Lead Product Manager-Technical at Mastercard

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

Lead Product Manager-Technical:

Overview:

Mastercard’s Global Credit Card Authorization team is seeking a Lead Product Manager – Technical (PM-T) to drive the evolution of our authorization platform. This role sits at the intersection of technology, product, and payments, powering secure, real-time transaction decisioning at global scale.
Product Manager – Technical (PM-T) roles at Mastercard are deeply technical and partner closely with Software Engineers, Technical Program Managers, User Experience, and cross-functional stakeholders to translate business needs into scalable, high-impact platform capabilities.
As a Lead PM-T, you will own the end-to-end product lifecycle for critical authorization services, defining platform building blocks and ensuring they are performant, resilient, and reusable across Mastercard’s global network.
This is a hybrid role based in O’Fallon, MO, with an expectation of three days per week onsite.

Role:

• Own and define platform building blocks, including requirements, technical specifications, and user experience considerations.
• Define and execute product strategy and roadmap for credit card authorization capabilities.
• Apply the Working Backwards methodology to drive clarity of product vision, customer value, and measurable outcomes.
• Decompose complex business and technical requirements into well-defined user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
• Prioritize and maintain a well-groomed product backlog that balances near-term delivery with long-term platform strategy.
• Lead elaboration and refinement sessions, ensuring alignment for accurate estimation and delivery planning.
• Partner closely with engineering teams to deliver scalable, low-latency, and highly resilient systems.
• Continuously innovate on behalf of internal and external customers, improving authorization performance, reliability, and approval rates.
• Define how new capabilities integrate into the broader Mastercard platform ecosystem.
• Leverage data and performance metrics to inform decisions and optimize customer experience.
• Identify potential commercialization opportunities and collaborate with product development teams to bring them to market.
• Serve as a domain expert for authorization platforms, driving long-term evolution beyond individual initiatives.
• Communicate product vision, priorities, and outcomes to senior leadership and global stakeholders.

All About You:

• Previous experience as a Technical Product Manager or Product Manager in payments, fintech, or other high-scale, real-time systems
• Proven track record of leading large-scale technical programs from concept through delivery, with measurable business impact.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and align cross-functional stakeholders across multiple teams and organizations.
• Deep expertise in Agile/SAFe methodologies, with experience leading multiple teams across complex programs.
• Technical proficiency within the payments domain (Authorization, Clearing, Settlement)
• Systems-level technical understanding, able to partner with engineering on architecture, APIs, and platform design decisions.
• Comfortable leveraging modern tools and platforms such as MS Copilot, MS Project, Monday.com, Jira, Confluence, Aha!, Figma, Power BI, Easy BI, or similar.
• Analytical and data-driven mindset, defining KPIs, dashboards, and metrics to measure program success and optimize outcomes.
• Strong business acumen: understands ROI, cost optimization, and revenue impact of programs.
• Skilled in cross-org strategic planning, shaping roadmaps, prioritizing initiatives, and making trade-offs across speed, cost, and quality.
• Proactive problem-solver, able to navigate ambiguity, evolving requirements, and complex technical challenges.
• Experienced in organizational change and adoption, driving consistent process improvements and operational excellence.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts into clear business context.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field. Equivalent practical experience may also be considered.

This role is not eligible for Mastercard’s work authorization sponsorship. As such, candidates must be eligible to work in the United States, now as well as in the future, without employer sponsorship.

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 reasonable_accommodation@mastercard.com 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: $130,000 - $221,000 USD