Director, Product Operations

Our Purpose
Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we're helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.
Title and Summary
Director, Product Operations
Overview
The Product Operations team is responsible for driving the activation, adoption, and performance of Studio and the products operating within Mastercard's product development lifecycle.
As Director, Product Operations, you will lead the end-to-end enablement and effectiveness of the Product Excellence system, ensuring products are consistently advanced, governed, and commercialized with speed, quality, and measurable outcomes. This role sits at the intersection of product operations, portfolio governance, performance management, and strategic communications, transforming operating models and lifecycle frameworks into scalable execution practices and decision-grade intelligence.
The ideal candidate is a highly strategic and execution-oriented leader with deep expertise in product development, operating model activation, portfolio performance, and data-driven decision-making. They will drive enterprise adoption of Studio, simplify complexity, and enable product teams and leaders to make faster, higher-quality decisions across the product lifecycle.
Role
In this role, you will:
Lead Studio Activation and Enterprise Adoption
Drive activation and adoption of Studio across product teams, governance forums, and portfolio management processes.
Develop and execute communication, engagement, and enablement strategies that promote clarity, adoption, and sustained behavioral change.
Embed Studio into day-to-day product operations, establishing it as the standard system for product development across the enterprise.
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to accelerate adoption and ensure consistent execution of Product Excellence practices.
Drive Product Lifecycle Performance
Establish and maintain visibility into product pipeline health, lifecycle progression, and portfolio performance metrics.
Ensure products are consistently evaluated, advanced, and prioritized using standardized performance indicators and governance frameworks.
Identify opportunities to improve product development velocity, operational efficiency, and portfolio outcomes.
Drive measurable improvements in decision quality, advancement consistency, and return-on-investment transparency.
Enable Data-Driven Intelligence and Decisioning
Translate product lifecycle workflows, governance standards, and development signals into measurable system-based insights.
Build and scale trusted reporting, analytics, and performance management capabilities that support product and portfolio decision-making.
Establish single-source performance metrics and eliminate reliance on fragmented or manual reporting processes.
Deliver actionable insights that increase transparency, accountability, and decision discipline across the organization.
Integrate Operating Model, Governance, and Execution
Ensure alignment between operating model design, execution practices, and portfolio governance processes.
Simplify complex frameworks and methodologies into scalable, practical tools and outputs that drive adoption.
Partner with senior leaders across Product, Finance, Strategy, and Operations to continuously evolve and strengthen Product Excellence capabilities.
Promote Studio through ongoing communication, training, and enablement initiatives that reinforce organizational consistency and effectiveness.
All About You
Product Operations and System Activation
Proven experience leading adoption of enterprise operating models, platforms, or transformational business systems.
Demonstrated success driving organizational change through communication, enablement, and execution discipline.
Track record of delivering results in complex, highly matrixed, cross-functional organizations.
Ability to balance strategic vision with operational execution.
Product Lifecycle and Portfolio Management
Deep understanding of product development lifecycle management, governance processes, and portfolio management practices.
Experience managing both product-level execution and portfolio-level performance outcomes.
Ability to translate frameworks and methodologies into practical, measurable operating mechanisms.
Strong understanding of how governance, prioritization, and performance management influence product success.
Analytics and Data-Driven Decision Making
Strong understanding of performance management, reporting frameworks, analytics, and operational metrics.
Experience building scalable insights and measurement capabilities that support executive decision-making.
Ability to synthesize complex data into concise, actionable recommendations for senior leadership.
Passion for leveraging data to improve consistency, speed, quality, and business outcomes.
Leadership and Enterprise Influence
Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills.
Experience influencing senior leaders across Product, Finance, Technology, and Operations functions.
Proven ability to build alignment, drive adoption, and manage competing priorities across large organizations.
Comfortable operating across both strategic and operational levels to drive enterprise-wide outcomes.
Required Skills:
Experience within enterprise product organizations, financial services, fintech, or payments industries.
Exposure to portfolio governance, financial modeling, investment prioritization, or product performance analytics.
Experience leading enterprise transformation, operating model modernization, or large-scale change initiatives.
Familiarity with product management platforms, workflow automation, and product intelligence ecosystems.
Success Measures
Studio is adopted as the standard system for product development across the enterprise.
Improved quality, speed, and consistency of product advancement and portfolio decision-making.
Increased visibility into product pipeline health, lifecycle progression, and portfolio outcomes.
Significant reduction in manual reporting and fragmented data sources.
Measurable improvements in product development velocity, decision discipline, accountability, and ROI transparency.
Mastercard is a merit-based, inclusive, equal opportunity employer that considers applicants without regard to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We hire the most qualified candidate for the role. In the US or Canada, if you require accommodations or assistance to complete the online application process or during the recruitment process, please contact [email protected] and identify the type of accommodation or assistance you are requesting. Do not include any medical or health information in this email. The Reasonable Accommodations team will respond to your email promptly.
Corporate Security Responsibility
All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes 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, and
• Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard's guidelines.

In line with Mastercard's total compensation philosophy and assuming that the job will be performed in the US, the successful candidate will be offered a competitive base salary and may be eligible for an annual bonus or commissions depending on the role. The base salary offered may vary depending on multiple factors, including but not limited to location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Mastercard benefits for full time (and certain part time) employees generally include: insurance (including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, disability, life insurance); flexible spending account and health savings account; paid leaves (including 16 weeks of new parent leave and up to 20 days of bereavement leave); 80 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time, 25 days of vacation time and 5 personal days, pro-rated based on date of hire; 10 annual paid U.S. observed holidays; 401k with a best-in-class company match; deferred compensation for eligible roles; fitness reimbursement or on-site fitness facilities; eligibility for tuition reimbursement; and many more. Mastercard benefits for interns generally include: 56 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time; jury duty leave; and on-site fitness facilities in some locations.
Pay Ranges
O'Fallon, Missouri: $156,000 - $265,000 USD