Lead Software Integration Engineer (Release Management) – HR Platforms

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 Integration Engineer (Release Management) – HR Platforms The Lead Software Integration Engineer is responsible for enabling reliable, secure, and scalable integrations across HR platforms (including Workday) and enterprise systems while supporting predictable, high-quality software releases. This role combines systems integration expertise, technical leadership, release governance, and Agile execution to coordinate platform changes, application interfaces, and cross-system dependencies across complex enterprise environments. The position requires strong knowledge of software development lifecycle practices, integration architecture, API-based services, testing strategies, and production support to ensure stable and effective business solutions. Overview Mastercard delivers change across enterprise platforms through a continuous flow of platform enhancements, modernization initiatives, and feature delivery. These changes must be coordinated carefully to ensure stable, compliant, and well-governed production releases. As a Lead Software Integration Engineer (Release Management), you will provide end-to-end release governance and coordination, ensuring that requirements, dependencies, priorities, architecture considerations, and change controls are aligned across teams before changes move into production. You will work closely with Product Owners, engineering teams, platform partners, and architecture/governance forums to drive disciplined and predictable release execution, while supporting platform modernization and upgrading initiatives across HR systems. Role In this role, you will: • Own release planning, coordination, and execution across multiple teams and enterprise HR platforms • Work closely with Product Owners to understand requirements, delivery timelines, and scope changes • Actively manage cross-team and cross-platform dependencies, ensuring conflicts are identified and resolved early • Support reprioritization of work based on release readiness, dependencies, and business priorities • Maintain a single, integrated view of release scope, including platform changes, application updates, and shared services • Facilitate release-level and Agile execution activities such as dependency syncs, readiness reviews, and milestone checkpoints • Coordinate change management activities, including preparation for CAB reviews and approvals Technology Governance & Architecture Alignment • Participate in technology governance forums and architecture discussions to ensure release alignment with enterprise standards and long-term platform strategy • Contribute to solution design and architecture decision-making, particularly where release sequencing and dependencies impact design choices • Drive visibility into interdependencies across platform upgrades, integrations, and shared services • Facilitate trade-off discussions across teams and stakeholders to balance delivery timelines, technical constraints, and business priorities • Ensure alignment between release plans, architecture decisions, and platform roadmaps • Provide clear visibility into release status, risks, and dependencies for stakeholders and leadership Platform Modernization & Technical Leadership • Contribute to platform modernization efforts, including Workday and broader HR ecosystem evolution • Provide broad technical leadership across enterprise systems, integrations, and release strategy • Drive continuous improvement of release governance, change management, and execution practices Systems Integration & Solution Delivery • Collaborate with engineering, product, architecture, and operations teams to deliver integration solutions and system releases across cloud and on-premises environments. • Manage cross-system dependencies, interfaces, data flows, and release schedules to ensure successful end-to-end delivery, deployment readiness, and operational stability. • Provide technical leadership for integration initiatives while driving release planning, risk management, change coordination, and governance processes across multiple platforms. API & Web Services Management • Support the design, implementation, and ongoing maintenance of API-based integrations and web services while coordinating release activities across interconnected applications and platforms. • Establish and promote enterprise standards, best practices, and governance for APIs, integrations, release controls, change management, and deployment processes. • Evaluate the impact of application, infrastructure, and platform changes on interfaces and integrations, proactively managing risks and ensuring continuity of service throughout the release lifecycle. Integration Testing & Quality Assurance • Coordinate integration testing activities across applications, platforms, and release cycles to validate interfaces, data transformations, workflows, and dependent systems. • Define and support testing strategies, test plans, and quality controls to ensure production readiness for integrations and platform enhancements. • Partner with engineering teams to establish quality gates and validation checkpoints that reduce risk and improve release outcomes. Troubleshooting & Operational Excellence • Support investigation and resolution of complex integration, release, and production issues through structured root-cause analysis and corrective action planning. • Monitor integration health and deployment outcomes, identifying opportunities to improve reliability, resiliency, and operational performance. • Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on improving integration support processes, release quality, and platform stability. All About You • 8–12 years of experience in software engineering, release management, or technical program delivery • Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) and enterprise production release processes • Proven ability to manage dependencies and trade-offs across multiple parallel initiatives and platform upgrades • Experience participating in technology governance, architecture discussions, or design reviews • Experience with release governance, change management processes, and CAB approvals • Strong technical background enabling effective collaboration with engineering and architecture teams • Strong communication skills with the ability to align diverse stakeholders around release plans, technical trade-offs, and architectural considerations • A disciplined, execution-focused mindset with strong attention to quality, risk management, and production stability Preferred qualifications: • Experience working in a Scaled Agile / SAFe environment • Workday functional knowledge (HCM, Payroll, Benefits, or integrations) • Experience supporting HR platforms or enterprise platform modernization initiatives • Familiarity with Jira, Confluence, and release or change tracking tools • Broad technical expertise across enterprise systems, integration architectures, and platform ecosystems Mastercard is a merit-based, inclusive, equal opportunity employer that considers applicants without regard to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We hire the most qualified candidate for the role. In the US or Canada, if you require accommodations or assistance to complete the online application process or during the recruitment process, please contact and identify the type of accommodation or assistance you are requesting. Do not include any medical or health information in this email. The Reasonable Accommodations team will respond to your email promptly. Corporate Security Responsibility All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must: Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices; Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed; Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines. In line with Mastercard’s total compensation philosophy and assuming that the job will be performed in the US, the successful candidate will be offered a competitive base salary and may be eligible for an annual bonus or commissions depending on the role. The base salary offered may vary depending on multiple factors, including but not limited to location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Mastercard benefits for full time (and certain part time) employees generally include: 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; and many more. Mastercard benefits for interns generally include: 56 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time; jury duty leave; and on-site fitness facilities in some locations. Pay Ranges O'Fallon, Missouri: $122,000 - $207,000 USD