Principal Software Engineer – AI Native R&D

About the role

Mastercard is looking for a talented Principal Software Engineer to join the Mastercard Foundry Research and Development team in Nairobi. You will be part of an agile, AI‑native development team building innovative large‑scale software platforms from ideation to release.

Key responsibilities

• Design highly scalable solution architectures for complex, early‑stage product concepts across multiple technology stacks and data platforms.
• Act as a cultural influencer for AI adoption and innovation throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Provide technical leadership to architect, design, implement, deploy and release complex applications, interfaces and integrations.
• Lead the technical strategy and implementation of Data Platforms within Foundry R&D.
• Scale AI systems, ensuring observability, evaluation, cost optimisation and responsible AI practices.
• Coach teams on technical best practices and AI usage across the product development lifecycle.

Required profile

• Hands‑on experience building 0‑to‑1 applications using Generative AI, LLMs or agentic patterns.
• Extensive senior‑engineering experience in enterprise‑scale environments and leading architecture, design and release of complex products.
• Proficiency with modern AI frameworks and SDKs such as LangGraph, OpenAI Agents SDK or Codex SDK.
• Strong expertise in cloud platforms including Databricks, Snowflake, AWS and Azure.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor technical teams and communicate effectively across functions.

Required skills

• Generative AI, Large Language Models, agentic AI patterns
• LangGraph, OpenAI Agents SDK, Codex SDK
• Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, Azure
• Java, Spring Boot, React, Typescript, PostgreSQL