks
• Ensure architecture decisions account for real-world delivery, supportability, and platform evolution. Prototyping & Emerging Technology
• Build prototypes and proofs of concept to validate architecture assumptions and demonstrate feasibility
• Use AI-assisted coding to accelerate exploration and development
• Explore emerging technologies, with particular attention to agentic commerce, AI agents, non-network intelligence, modern APIs, and cloud-native platforms
• Distinguish prototype work from production-grade implementation while informing product and engineering direction. Communication & Influence
• Create clear architecture diagrams, technical narratives, and decision materials for varied audiences
• Present concepts and recommendations to engineers, product leaders, and senior stakeholders
• Drive cross-functional alignment and serve as a trusted technical advisor