Principal AI Engineer

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

Principal AI Engineer

About Mastercard
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry, connecting billions of consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments, and businesses worldwide. We are driving the future of commerce by enabling secure, simple, and smart transactions. Artificial Intelligence is at the core of our strategy to make Mastercard stronger and commerce safer, smarter, and more personal.

Role Overview
At Mastercard, we are building the next generation of AI-powered platforms that drive innovation, efficiency, and impact. As a Senior AI Engineer, you will work hands-on with cutting-edge AI tools, large language models (LLMs), and emerging frameworks to develop intelligent systems that power our platform. You’ll collaborate closely with senior engineers, data scientists, and product teams—learning from experts while contributing to real-world AI applications.
You will be responsible for implementing Agentic AI systems, developing backend services to support them, and experimenting with new AI capabilities. You will also focus on prompt engineering, guardrail design, and running experiments to ensure safe, effective, and scalable AI solutions.

Key Responsibilities
• Agentic AI Development – Build and enhance AI agents and backend systems that power Mastercard’s AI platform.
• Experimentation & Evaluation – Test and evaluate new LLMs, emerging AI technologies, and frameworks to identify opportunities for innovation.
• Prompt Engineering – Design, refine, and optimize prompts for LLMs to achieve desired outputs.
• Guardrail Development – Implement safeguards to ensure AI responses are accurate, secure, and aligned with ethical guidelines.
• Backend Engineering – Contribute to the development of APIs, microservices, and data integrations for AI-powered features.
• Best Practices in Software Development – Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code following industry standards.
• Continuous Learning – Stay current with the latest developments in AI, LLMs, and software engineering best practices.

About You
• Strong hands-on experience with AI/ML concepts, with a passion for working with LLMs and generative AI.
• Professional hands-on experience with Python and backend development frameworks (e.g., FastAPI, Flask, Node.js).
• Understanding of REST APIs and cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with curiosity for exploring new AI capabilities.
• Comfortable working in a collaborative environment and open to feedback and mentorship.
• Eagerness to learn prompt engineering, AI safety/guardrail development, and large-scale AI deployment.

Why Join Us?
At Mastercard, you’ll help shape the future of AI in global commerce—solving complex problems at scale, enabling financial inclusion, and ensuring the security and trust that define our brand.

#AI1

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 reasonable_accommodation@mastercard.com 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

Arlington, Virginia: $170,000 - $273,000 USD