Principal AI Engineer — AI Strategy & Platform Architect

Mastercard; Celbridge; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Mastercard is seeking a Principal AI Engineer in Ireland to lead technology strategy and architecture for AI-enabled opportunities within BET. The role focuses on turning innovative ideas into scalable, secure AI-driven products across platforms and partnerships.

The candidate will guide multi‑team efforts, own technical roadmaps, and mentor engineers while ensuring alignment with Mastercard standards and security requirements. This role demands seniority and cross‑functional impact.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of full‑stack engineering in an agile environment.
• Strong backend with Java/Kotlin/Python/Scala.
• Led design and implementation of large, cross‑team features.
• Understand APIs, services, distributed systems, enterprise‑grade architecture.
• Experience with AI systems and LLMs.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior technology and architecture advisor for new opportunities.
• Partner with product, business, sourcing, and engineering to shape hypotheses and business cases.
• Evaluate ideas through technology, architecture, and capability lens.
• Support design of agentic and AI‑enabled capabilities.
• Assess build/partner/invest/discontinue pathways and provide technical recommendations.
• Mentor engineers and influence architectural decisions.

Skills

Distributed systems

Backend development

Java/Kotlin/Python

LLMs & AI services

Architectural leadership

Cloud platforms

Technical judgment

Cross-team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Job description

Mastercard is seeking a Principal AI Engineer in Ireland to lead technology strategy and architecture for AI-enabled opportunities within BET. The role focuses on turning innovative ideas into scalable, secure AI-driven products across platforms and partnerships.

The candidate will guide multi‑team efforts, own technical roadmaps, and mentor engineers while ensuring alignment with Mastercard standards and security requirements. This role demands seniority and cross‑functional impact.