Risk Management Director & Program Lead

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.

About This Opportunity

Mastercard launched a strategic initiative supporting Georgia’s Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) direct licensing program for Acquirers. We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Risk Management Director & Program Lead to manage the end-to-end program, including risk oversight, governance and reporting, development and documentation of program requirements, and overall program execution.

This Risk Management Director & Program Lead role reports to the Vice President, Strategic Risk within the Risk Organization and will work closely with key internal partners, (e.g., Regulatory, Franchise, Legal, Compliance, and Account Management) as part of the second line of defense. The Director will also engage directly with customers to advance, operate, and maintain the MALPB program.

Overview

Mastercard launched a strategic initiative supporting Georgia’s Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) direct licensing program for Acquirers. We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Risk Management Director & Program Lead to manage the end-to-end program, including risk oversight, governance and reporting, development and documentation of program requirements, and overall program execution.

This role reports to the Vice President, Strategic Risk within the Risk Organization and will work closely with key internal partners, (e.g., Regulatory, Franchise, Legal, Compliance, and Account Management) as part of the second line of defense. The Director will also engage directly with customers to advance, operate, and maintain the MALPB program.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in risk management, excels at managing diverse stakeholder groups, and thrives in driving complex, cross‑functional program workstreams in a fast‑paced regulatory environment.

Role

Program Governance and Oversight:

• Lead the overall governance and program management framework for the MALPB program, ensuring minimum standards are clearly defined, implemented, and continuously maintained across all participating acquirers.
• Oversee end-to-end program execution, identifying risks, issues, and critical dependencies while ensuring alignment with internal and regulatory objectives.
• Serve as the project manager and central coordination point across internal teams, ensuring roles and responsibilities, timelines, requirements are met timely.

Customer Engagement & Stakeholder Management:

• Lead structured customer engagement, in partnership with the Business, to support customers’ navigation of the MALPB requirements, e.g., facilitate routine touchpoints, ongoing issue resolution.
• Ensure timely delivery for all applicants, owning critical path milestones and coordinating progress with internal teams.
• Guide customers through interpretation and implementation of risk-related obligations.

Documentation, Reporting And Internal Communications:

• Maintain comprehensive documentation of decisions, changes to requirements, implementation plans, and program artifacts.
• Ensure transparent tracking of progress, gaps, risks, and regulatory alignment.
• Produce regular program status reporting for internal leadership and external stakeholder socialization.

Risk Management And Advisory:

• Engage directly with customers to evaluate and strengthen risk management capabilities required under the MALPB program (e.g., Enterprise Risk, Credit Risk, Fraud Risk, Cyber, Third-party Risk, etc.) and meet FBA expectations.
• Oversee the results of the third-party Risk review performed prior to onboarding and annually. Oversees findings / remediation activities to improve risk management at acquirers where required.
• Develop, refine, and maintain risk‑related requirements of the MALPB program, ensuring they are clearly defined, scalable, and aligned with enterprise risk standards.

All About You

Professional Skills:

• 8+ years of experience in Risk Management within financial services, payments, or banking, or Management Consulting.
• Proven program leadership with experience navigating complex risk, compliance, regulatory, or licensing environments.
• Strong analytical judgment with the ability to identify, synthesize, and articulate key risks, issues, and blockers.
• Executive‑level communication skills, including the ability to craft succinct updates and effectively facilitate steering committees and Executive Leadership decision-making.
• Exceptional stakeholder management, with the ability to influence senior leaders and customer partners.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity, managing complex and evolving regulatory requirements with confidence and clarity, designing roadmaps, frameworks, and standards.
• High proficiency in structured problem‑solving, risk assessment, and cross‑functional program delivery.
• Demonstrated urgency and proactive action orientation, with a strong bias toward execution.
• Experience in merchant acquiring or payment processing ecosystems is a plus.
• Experience supporting bank examinations or regulatory readiness initiatives is a plus.

Key skills/competency

• Risk Management
• Program Leadership
• Regulatory Compliance
• Financial Services
• Payments Industry
• Stakeholder Management
• Governance Frameworks
• Enterprise Risk
• Fraud Risk
• Problem Solving