Lead Software Engineer

About Us

Visa is a world leader in payments technology, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories, dedicated to uplifting everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid. At Visa, you'll have the opportunity to create impact at scale — tackling meaningful challenges, growing your skills and seeing your contributions impact lives around the world. Join Visa and do work that matters – to you, to your community, and to the world. Progress starts with you.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly experienced Lead Software Engineer to join Visa’s Shared Services and Cloud Product Development organization. This role is ideal for a senior technologist who thrives as a lead generalist, operating across infrastructure, security, scalability, and platform engineering, while building foundational services that enable Visa’s global product ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and evolve core shared services that support Visa’s product development ecosystem and reach approximately 40% of the world’s population.
• Lead the development of scalable, secure, and reusable Java/J2EE-based services that serve as foundational platforms for multiple product teams.
• As a lead generalist, contribute across application architecture, infrastructure, security, and scalability to ensure shared services are enterprise-grade and future-ready.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to create architecture and design artifacts and deliver best-in-class software solutions used across Visa’s technical offerings.
• Drive continuous improvements in product quality, platform reliability, and operational excellence across shared services.
• Develop robust, highly available systems serving diverse use cases, including consumer-facing products, B2B platforms, and business-to-government solutions.
• Leverage modern technologies to build the next generation of Payment Services, Transaction Platforms, Real-Time Payments, and Buy Now Pay Later capabilities.
• Contribute to team and organizational growth through mentorship, technical leadership, and continuous learning initiatives.

Qualifications

• Basic Qualifications: 10+ years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 7 years of work experience with an Advanced degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 4 years of work experience with a PhD, OR 13+ years of relevant work experience.
• Preferred Qualifications: 12 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or 8-10 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 6+ years of work experience with a PhD 13+ years of relevant work experience in lieu of a degree. 8–10 years of experience with an Advanced Degree, or 6+ years of work experience with a PhD.
• Proven ability to define technical needs, develop execution plans, coordinate resources, and deliver results across multiple initiatives.
• Demonstrated success leading multiple projects simultaneously and resolving priority or scheduling conflicts.
• Strong understanding of container-based cloud architectures, including Kubernetes and Docker.
• Experience with cloud migration and multi-cloud strategies.
• Experience designing elastic, scalable architectural patterns for high-traffic web applications.
• Solid understanding of Service and IT Operations Management and DevOps operating models, including deployment and capacity planning.
• Strong experience with enterprise integration, including RESTful web services and API-first architectures.
• Deep understanding of security requirements, industry standards, and modern security threats and mitigation strategies.
• Experience designing and implementing secure API gateway solutions with dynamic security standards.
• Experience with CI/CD-driven architectures and automation-first development practices.
• Experience developing commercial software on Unix/Linux platforms.
• Proven track record in a technical leadership role, including ownership of system design and delivery.
• Experience with consumer-facing application development at scale.
• Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Excellent collaboration skills and the ability to influence cross-functional teams without direct authority.
• Demonstrated passion for mentoring, team building, and continuous improvement.