Lead AI Engineer – Generative AI R&D

About the role

Mastercard is seeking a Lead AI Engineer to join its Foundry R&D team in Singapore. You will drive generative AI innovation, building prototypes and MVPs that expand AI use cases in payments and commerce.

Key responsibilities

• Design and develop AI prototypes, pilots, and MVPs using LLMs, transformers, and other generative techniques.
• Provide technical leadership to a small engineering team, translating requirements into clean, production‑ready code.
• Collaborate with product owners, data scientists, researchers, and platform engineers to identify opportunities and integrate AI features.
• Oversee model deployment, integration with applications, and data systems.
• Stay current on AI trends, evaluate emerging tools, and promote responsible AI use.

Required profile

• Proven experience leading software or AI/ML teams in an agile environment.
• Strong full‑stack and system design background with knowledge of data engineering and cloud infrastructure.
• Hands‑on expertise developing and deploying ML and generative AI models.
• Solid grasp of modern engineering practices such as CI/CD, automated testing, and code review.
• Innovative mindset comfortable experimenting with advanced AI techniques.

Required skills

• PyTorch
• TensorFlow
• LLMs (large language models)
• Transformers
• CI/CD pipelines
• Automated testing
• Cloud infrastructure
• Data engineering

What we offer

• Opportunity to shape AI strategy in a global payments leader.
• Collaborative, fast‑paced innovation environment.
• Access to cutting‑edge technologies and research.