Lead Software Engineer

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 Lead Software Engineer We are looking for a Lead Software Engineer - Dev & Test (Java) to join the Developer Experience team, responsible for the Mastercard Developers portal and related tools used by developers globally. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for an experienced engineer who combines strong software engineering and test automation expertise with the ability to drive quality strategy across teams. You will lead quality initiatives, influence engineering practices, and help teams deliver reliable, scalable, and production-ready software. You will work closely with software engineers, product managers, and other engineering teams to embed quality throughout the software development lifecycle while contributing directly to design, implementation, and automation. HOW WILL YOU WORK You will serve as the quality and test automation lead within one or more feature teams, partnering with engineers throughout the software development lifecycle. For each initiative, you will: Drive quality strategy and test approach from design through production Identify quality risks, dependencies, and release concerns early in the development process Collaborate with engineers to improve testability, observability, and automation coverage Lead root cause analysis of complex issues and drive long-term improvements Design scalable automation solutions that support sustainable delivery Mentor engineers and promote quality engineering best practices across teams While remaining hands-on, you will also influence broader engineering standards and continuously improve how quality is delivered across the organization. WHAT WILL YOU DO Lead quality engineering efforts for major initiatives and business-critical features Define and drive test automation strategy across multiple applications and services Design, develop, and maintain automated test frameworks in Java Establish quality standards, test practices, and release readiness criteria Partner with engineering teams to improve development workflows, shift-left testing, and automation adoption Drive improvements in CI/CD pipelines, deployment confidence, and release quality Analyze production issues and lead quality improvement initiatives Mentor and coach engineers in testing, automation, and quality engineering practices Influence technical decisions and contribute to architecture discussions with a focus on reliability, scalability, and quality WHAT YOU BRING Significant experience in software engineering, test automation, or software development in test Strong Java development skills with experience building automation frameworks and engineering solutions Experience testing APIs, UI applications, distributed systems, and cloud-native services Deep understanding of software quality practices, test strategy, and risk-based testing Experience leading quality initiatives across multiple teams or complex projects Strong knowledge of CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and modern software delivery Ability to influence technical direction and drive improvements without direct authority Strong communication and collaboration skills with engineers, product managers, and stakeholders NICE TO HAVE Experience with cloud platforms and microservices architectures Experi