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, Portfolio Optimization

Director, Portfolio Optimization & DPO Governance
Location: Turkey (EEMEA)
Reporting to: VP, Product Management - Portfolio Optimization
Role Purpose
The Director, Portfolio Optimization & DPO Governance will be accountable for driving end‑to‑end optimization performance across Divisions, Clusters, Markets, and key issuers. This role will serve as the strategic owner of the DPO (Deployment & Performance Optimization) initiative, ensuring disciplined execution, strong cross‑functional governance, and measurable business impact.
The role requires a consulting mindset, strong executive presence, and the ability to translate strategy into scalable execution through data, governance, and influence rather than direct control.

Key Responsibilities
1. DPO Initiative Ownership & Governance

Own the DPO framework, including objectives, success metrics, governance cadence, and escalation model.
Lead cross‑functional engagement with CSC, Services, Divisions, and Markets to drive optimization initiatives.
Ensure consistent execution and accountability across Divisional, Cluster, Market, and Issuer levels.

2. Performance Management & Analytics

Oversee tracking and reporting of key engagements, performance metrics, and KPIs across geographies and portfolios.
Establish a single source of truth for optimization performance, including dashboards, scorecards, and executive readouts.
Identify performance gaps and drive corrective action plans with stakeholders.

3. Strategic Engagement & Influence

Act as a senior point of contact for stakeholders across Product, Sales, Services, and Operations.
Facilitate executive‑level discussions focused on performance improvement, prioritization, and trade‑offs.
Translate complex data into clear, actionable insights for senior leadership.

4. Business Impact & Optimization Delivery

Drive measurable improvements across core optimization levers (e.g., spend active rate, premiumization, pricing standards, authentication performance).
Partner with regional and country teams to convert diagnostics into tangible outcomes.
Ensure alignment with global performance standards and strategic priorities.

5. Team & Capability Development

Provide leadership and mentorship within the Portfolio Optimization team.
Contribute to capability building by introducing structured problem‑solving, governance rigor, and outcome‑driven execution.
Support succession planning and leadership development within the team.

Required Experience & Profile

12+ years of experience in management consulting, strategy, business transformation, or performance optimization roles.
Strong background in driving business performance through data, governance, and cross‑functional influence.
Proven experience working with senior stakeholders across large, matrixed organizations.
Demonstrated ability to operate at both strategic and executional levels.
Experience in payments, financial services, or complex B2B ecosystems preferred.
Strong analytical, communication, and storytelling skills.

Leadership Expectations (Director Level)

Operates as a thought partner to the VP and senior leadership.
Proactively identifies risks, opportunities, and strategic levers.
Drives clarity, structure, and accountability in ambiguous environments.
Models a consulting‑grade standard of rigor, professionalism, and outcome focus.

Success Measures (First 12-18 Months)

DPO governance fully embedded and operating at scale.
Clear visibility of performance across all levels (Division → Issuer).
Tangible optimization outcomes delivered and tracked.
Strong stakeholder confidence in the Portfolio Optimization function.

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.