Director 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 Director Software Engineering We are seeking a visionary and results-driven Director of Engineering to lead a service group in our critical Decision Management Platform for fraud detection. This role is pivotal in driving engineering excellence, scaling delivery capabilities, and fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement. You will be responsible for aligning engineering strategy with business goals, mentoring high-performing teams, and ensuring the successful delivery of complex software solutions. • Are you passionate about low latency (the speed it takes to authorise a payment card), high volume (think Google searches and then some), and highly available (5 9s) software solutions? • Would you like to work on a team that is building industry leading solutions for fighting fraud? • Do you want to learn cutting edge technologies and help solve complex business problems? Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership & Execution • Define and drive the engineering strategy in alignment with company objectives. • Lead cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality, scalable software products on time and within budget. • Champion engineering best practices, including DevOps, CI/CD, Observability and agile methodologies. • Identify and mitigate technical and delivery risks across programs and initiatives. People Leadership & Coaching • Build, mentor, and retain high-performing engineering teams through career development, coaching, and performance management. • Foster a culture of ownership, innovation, and continuous learning. • Set clear goals and expectations, and provide regular feedback and development plans. Operational Excellence • Own the end-to-end software delivery lifecycle, from requirements through release and support. • Continuously improve engineering processes, tools, and metrics to optimize team performance and product quality. • Ensure operational readiness, including incident response, monitoring, and service reliability. Collaboration & Communication • Partner with Product, Operations, and Business stakeholders to define scope, priorities, and roadmaps. • Communicate technical vision and progress to executive leadership and non-technical stakeholders. • Represent engineering in strategic planning and budgeting discussions. Qualifications Education & Experience • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience). • 15+ years of experience in software engineering and architecture, including leadership roles on complex, mission-critical platforms. • Proven track record of delivering distributed/scalable systems and high-volume transaction applications. • Experience with fintech, digital payments, authentication, or identity systems. • Strong grounding in security, secure SDLC, PCI considerations, and compliance-driven architecture. • Familiarity with reliability engineering, observability platforms, and operational excellence practices. • Prior leadership in an organization undergoing significant platform evolution or transformation. Technical & Business Acumen • Deep understanding of modern software architecture, cloud infrastructure, and service-oriented systems. • Strong grasp of software operations, including monitoring, incident management, and performance tuning. • Experience managing budgets, forecasting, and resource planning. Leadership & Communication • Exceptional communication, e ... (truncated, view full listing at source)