Senior Specialist, Strategy & Innovation, Central Europe

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
Senior Specialist, Strategy & Innovation, Central Europe
Your role in 30 secs:
Overview
Support Mastercard's Product & Strategy Team in Central Europe by driving innovation, supporting strategic initiatives, and enabling data-driven decision-making across our division. You will work closely with regional and global product, strategy, and functional teams to help translate Mastercard's global strategic priorities into tangible actions for our markets.
You will play a key role in connecting insights, strategy, and execution - ensuring our market strategies are aligned with Mastercard's overall direction and that our division stays ahead of emerging trends and opportunities in the payments landscape.
You will be part of a curious, diverse, and dynamic team consisting of account managers, business development, product managers, marketing, technical experts and consultants.
Things you do• Support the implementation of Mastercard's strategic priorities in Central Europe by translating global and regional strategies into tangible local initiatives.• Lead and support strategic initiatives to address key market developments and equip markets with effective narratives, materials, and tools.• Develop frameworks to monitor market trends, business performance, and internal KPIs, enabling fact-based strategic decisions.• Support the setting up and management of cross-market strategic projects, ensuring alignment and smooth execution.• Evaluate product-market fit for new payment solutions and support subsequent go-to-market strategies.• Contribute to the development of collaboration models between markets, the division, and regional teams to enhance execution and knowledge sharing.• Support the preparation of senior management materials, including business reviews, strategy updates, and committee presentations.• Build and maintain reporting tools and performance dashboards that help track strategic initiatives and monitor divisional KPIs.
Things we expect• Passion for strategy, innovation, and the payments ecosystem - ideally gained through prior experience in consulting, strategy, or business excellence (approx. 2-4 years).• Strong analytical and conceptual skills, with the ability to synthesize data and translate insights into clear recommendations.• Excellent command of business tools such as PowerPoint and Excel; experience with data visualization tools is a plus.• Project management skills - ability to coordinate and deliver cross-functional projects.• Strategic mindset combined with a hands-on, can-do attitude.• Excellent communication and storytelling skills - able to present ideas clearly to different audiences.• Curiosity, agility, and a real team-player attitude with the willingness to learn and grow.• Fluent English; additional languages are an advantage.• Ability to work effectively across a multicultural, matrix organization.• Bachelor's or Master's or MBA degree in business, economics, finance, or a related field.• You will be based in Warsaw (Poland) or Budapest (Hungary) with occasional travel required
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.