Principal Software Architect

TASC

Principal Software Architect leading architectural strategy across multiple teams at Mastercard. Mentor senior engineers and ensure system designs are scalable, resilient, and secure.

Posted 4/21/2026full-timePurchase • Montana, New York • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $170,000 - $323,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudDistributed Systems

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Shape and evolve architectural direction across multiple teams and systems through consensus-driven decision making
Identify cross-cutting architectural concerns and guide teams toward shared patterns, principles, and solutions
Evaluate trade-offs between short-term delivery and long-term system health, articulating risks and options clearly
Help the organization converge on architectures that are scalable, resilient, secure, and operationally sound
Act as a trusted technical partner to engineers, engineering managers, product leaders, and senior leadership
Facilitate architectural discussions that bring together diverse viewpoints and constraints
Translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable guidance for both technical and non-technical audiences
Build strong working relationships across teams to enable alignment without formal authority
Contribute directly to the most complex and high-impact technical problems (approximately 10–20% hands-on)
Lead design spikes, proof-of-concept efforts, and deep technical investigations where clarity is needed
Participate in design and code reviews for critical initiatives to ensure architectural intent is preserved
Support teams during difficult implementation or scaling challenges
Mentor senior engineers and emerging technical leaders across the organization
Raise the quality of engineering through example, coaching, and thoughtful feedback
Promote strong engineering practices in system design, testing, documentation, and operational readiness
Contribute to a culture of technical rigor, collaboration, and continuous improvement

Requirements

What you’ll need

10+ years of professional software engineering experience
Proven experience operating at a principal or senior architecture level across multiple teams
Strong track record designing and evolving complex, distributed systems
Deep understanding of modern software architecture patterns (e.g., service-oriented, event-driven, API-centric systems)
Experience with cloud-native architectures and production concerns such as reliability, scalability, observability, and security
Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction through collaboration and consensus rather than authority
Excellent communication skills, including comfort engaging with senior leadership.

Benefits

Comp & perks

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

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

software engineeringsoftware architecturedistributed systemscloud-native architecturesservice-oriented architectureevent-driven architectureAPI-centric systemsdesign patternsscalabilitysecurity

Soft Skills

communicationcollaborationmentoringinfluencedecision makingproblem solvingcoachingrelationship buildingtechnical guidancecontinuous improvement