Managing Consultant - Client Deployment, Merchant Partnerships & Loyalty

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

Managing Consultant, Client Deployment, Merchant Partnerships & LoyaltyAdvisors & Consulting Services
Services within Mastercard is responsible for acquiring, engaging, and retaining customers by managing fraud and risk, enhancing cybersecurity, and improving the digital payments experience. We provide value-added services and leverage expertise, data-driven insights, and execution. Our Advisors & Consulting Services team combines traditional management consulting with Mastercard’s rich data assets, proprietary platforms, and technologies to provide clients with powerful strategic insights and recommendations. Our teams work with a diverse global customer base across industries, from banking and payments to retail and restaurants.

Role Purpose
Manage a portfolio of projects that support a strategy, a strategic change, or initiative with significant impact on the organization. The role will manage complexity and inherent risks across a wide range of business areas, where there are strong interdependencies and shared resources, and manage benefits from their initial identification and definition through to the eventual realization and achievement of measurable improvements.

Lead the development of a differentiated merchant network across Dining, Lifestyle, Travel, Entertainment and Cardholder Benefits programs, covering offer negotiation, vendor relationship management and orchestration of value creation for issuing bank clients.

Key Responsibilities
Client Impact
• Lead client engagements and workstreams for large enterprise-level programs across a range of industries, problem statements, and cultures
• Promote proven, accredited project and change management methodologies and techniques to help clients drive measurable value from initiation to benefit realization
• Mitigate risks, solve issues, and ensure plan remains in line with agreed timescales, budgets, and quality criteria
• Identify new business opportunities and communicate to executives to pursue, leading sales calls and client development including proposal contribution
• Own key relationships with mid-level to senior client stakeholders and independently assess client agenda, internal culture, and change readiness
Team Collaboration & Culture
• Lead team to creative insights and sound business recommendations, and deliver impactful and influential client presentations while growing team members’ roles and skills
• Provide expertise and day-to-day project delivery team leadership, supporting evolution of solutions with innovation and create a collaborative and inclusive environment for all levels
• Manage relationships with internal Mastercard leadership and stakeholders and build the firm's intellectual capital
• Effectively leverage subject matter experts to develop best customized solutions
• Provide on-the-job training, coaching, and mentorship to junior team members, including evaluating performance, and providing feedback
Merchant Network Development
• Lead end-to-end implementation including defining strategy for Dining, Lifestyle, Travel and Premium Benefits programs, building a sustainable merchant pipeline and driving partnership outreach and discussion
• Identify and onboard premium restaurants, Michelin-starred venues, luxury hotels, entertainment partners and lifestyle merchants
• Execute supplier and merchant contracting processes
Loyalty Offer Strategy & Negotiation
• Design competitive and differentiate offer portfolios aligned with bank client objectives
• Negotiate offer mechanics, funding structures, redemption terms and marketing commitments
• Perform benchmarking to identify new partnership opportunities and develop seasonal and campaign-based merchant promotions
Program Delivery, Governance & Performance Management
• Oversee the end-to-end implementation and coordinate across functional teams to ensure successful program launch
• Act as a subject matter expert to support client pitching and present recommendations to internal leadership and client management
• Track performance, acquisition targets and offer effectiveness and manage review and renewal discussions
Qualifications
Required
• 8+ years experience in project management, partnerships, merchant acquisition, business development, loyalty or lifestyle marketing.
• Strong commercial negotiation experience.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills.
• Fluency in Mandarin and English.
• Ability to travel to client sites on a semi-regular basis
Preferred
• Have completed or interested in pursuing recognized professional accreditation, such as Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Knowledge of Project Management tools
• Experience working with restaurants, hospitality, luxury retail, lifestyle brands or payment ecosystem partners.
• Experience in payments, banking, loyalty, card benefits, marketplaces or premium membership programs.
• Vendor management and contract negotiation expertise.

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.