Director, Technical Pre-Engagement (Innovation Consulting) Full Time

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, Technical Pre-Engagement (Innovation Consulting)

Director – Technical Pre-Engagement

Senior Managing Consultant (Innovation Consulting)

Overview

Advisors & Consulting Services (A&CS) is Mastercard’s global consulting and execution arm within Services, focused on helping clients solve complex business challenges and realize measurable value from Mastercard’s data, products, and platforms. A&CS partners closely with customers across industries, geographies, and stages of maturity to deliver strategy, insights, and hands on execution that drives growth, efficiency, and customer success.

Deploy is a core execution capability within A&CS, focused on the technical and operational delivery of Mastercard solutions for clients. Deploy teams work closely with Product, Digital Labs, and regional Account and Business Development teams to translate strategy and solution design into successful client implementations, ensuring that Mastercard products are deployed efficiently, securely, and at scale.

Operating within A&CS’s global delivery model, Deploy supports client engagements by providing hands on technical expertise, implementation leadership, and program execution capabilities. This enables A&CS to move beyond advisory work and act as an execution partner, helping clients accelerate time to value and achieve sustainable outcomes from their Mastercard investments.

Deploy Europe (EUR) is seeking a Director, Technical Pre-Engagement to play a critical role in shaping, structuring, and accelerating complex client engagements across our digital and technology-led offerings. This role sits at the intersection of business development, solution design, and delivery readiness, working closely with Sales, Product, Architecture, and Delivery teams to translate client needs into clearly defined, scalable, and commercially viable engagement models. The Technical Pre-Engagement Manager will lead technical discovery, scope and structure Deploy services, define delivery approaches and resourcing models, and ensure engagements are set up for successful execution from day one, while reinforcing Deploy’s value-led, partnership-driven approach across the European region.

Role:

Business Development

• Partner with regional sales, account teams, and Digital Labs to identify and qualify opportunities for Deploy.
• Lead pre-engagement discussions with clients, demonstrating how Deploy accelerates value realization for Mastercard products.
• Contribute to the commercial structuring of engagements, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Develop and refine narratives that effectively communicate the Deploy value proposition to customers.

Technical Capabilities

• Assess client technical environments, infrastructure, and readiness to deploy Mastercard’s digital solutions.
• Lead the scoping and feasibility analysis of client implementations.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor, guiding clients on best practices for integrating Mastercard’s solutions.
• Ensure alignment between regional technical pre-engagement activities and global technical strategies.

Portfolio Management

• Track and manage the pipeline of Deploy engagements within the region, ensuring clear visibility of pre-engagement activities and upcoming implementations.
• Maintain oversight of technical scoping, ensuring consistency and adherence to Deploy frameworks.
• Provide regular updates and reports on pre-engagement progress, risks, and opportunities.

Operations & Vendor Management

• Work closely with internal teams to streamline processes related to pre-engagement, scoping, and resource allocation.
• Ensure adherence to governance structures and compliance requirements for Deploy engagements.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and delivery teams to facilitate a seamless transition from pre-engagement to project execution.
• Support the identification and onboarding of technical resources to scale Deploy efforts in the region.
• Manage vendor relationships, ensuring that third-party providers align with Mastercard’s strategic and technical requirements.
• Assess, negotiate, and oversee vendor performance to ensure timely and high-quality service delivery.

All About You

Qualification & Experience

• Strong experience in technical pre-sales, solution architecture, or digital product delivery, ideally within financial services or technology companies.
• Strong understanding of digital transformation, APIs, cloud architectures, and software development lifecycles.
• Experience working with customers to scope and define complex technical solutions.
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally, collaborating with business development, product, and engineering teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence senior executives and technical audiences.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical capabilities, with a focus on delivering client-centric solutions.
• Ability to manage multiple engagements and prioritize effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience managing vendors and third-party providers in a technical pre-engagement or implementation capacity.

Preferred Skills & Attributes

• Knowledge of Mastercard’s digital products and solutions.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and product development best practices.
• Experience with financial services technologies such as open banking, payments, authentication, or fraud prevention.
• Ability to lead and mentor technical teams, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture.
• Prior experience in technical consulting within a global, matrixed organization.

This role will require occasional travel within the region to support client engagements and Mastercard’s business objectives.

Corporate Security Responsibility

Every Person Working For, Or On Behalf Of, Mastercard Is Responsible For Information Security. All Activities Involving Access To Mastercard Assets, Information, And Networks Comes With An Inherent Risk To The Organization And Therefore, It Is Expected That The Successful Candidate For This Position 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.

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.