Chief Software Engineer (React and Java Architecture)

Visa is a world leader in payments and technology, with over 259 billion payments transactions flowing safely between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities in more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive while driven by a common purpose – to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

Make an impact with a purpose-driven industry leader. Join us today and experience Life at Visa.

We are seeking a hands-on and versatile Chief Software Engineer – Frontend Architecture to provide strategic technical leadership for the development of a robust cloud-native UI platform for Visa Acceptance Platform. As a global leader in digital payments, Visa Acceptance Platform enables millions of merchants and processes billions of transactions, delivering secure transaction management and a broad suite of value-added services across the world. Our team is committed to engineering excellence while focusing on delivering superior customer experiences during product design and deployment.
Essential Functions

• Provide visionary leadership by driving innovation, evolving existing systems, and aligning technical initiatives with overarching organizational goals.
• Mentor and cultivate emerging technology leaders through active knowledge sharing and by fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional growth.
• Uphold and promote best practices, ongoing improvement, and technical excellence via code and design reviews as well as disciplined delivery processes.
• Foster collaboration across cross-functional teams, removing barriers to integration and aligning efforts organization-wide.
• Establish a feedback-driven environment by implementing mechanisms to continuously derive insights from production and enhance non-production environments.
• Articulate complex technical ideas and architectural decisions to stakeholders at all levels, including executive leadership.
• Demonstrate expertise in presenting and advocating for advanced technologies and innovative methodologies internally and externally.
• Lead proofs of concept (POCs) and oversee technology evaluations to inform both business strategy and architectural direction.
• Architect and engineer modular, micro-frontend-based UI solutions leveraging React and modern JavaScript/TypeScript frameworks.
• Implement and optimize cloud-native approaches by utilizing platforms such as AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes to deliver scalable, resilient distributed user interfaces.
• Drive technical excellence by enforcing standards and focusing on reliability, performance, security, accessibility, and adaptability across all deliverables.
• Apply deep technical knowledge of micro-frontend architecture, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, observability tools, and Generative AI to foster productivity and innovation.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager. This role does not offer relocation or immigration support. 

Basic Qualifications:

• 12+ years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 9 years of work experience with an Advanced degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 6 years of work experience with a PhD, OR 15+ years of relevant work experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 15+ years of experience with a Bachelor’s degree, or 12+ years with an advanced degree, or 9+ years with a PhD.
• At least 3 years in an architectural or principal engineering capacity, demonstrating significant expertise in frontend engineering.
• Proficiency with React, contemporary JavaScript/TypeScript, and modern UI design paradigms.
• In-depth understanding of micro-frontend architectures, including Webpack Module Federation, Single-SPA, and runtime orchestration techniques.
• Extensive experience building frontend systems atop cloud-native infrastructure (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP, or Kubernetes).
• Solid background in application development utilizing Java, Spring, Hibernate, and related technologies.
• Expertise in CI/CD practices, GitOps workflows, automated testing, and performance monitoring.
• Experience deploying with Kubernetes, Helm, and service mesh technologies such as Istio to support frontend operations.
• Understanding of multi-region deployment strategies, feature flagging, and canary release practices within cloud ecosystems.
• Knowledge of white-labeling, multi-tenant architectures, and dynamic UI branding solutions.
• Acquainted with messaging and streaming platforms like Kafka or Flink.
• Skilled in collaborative and practical development with backend teams, including work on API contracts, BFF patterns, and authentication mechanisms (OAuth2, SSO).
• Demonstrated success in large-scale, multi-team enterprise software initiatives.
• Proven ability to harness Generative AI to develop products and enhance team productivity.

Work Hours: Varies upon the needs of the department.

Travel Requirements: This position requires travel 5-10% of the time.

Mental/Physical Requirements: This position will be performed in an office setting.  The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

Visa is an EEO Employer.  Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status.  Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.

Visa will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable local law, including the requirements of Article 49 of the San Francisco Police Code.

U.S. APPLICANTS ONLY: The estimated salary range for a new hire into this position is 184,100.00 to 267,050.00 USD per year, which may include potential sales incentive payments (if applicable). Salary may vary depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this position may be eligible for bonus and equity. Visa has a comprehensive benefits package for which this position may be eligible that includes Medical, Dental, Vision, 401 (k), FSA/HSA, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, and Wellness Program.