Vice President - Operational Excellence

Title and Summary Vice President - Operational Excellence

Who is Mastercard? Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

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Overview

The GCD&C Operational Excellence team is looking for a Vice President, Operational Excellence is accountable for ensuring that Customer Care operations have the capacity, capabilities, strategic decision making governance, and operational disciplines required to deliver consistent, scalable, and high-performing services. This role combines GCD&C ownership of capacity planning with global operational excellence leadership, acting as the critical link between strategic business demand, operational execution, and continuous improvement. The role ensures that customer demand, workforce capacity, skills, processes, governance, technology, and operational performance are aligned to achieve business objectives while delivering exceptional customer outcomes. The position serves as the authority on operational capacity, forecasting, resource optimisation, operational excellence standards & cost governance across customer operations.

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Role

• Partner with global and regional executives to define and execute operational excellence strategy aligned to business priorities.
• Build robust capacity planning & demand management models and frameworks to maintain and inform operational expense control
• Lead scenario modelling, impact assessments and investment planning to support strategic decision-making.
• Leverage data and insights to identify trends, risks, and opportunities, enabling informed executive decision-making.
• Drive adoption of enterprise OpEx frameworks, including capacity planning, resource optimization, performance management, quality assurance, and governance.
• Ensure strong change governance and readiness, when driving adoption of new processes, tools, and operating models.
• Foster a culture grounded in accountability, innovation, and operational excellence.

All About You

Basic Qualifications

• Extensive experience in Operational Excellence, transformation, or operational strategy leadership roles.
• Proven ability to influence senior executives and lead in global, matrixed environments.
• Demonstrated success delivering large-scale transformation and measurable business outcomes.
• Deep expertise in capacity planning, strategic workforce optimisation, data-driven decision-making and performance management.
• Strong knowledge of continuous improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma).
• Exceptional communication skills with strong executive presence.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in leading large-scale strategic capacity planning function in financial services contact centres or shared services.
• Strong numeracy and analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex data, identify trends, and translate insights into strategic actions.
• Lean, Six Sigma, or Operational Excellence certifications
• Background within centralized OpEx, transformation, or enterprise change functions.

Impact

• Drive measurable improvements in operational efficiency, cost optimization, and service delivery.
• GCD&C operations have sufficient, optimised, and sustainable capacity to deliver strategic and operational commitments
• Executive decisions are supported by trusted insight and actionable performance intelligence
• Enhance customer experience through standardized, scalable, and high-quality operations.
• Strengthen operational governance and risk management across the region.
• Build a high-performing, continuous improvement culture that supports Mastercard’s long-term growth.

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.

Everyone wants easier ways to pay; we invent them. Checkout lines are slow; we speed them along. Merchants want more sales; we give them data and insights. People need financial access; we connect them. Corporate purchasing is complicated; we make it simple. Commuters are busy; we speed them on their way. Governments need greater efficiencies; we help create them. Small businesses are virtual; we give them access to a world of buyers. Retailers want to fight fraud; we provide the tools.