Title and Summary

Vice President, Product Operations, Disputes

Services within Mastercard is responsible for acquiring, engaging, and retaining customers by managing fraud and risk, enhancing cybersecurity, and improving the digital payments experience. We provide value-added services and leverage expertise, data-driven insights, and execution.

The Disputes Management Products organization is seeking a Vice President, Product Operations to serve as the operational backbone of our product portfolio. This is a high-impact leadership role responsible for driving process excellence, cross-functional coordination, and scalable operating models that enable our product teams to deliver with consistency and speed.

The ideal candidate is a strategic and execution-oriented leader with deep expertise in product operations, process optimization, and program governance. You thrive in complex, matrixed environments and bring a data-driven approach to identifying and eliminating operational inefficiencies. This role will partner closely with Product Management, Engineering, Regional teams, and senior leadership to ensure our organization operates at the highest level of effectiveness.

The Role

Process Optimization & Operational Excellence
• Design, implement, and continuously improve end-to-end operational processes across the product lifecycle - from ideation through launch and migration.
• Define and embed standardized frameworks, playbooks, and operating cadences that enable product teams to move faster with greater predictability and quality.
• Lead structured process improvement initiatives using data, metrics, and feedback loops to identify bottlenecks and drive measurable outcomes.
• Establish governance models, intake processes, and prioritization frameworks that enable disciplined decision-making and resource alignment.
• Champion automation and tooling improvements to reduce manual effort, increase throughput, and improve operational visibility across the organization.

Product Migration & Program Delivery
• Lead and coordinate cross-functional product migration efforts, ensuring seamless transitions from legacy platforms to next-generation solutions.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive migration plans, risk registers, and stakeholder communications to keep delivery on track.
• Manage program steerco cadences, executive reporting, and governance forums to ensure accountability and decision-making at the right levels.
• Serve as the connective tissue between Product, Engineering, Regional, and Customer Success teams to drive integrated delivery and consistent customer experience.

Strategic Planning & Insights
• Partner with the Product, Engineering, Biz Ops, Delivery and Customer facing teams to develop and execute the operational strategy for the organization.
• Build and manage weekly, monthly, and quarterly reporting frameworks - including OKRs, KPIs, and operational dashboards - to provide leadership with real-time visibility into organizational health and delivery performance.
• Lead business planning cycles including annual planning, capacity modeling, and budget management in close collaboration with Finance and HR partners.
• Drive continuous improvement of team-wide practices by introducing lean product development, agile best practices, and retrospective disciplines.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Management
• Act as a trusted advisor and operational partner to Product leaders across the Disputes Products and Security Solutions portfolio.
• Facilitate alignment across internal and external stakeholders, including regional teams, technology partners, financial institutions, and key customers.
• Drive preparation for executive presentations, all-hands, strategic off-sites, and key leadership forums.
• Build collaborative relationships that bridge organizational silos and accelerate decision velocity.

Team Leadership & Talent Development
• Build and lead a high-performing team of operations professionals, fostering a culture of accountability, inclusion, and continuous growth.
• Coach and develop direct reports to expand capabilities and career trajectories in alignment with the Mastercard Way.
• Model Mastercard's Decency Quotient (DQ) in all interactions - inside and outside the organization.

All About You
• Progressive experience in product operations, strategy and operations, program management, or a related field - ideally within financial services, payments, or technology.
• Demonstrate a proven track record of designing and implementing scalable operating models and process improvement initiatives with measurable business impact.
• Possess strong command of project and program management disciplines, including planning, risk management, dependency tracking, and executive communication.
• Be skilled at translating ambiguous organizational challenges into structured, actionable plans - and driving those plans through to completion.
• Have demonstrated experience leading cross-functional teams and influencing senior stakeholders without direct authority.
• Show an ability to build, analyze, and communicate using data - including OKR/KPI frameworks, operational metrics, and financial reporting.
• Be an exceptional communicator - able to craft and deliver compelling narratives to executives, peers, and teams with clarity and impact.
• Demonstrate experience managing product migration or technology transition programs, including customer communication, change management, and risk mitigation.
• Thrive in a fast-paced, matrixed, and global environment where priorities shift and cross-functional leadership is essential.
• People management experience with a track record of developing talent and building cohesive, high-performing teams.
• Experience in Disputes, Chargebacks, Fraud, or adjacent payments operations domains is a plus.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Operations, or equivalent experience required.
• Advanced degree (MBA or equivalent) strongly preferred.
• Six Sigma, PMP, and other relevant certifications preferred.

In line with Mastercard's total compensation philosophy and assuming that the job will be performed in the US, the successful candidate will be offered a competitive base salary and may be eligible for an annual bonus or commissions depending on the role. The base salary offered may vary depending on multiple factors, including but not limited to location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Mastercard benefits for full time (and certain part time) employees generally include: insurance (including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, disability, life insurance); flexible spending account and health savings account; paid leaves (including 16 weeks of new parent leave and up to 20 days of bereavement leave); 80 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time, 25 days of vacation time and 5 personal days, pro-rated based on date of hire; 10 annual paid U.S. observed holidays; 401k with a best-in-class company match; deferred compensation for eligible roles; fitness reimbursement or on-site fitness facilities; eligibility for tuition reimbursement; and many more. Mastercard benefits for interns generally include: 56 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time; jury duty leave; and on-site fitness facilities in some locations.

Pay Ranges
Purchase, New York: $235,000 - $375,000 USD