Director, Project Manager

About the Company

Mastercard operates a global payments network that helps move commerce across more than 200 countries and territories. The organization focuses on making payments secure, straightforward, intelligent, and broadly accessible, while supporting economic growth and innovation for consumers, businesses, and governments.

Role Overview

Mastercard is looking for a Director of Project Management to oversee delivery for a strategic, high-impact initiative within its AI & Data organization. The position is centered on advancing next-generation modeling capabilities built from global transaction data and ensuring the full workflow — from large-scale data intake through product integration — progresses in a controlled, visible, and predictable way.

This leader will work closely with AI researchers, data engineers, and product leaders to convert complex technical goals into practical delivery plans. It is a hands-on leadership position that combines strong program management with enough technical depth to handle the challenges of building large-scale intelligence systems in a regulated environment.

What You'll Do

You will own the delivery performance and overall execution of a flagship AI program.

• Lead the full lifecycle of advanced modeling work, including data preparation, infrastructure expansion, model validation, and deployment.
• Create and maintain program planning structures such as roadmaps, milestones, and cross-team dependency tracking across the AI & Data organization.
• Serve as the main connection point between technical teams and business stakeholders so that research milestones stay aligned with commercial and operational needs.
• Anticipate and reduce risks that come with complex data science work, including compute limitations, data quality concerns, and changing technical requirements.
• Make sure all activity follows Mastercard’s standards for AI governance, data privacy, and ethical modeling.
• Deliver concise, high-value updates to senior leadership on program status, resource usage, and milestone progress.
• Improve delivery processes so the team can move quickly from insight to action without compromising reliability in financial-grade systems.

Requirements

• Proven track record of leading large, complex initiatives in AI, machine learning, or big data environments.
• Strong understanding of high-volume, high-speed transactional data and the demands of financial-grade data ecosystems.
• Ability to discuss model training at scale, data pipelines, and API integration confidently with engineers and data scientists.
• Deep knowledge of program management approaches such as Agile and Hybrid, with the flexibility to apply them to non-linear AI research and development work.
• Strong influencing and collaboration skills for aligning Engineering, Legal, Product, and Security stakeholders without direct reporting authority.
• Comfort working in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment with changing technical goals.
• A bachelor’s degree in a technical or business discipline is required; PMP, SAFe, or similar certification/framework experience is preferred.

Security and Compliance

Anyone working for or on behalf of Mastercard must help protect the company’s assets, systems, and information. This includes following security policies and practices, safeguarding confidentiality and integrity, reporting suspected security issues or breaches, and completing required periodic security training.

Additional Information

This position is based in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland.