Director, Project Manager

Title and Summary

Director, Project Manager

Overview

Mastercard is seeking a Director of Project Management to lead delivery execution for a high priority, strategic program within our AI & Data organization. This role is responsible for driving the development of next generation modeling capabilities built on our global transaction data and ensuring that the end to end lifecycle-from large scale data ingestion to downstream product integration is executed predictably and transparently. The Director will partner closely with AI researchers, data engineers, and product leadership to translate ambitious technical objectives into executable delivery plans. This is a hands on leadership role requiring a balance of technical depth and program management expertise to navigate the unique challenges of building large scale intelligence systems in a highly regulated environment.

Role

• Program Lifecycle Ownership: Lead the end to end delivery of advanced modeling initiatives, from initial data curation and infrastructure scaling to model validation and deployment.
• Execution Rigor: Establish and maintain program level planning, including roadmaps, milestones, and cross functional dependencies across the AI & Data org.
• Technical Partnership: Act as the primary bridge between technical teams and business stakeholders, ensuring research milestones are aligned with commercial and operational timelines.
• Risk & Resource Management: Proactively identify and mitigate risks inherent in complex data science projects, such as compute constraints, data quality issues, and evolving technical requirements.
• Governance & Ethics: Ensure all program activities adhere to Mastercard's rigorous standards for AI governance, data privacy, and ethical modeling practices.
• Executive Communication: Provide clear, high signal reporting on program health, resource utilization, and delivery milestones for senior leadership.
• Continuous Improvement: Optimize delivery frameworks to support "speed to insight" while maintaining the reliability required for financial grade systems.

All About You

• Advanced AI/Data Experience: Proven experience leading large, complex programs in the AI, Machine Learning, or Big Data space.
• Transactional Data Fluency: Comfort working with massive, high velocity datasets and understanding the complexities of financial grade data environments.
• Technical Acumen: Ability to engage credibly with Data Scientists and Engineers on topics such as model training at scale, data pipelines, and API integration.
• Strategic Execution: Expert level knowledge of program management methodologies (Agile, Hybrid, etc.) tailored for the non linear nature of AI research and development.
• Diplomacy & Influence: Skilled at driving alignment across diverse stakeholders (Engineering, Legal, Product, and Security) without direct authority.
• Resilience: Comfortable operating in a high stakes, fast paced environment with evolving technical targets.

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technical or business field; experience with PMP, SAFe, or equivalent frameworks preferred.

Corporate Security Responsibility

All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks come with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:

• Abide by Mastercard's security policies and practices;
• Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;
• Report any suspected information security violation or breach;
• Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard's guidelines.