Senior Software Engineer, Data & AI Platform

Senior Software Engineer | Data & AI Platform

Location: Arlington, Virginia

Time Type: Full time

Job Description

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

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Senior Software Engineer | Data & AI Platform

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Overview:

Data Foundations, part of Business & Market Insights, solves shared data problems for Mastercard's analytics products: secure customer data exchange, consistent business definitions and metrics, reference datasets, data quality, and AI-assisted customer data onboarding. Engineering and product set direction together, and we own outcomes, not just delivery. Where enterprise platforms fit, we reuse and shape them. Where there is a shared gap, we solve it once.

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to be one of the first engineers in a new US-based team. You will start by making business definitions, metrics, and dataset relationships reusable across products, delivering key components independently and helping set the team's engineering habits. Early on, you will prototype answers to questions such as how shared metrics are versioned and where data access is enforced, then ship the first shared component with the product team that will use it.

About the Role:

• Design, build, test, and release shared services, libraries, and pipelines that enable and support other engineering teams.
• Partner with product managers to understand business problems, challenge assumptions, and simplify solutions whenever possible.
• Create clear and concise design proposals that outline trade-offs, recommendations, and implementation approaches.
• Evaluate enterprise and vendor technologies through proofs of concept to inform build-versus-buy decisions.
• Develop reusable, versioned interfaces with comprehensive documentation and automated deployment and testing capabilities.
• Build secure, scalable, and observable components while supporting incident response, troubleshooting, and root cause analysis.
• Participate in code and design reviews, mentor engineers, and contribute to the team's technology strategy and roadmap.

All About You:

• Strong expertise in software design, testing, secure coding practices, CI/CD, and operating production services.
• Advanced SQL skills and hands-on development experience with Python or other modern programming languages such as Java, C#/.NET, Go, or TypeScript.
• Experience working with modern cloud and data platforms such as Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Proven ability to design APIs, reusable libraries, and platform capabilities that are consumed by other engineering teams.
• Strong understanding of data modeling, including entity relationships, aggregation challenges, data contracts, and version control of shared metrics.
• Product-minded approach to engineering with strong technical communication and documentation skills.
• Ability to understand end-user needs and build solutions that deliver measurable business value.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with semantic layers, metric stores, dbt, data catalogs, or business glossary platforms.
• Experience building tools, frameworks, or supporting context for AI agents and large language model (LLM) applications.
• Knowledge of data governance, access controls, row-level security, and handling sensitive or regulated data.
• Experience using AI-powered engineering tools to improve productivity, with sound judgment regarding accuracy, risk, and appropriate use cases.
• Demonstrated curiosity, continuous learning mindset, and passion for driving innovation through technology.

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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.

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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.

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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.

THIS POSTING RELECTS ONE OR MORE CURRENT VACANCIES ON OUR TEAM, AND MASTERCARD INTENDS TO FILL THIS POSITION BY 01/19/2027. If the fill date has passed, Mastercard intends to fill this position as soon as possible.

Pay Ranges

Arlington, Virginia: $132,000 - $212,000 USD

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