Senior Principal Software Architect (Global Open Finance)
Posted
Summary
Senior Principal Software Architect on Mastercard's Open Finance team in Dublin (hybrid, 3 days onsite/week). Define and drive the North Star architecture for global Open Finance, build phased modernization roadmaps, design cloud-native services for bank connectivity, consent, identity, data aggregation and account-to-account payments, set engineering standards/IaC, and mentor architects. Core tec
- Mastercard’s Open Finance team is seeking a Senior Principal, Software Architect to define and drive the architecture that enables this vision
- This is a hands-on individual contributor role with broad influence across Product, Engineering, and Technology
- You will establish the target architecture, define a practical path from today’s platforms to a unified global ecosystem, and partner across teams to deliver scalable, secure, and resilient solutions
- Success in this role means enabling teams to build faster, promoting consistent and reusable capabilities across markets, and creating a platform that securely connects consumers, businesses, and financial institutions through seamless Open Finance experiences
- The Mastercard’s Customer Acquisition & Engagement business helps brands attract customers, build loyalty and grow customer relationships
- Our vision is to bring together assets across Mastercard into a more unified Marketing Technology platform: connected data, shared capabilities and consistent interfaces that support products and markets globally
- This is a full-time hybrid role based in Dublin, requiring three days per week onsite
- Define and drive the North Star architecture for Mastercard Open Finance, translating business and product strategy into a scalable, long-term technology vision
- Develop and execute phased architecture roadmaps that modernize existing platforms while establishing clear priorities, dependencies, milestones, and measurable outcomes
- Lead architectural decision-making across Product, Engineering, and Technology, balancing competing requirements and aligning teams around common goals
- Evaluate complex technical challenges, identify architectural risks, trace critical platform, data, and customer flows, and develop proofs of concept to validate solutions
- Use generative AI and AI-assisted engineering practices to research and challenge designs, accelerate prototyping, assess implementations, and improve engineering effectiveness while applying sound technical judgment
- Establish and promote reusable architecture patterns, reference implementations, Infrastructure as Code, automation frameworks, and engineering standards that enable teams to deliver consistently and efficiently
- Simplify and modernize the platform by consolidating overlapping capabilities, reducing unnecessary dependencies, and retiring legacy technologies
- Design and evolve cloud-native services supporting bank connectivity, consent management, identity, financial data aggregation, and account-to-account payment capabilities
- Balance global platform consistency with local regulatory, compliance, privacy, data residency, and market-specific requirements
- Guide architecture from concept through production, ensuring solutions are secure, resilient, scalable, observable, high-performing, and cost-efficient
- Influence technical and business decisions across all levels of the organization by translating complex architectural concepts into clear business outcomes and strategic recommendations
- Mentor architects and engineers, foster cross-functional collaboration, and promote engineering excellence through technical leadership and partnership
- Demonstrated success influencing technical and business decisions across multiple levels of an organization, including senior leadership and executive stakeholders
- Proven ability to mentor architects and engineers, build trust across teams, and lead through influence rather than direct authority
- Strong hands-on software engineering and coding skills, with the ability to independently investigate complex problems, test hypotheses, develop prototypes, and assess implementation quality
- Proven experience as a Principal Engineer, Lead Architect, Software Architect, Distinguished Engineer, or equivalent technical leadership role driving enterprise-scale architecture and platform strategy
- Deep expertise in cloud platforms, APIs, distributed systems, data architecture, identity management, security, and enterprise integration patterns, including practical experience with automation and Infrastructure as Code
- Demonstrated experience leveraging generative AI to improve engineering productivity, solution design, and development processes, with sound judgment around accuracy, security, privacy, and responsible use
- Exceptional communication skills with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Strong understanding of Open Finance and Open Banking ecosystems, including bank connectivity, consent management, identity, financial data sharing, and account-to-account payments
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
- Experience defining target-state architectures and leading multi-year modernization and migration initiatives across multiple products, teams, and technology domains
- Ability to simplify highly complex technical challenges and connect architectural decisions to measurable business, customer, and regulatory outcomes
- Strong computer science foundation with a proven track record of designing and building large-scale distributed platforms, ideally supporting financial services or other highly regulated industries