Director, Product Operations

Overview

The Product Operations team is responsible for driving the activation, adoption, and performance of Studio and the products operating within Mastercard's product development lifecycle.

As Director, Product Operations, you will lead the end-to-end enablement and effectiveness of the Product Excellence system, ensuring products are consistently advanced, governed, and commercialized with speed, quality, and measurable outcomes. This role sits at the intersection of product operations, portfolio governance, performance management, and strategic communications, transforming operating models and lifecycle frameworks into scalable execution practices and decision-grade intelligence.

The ideal candidate is a highly strategic and execution-oriented leader with deep expertise in product development, operating model activation, portfolio performance, and data-driven decision-making. They will drive enterprise adoption of Studio, simplify complexity, and enable product teams and leaders to make faster, higher-quality decisions across the product lifecycle.

In This Role, You Will

• Lead Studio Activation and Enterprise Adoption — Drive activation and adoption of Studio across product teams, governance forums, and portfolio management processes.
• Develop and execute communication, engagement, and enablement strategies that promote clarity, adoption, and sustained behavioral change.
• Embed Studio into day-to-day product operations, establishing it as the standard system for product development across the enterprise.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to accelerate adoption and ensure consistent execution of Product Excellence practices.
• Drive Product Lifecycle Performance — Establish and maintain visibility into product pipeline health, lifecycle progression, and portfolio performance metrics.
• Ensure products are consistently evaluated, advanced, and prioritized using standardized performance indicators and governance frameworks.
• Identify opportunities to improve product development velocity, operational efficiency, and portfolio outcomes.
• Drive measurable improvements in decision quality, advancement consistency, and return-on-investment transparency.
• Enable Data-Driven Intelligence and Decisioning — Translate product lifecycle workflows, governance standards, and development signals into measurable system-based insights.
• Build and scale trusted reporting, analytics, and performance management capabilities that support product and portfolio decision-making.
• Establish single-source performance metrics and eliminate reliance on fragmented or manual reporting processes.
• Deliver actionable insights that increase transparency, accountability, and decision discipline across the organization.
• Integrate Operating Model, Governance, and Execution — Ensure alignment between operating model design, execution practices, and portfolio governance processes.
• Simplify complex frameworks and methodologies into scalable, practical tools and outputs that drive adoption.
• Partner with senior leaders across Product, Finance, Strategy, and Operations to continuously evolve and strengthen Product Excellence capabilities.
• Promote Studio through ongoing communication, training, and enablement initiatives that reinforce organizational consistency and effectiveness.

Product Operations and System Activation

• Proven experience leading adoption of enterprise operating models, platforms, or transformational business systems.
• Demonstrated success driving organizational change through communication, enablement, and execution discipline.
• Track record of delivering results in complex, highly matrixed, cross-functional organizations.
• Ability to balance strategic vision with operational execution.

Product Lifecycle and Portfolio Management

• Deep understanding of product development lifecycle management, governance processes, and portfolio management practices.
• Experience managing both product-level execution and portfolio-level performance outcomes.
• Ability to translate frameworks and methodologies into practical, measurable operating mechanisms.
• Strong understanding of how governance, prioritization, and performance management influence…