Vice President of AI Software Engineering

VP, AI Software Engineering

Mastercard is looking for a talented VP, AI Software Engineering to join the Mastercard Foundry Research and Development team in Toronto.

Responsibilities

• Leading a highly agile, AI native development team building innovative large‑scale software platforms and solutions from ideation to release.
• Hands‑on role for an engineer deeply engaged in using Generative and Agentic AI through the full product development lifecycle.
• Leading lean, high‑performance pods to develop and refine product constructs, build functional prototypes, and build, test, and deploy large‑scale applications in the payment ecosystem, supported by AI tooling and agentic capabilities.
• Experimenting with team structures, processes, and tooling to establish AI native ways of working to deliver high‑quality software at an accelerated pace.
• Driving the engineering vision and strategy for large‑scale data‑oriented new product development.
• Leading the delivery of complex, cross‑functional software applications with an AI native approach and mindset.
• Partnering with product teams to define and refine nascent product constructs.
• Developing deep working knowledge of data assets, analytics, and infrastructure to implement scalable data‑oriented applications.
• Managing teams to design, build, test, and release high‑quality software applications leveraging AI tooling and processes.
• Mentoring and growing talent‑dense teams to a high degree of AI native development proficiency.
• Leveraging and improving best practices for an AI‑native SDLC, including design, architecture, development, code reviews, testing, deployment, and release.
• Coaching teams on best practices for leveraging AI across the SDLC.
• Bringing a strong and evolving perspective on AI team structures and processes, with a willingness to experiment and pivot.

Qualifications

• Deep experience leading high‑performing teams on customer‑facing software applications.
• Strong engineering fundamentals and a product‑building mindset.
• Practical understanding of the patterns and trade‑offs behind modern AI systems.
• Sense of curiosity to experiment and drive new ways of working.
• Strong business acumen and proven ability to apply technology to solve business problems.
• Strong data fluency and proficiency with data technologies (e.g., Databricks).
• Proven experience leading high‑performing teams on customer‑facing software applications.
• Strong backend engineering skills in Java and/or Python and frontend experience with React or Next.js.
• Strong track record of growing and developing high‑performing talent.
• Hands‑on experience building 0→1 applications using Generative AI, LLMs, and/or agentic patterns.
• Strong software engineering experience building scalable, maintainable production systems.
• Hands‑on, curious, and comfortable working in fast‑moving environments.
• Brings both engineering depth and a product mindset.
• Communicates clearly and works well across functions.
• Ability to explain technical problems clearly and succinctly to diverse audiences.
• Cares about developer experience, quality, and reuse.
• Passionate about leading and growing people and teams to their highest potential.
• Uses AI as part of daily engineering practice.
• Thrives on creating innovative products and technology solutions in a collaborative, fun environment.
• Enjoys learning, experimenting, and helping raise the bar for others.