Lead Software Engineer- Middleware Reliability Engineering

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.

Transform global payment systems through automation and innovation

About The Role

Join Visa's Middleware Reliability Engineering team to revolutionize how we deliver and maintain Middleware products supporting critical payment systems. You'll lead hands-on software engineering efforts for our automation and observability initiatives, ensuring the seamless processing of billions of transactions across the world's largest payment network.

What You'll Do

• Drive Resiliency and Availability: Partner with Platform Engineering and Product teams to enhance middleware reliability across Visa's network, implementing operational best practices and integrating quality measures throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Champion Automation: Design and develop robust automation solutions using Python, Java, and Go to streamline deployment, monitoring, and incident response processes for our middleware infrastructure.
• Infrastructure as Code: Leverage your expertise in Terraform and Ansible to manage and provision infrastructure components, ensuring consistency and repeatability across our environments.
• CI/CD Optimization: Enhance our continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines using Jenkins and git to accelerate software delivery and improve code quality.
• Observability Enhancement: Integrate middleware products with Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, and in-house monitoring tools to provide comprehensive observability into system health, performance, and potential issues.
• Drive Innovation: Lead our evolution toward cloud-native solutions and modern DevOps and Observability practices.
• AI Integration: Develop integrations with AI/ML frameworks, chatbots, and agents to enhance automation and operational intelligence.
• Lead Technical Growth: Mentor team members on software development and promote DevOps best practices across the organization.

Why You'll Love It

• Meaningful Impact: Your automation will help process billions of transactions globally
• Technical Growth: Work with cutting-edge technologies and shape architectural decisions
• Professional Development: Regular learning opportunities and conference attendance
• Work-Life Integration: Flexible hybrid schedule (2-3 days in office)
• Inclusive Environment: Join a team that values diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving

Security Focus

• Experience with HashiCorp Vault and secret management
• Understanding of security best practices and PCI and SOC compliance requirements
• Experience implementing and troubleshooting mutual TLS authentication protocols for secure service-to-service communication in distributed systems is required.
• Understanding of security best practices and PCI and SOC compliance requirements
• Knowledge of identity and access management principles

What Makes You Thrive

• You're passionate about automation and infrastructure as code
• You enjoy mentoring and knowledge sharing
• You approach problems systematically and thoughtfully
• You value collaboration and clear communication
• You're eager to learn and adapt to new technologies

Team Culture

You'll join a collaborative environment that:

• Embraces diverse perspectives and innovative solutions
• Promotes knowledge sharing and continuous learning
• Values work-life balance and sustainable practices
• Encourages experimentation and creative problem-solving
• Supports career growth and professional development

Impact & Growth

In this role, you'll:

• Set the Middleware Reliability Engineering vision and strategy at Visa
• Mentor and grow technical talent
• Drive adoption of modern DevOps practices
• Influence architectural decisions
• Build systems that process billions in transactions
• Pioneer AI/ML integration in operational tooling

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager.

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

Technical Foundation

• 10+ years of proven experience in Software Development or DevOps roles, with a strong focus on middleware technologies and infrastructure automation.
• Proven track record of automating complex tasks and processes to improve efficiency and reliability using Python, Go, Java, or similar.
• Solid understanding of Linux/Unix systems, networking protocols, certificate management, secret management, system design, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), and containerization (Kubernetes, Docker)
• Proficiency with monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, etc.), logging systems (ELK stack, Splunk), and tracing tools (Jaeger, Zipkin).
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines and Jenkins.
• Proficiency in infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform and Ansible.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines and Jenkins.
• Familiarity with AI/ML frameworks and chatbot/agent integrations for operational automation

Middleware Expertise

• Understanding of middleware technologies (Message Queues, Service Bus, API Gateways, Caching servers)
• Experience with application servers (Tomcat, nginx, JBoss, WebSphere)
• Proficiency in troubleshooting and performance optimization of distributed systems at multiple layers.

Education

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience
• We value hands-on experience and continuous learning over specific degrees

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 this position is $192,300 to $307,600 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.