Director, Technical Program Management

About Mastercard and the Role

Mastercard operates across more than 200 countries and territories, enabling a secure, seamless, and smart approach to digital payments. Our innovation and partnerships propel people, enterprises, and governments toward realizing their highest potential through advanced technology and unique service offerings.

This Director role in Technical Program Management within the Applied AI, Data & UX division is pivotal for orchestrating a collection of significant, cross-disciplinary programs that span artificial intelligence, data engineering platforms, and user experience innovations. As Mastercard escalates its AI and data initiatives, this position demands technical leadership combined with rigorous program delivery and collaboration across organizational lines to successfully transform intricate multi-team projects from ideas to scalable production solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee comprehensive program management of a slate of strategic projects intersecting Applied AI, data platforms, and UX engineering from conception through implementation and ongoing operations.
• Collaborate with engineering, data science, product management, design, and architecture stakeholders to produce integrated roadmaps reflecting technical dependencies, platform limits, and target milestones.
• Ensure cross-functional coordination among AI/ML, UX, infrastructure, security, privacy, and enterprise architecture units to guarantee technical excellence, compliance, and scalability of programs.
• Set up and sustain governance frameworks including steering committees, decision making processes, escalation mechanisms, and active RAID (Risks, Actions, Issues, Dependencies) oversight to drive timely decisions and momentum.
• Transform dense technical efforts into clear, executive-level updates like program roadmaps, progress dashboards, decision briefs, and risk analyses for senior leadership.
• Proactively detect and escalate technical risks, inter-team dependencies, resource shortages, and delivery obstacles, resolving them before impacting outcomes.
• Work alongside product and engineering leadership to define success criteria and ensure teams have clear, measurable goals aligned with overall business and technology strategies.
• Drive continuous improvement of the technical program management framework in the Applied AI, Data & UX group by refining tools, templates, delivery methods, and resource planning.
• Contribute to recruitment, onboarding, and growth of program management personnel fostering accountability, clarity, and ongoing enhancement within the organization.

Candidate Profile

• Possesses strong technical expertise from backgrounds in software engineering, data platforms, machine learning, or similar fields, allowing meaningful interaction with technical teams regarding design and delivery.
• Experienced in managing large, complex technology programs at enterprise scale, especially in AI/ML product delivery, data modernization, or UX transformation initiatives.
• Adept at navigating ambiguous environments by instituting structure, clarifying roles, and defining ownership when project scopes and stakeholders are still evolving.
• Skilled in cross-functional leadership with demonstrated ability to align and influence senior technical and business stakeholders across dispersed organizations without direct authority.
• Communicates precisely and effectively, capable of converting intricate technical details into succinct, actionable messages for executives and transforming strategic directions into tangible team plans.
• Exhibits sound analytical and strategic judgement including balancing technical trade-offs and delivery risks against business urgency to guide decision-making.
• Proficient using modern program and portfolio management suites such as Jira, Confluence, Aha!, scaled agile methodologies, and OKR-driven planning, adapting delivery styles as needed.
• Shows ongoing curiosity and eagerness to learn emerging AI/ML technologies, evolving data ecosystem trends, and user-centered design principles, quickly acquiring new domain knowledge.
• Embodies Mastercard values fostering collaboration, inclusivity, and an enterprise-wide mindset that cultivates enduring team relationships and organizational capacity.

Corporate Security Responsibilities

• Adhere strictly to Mastercard’s security policies and practices.
• Maintain confidentiality and integrity of accessed information.
• Promptly report any suspected security breaches or violations.
• Complete all mandatory periodic security training as directed.