Principal AI Platform Engineer - AI Center of Excellence at Mastercard
Richmond, VA
$170,000–$323,000from the description
Jul 24, 2026
Richmond, VA
Jul 25, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior infrastructure engineering role within an AI Center of Excellence, responsible for designing, procuring, and scaling on-premise private cloud platforms that support large-scale machine learning and generative AI workloads. Day-to-day work spans GPU/CPU compute, high-performance storage, networking, and data center considerations such as power density and liquid cooling, alongside vendor evaluation and cross-functional stakeholder engagement. Suits a technically deep infrastructure architect comfortable owning roadmaps and influencing executive-level decisions.
Senior level · Remote · Bachelor's required · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Senior.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $119,144 (middle half $81,115–$160,963). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role is titled 'Principal AI Platform Engineer' but the body also uses 'Principal AI Infrastructure Engineer' — both point to the same position. Advertised seniority is Principal; however, the actual scope and requirements (deep infrastructure ownership, enterprise roadmap leadership) are consistent with a Senior-level role on a standard career ladder. Principal at Mastercard appears to be a title convention rather than a true org-wide technical authority role.
Multiple pay ranges are listed: Arlington, VA ($195K–$323K), Purchase, NY ($196K–$323K), Washington, DC ($196K–$323K), and Remote–Virginia ($170K–$281K). The minimum and maximum reported here reflect the full range across all listed locations ($170K–$323K).
The posting lists multiple work locations (Arlington VA, Washington DC, Purchase NY) and an explicit Remote–Virginia option. Remote is marked true because a fully remote option is explicitly offered.
SOC classification is uncertain: the role is primarily infrastructure architecture and platform engineering for AI workloads — not software development in the traditional sense, but also not pure systems administration. 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is used as the best fit; 15-1252 (Software Developers) is the runner-up given the 'builder' and platform-engineering framing.
No specific total years of experience is stated — the JD uses 'significant professional history' without a numeric floor.
'High-performance storage', 'high-speed networking', GPU/CPU compute, private cloud, AI/ML, and MLOps are drawn from the requirements section and treated as hard gates. Generative AI, Agentic AI, liquid cooling, and data center design appear as familiarity/exposure items or are framed as standards to 'define and champion' rather than existing credentials, so they are marked preferred.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): data center design.
Read the full posting
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