Lead Product Manager - Technical

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. Title and Summary Lead Product Manager - Technical 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. Overview The Cryptographic Security Engineering team is looking for a Lead Product Manager – Technical to drive our customer experience strategy forward by consistently innovating and problem-solving. This team designs, builds, and supports scalable service platforms that deliver cryptographic, key management, and certificate management capabilities used by application teams across Mastercard globally. The ideal candidate will quickly develop a deep technical understanding of the applications and systems they support, demonstrating a willingness to dive in, challenge assumptions, and ask thoughtful, probing questions to ensure plans are executed effectively and efficiently. They will bring a strong interest in cryptographic security, along with proven technical leadership, and the ability to think creatively applying innovative, out-of-the-box approaches to solve complex problems Role • Customer obsession: Champion a deep understanding of customer needs, the broader ecosystem, and key market dynamics, and embed these insights into product decisions • Systems analysis & design: Develop an in-depth understanding of the product platform and its surrounding ecosystem; produce high-quality functional artifacts for Engineering, including data flows, sequence diagrams, APIs, and interface specifications • Backlog management: Define and maintain a clear roadmap aligned to business objectives; translate system designs into well-structured features and user stories that are ready for Engineering execution • Story elaboration: Lead refinement sessions and create detailed, comprehensive acceptance criteria to ensure clarity and delivery readiness • Technical analysis: Provide rigorous analysis of application software to validate that business and functional requirements can be effectively delivered • Strategic alignment: Partner with stakeholders to ensure backlogs are prioritized and refined based on business value, impact, and measurable outcomes • Agile mindset: Advocate for and model agile best practices across the product lifecycle—from defining epics to writing actionable user stories and acceptance criteria • Continuous improvement: Measure outcomes, evaluate existing practices and metrics, and drive ongoing optimization across processes, roles, and delivery execution All About You • Proven product experience: Several years of product management or new product development experience delivering high-quality products, with the ability to clearly articulate business context and customer use cases • Technical product expertise: Experience managing highly technical platforms or API-driven services, with strong software architecture and systems design knowledge • Cryptography knowledge (preferred): Familiarity with key management and cryptographic concepts is a plus • Lean & Agile delivery: Hands-on experience with Lean product management and agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban), along with CI/CD and modern DevOps practices • End-to-end ownership: Demonstrated success delivering features from design through development, deployment, and customer integration • Backlog management: Expertise in grooming epics, features, and user stories; defining clear acceptance and exit criteria; and effectively prioritizing platform backlogs • Data-driven decision making: Ability to define and leverage SMART metrics (leading and lagging) to guide product strategy and measure success • Collaboration & stakeholder management: Proven ability to work across global, cross-functional teams, align diverse perspectives, and manage dependencies and co-development opportunities • Thrives in ambiguity: Comfortable navigating uncertainty; proactively identifies solutions, engages the right stakeholders, and drives clarity • Continuous improvement & communication: Committed to optimizing team processes for speed, quality, and innovation, with excellent written and verbal communication skills #LI-FT1 Mastercard is a merit-based, inclusive, equal opportunity employer that considers applicants without regard to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We hire the most qualified candidate for the role. In the US or Canada, if you require accommodations or assistance to complete the online application process or during the recruitment process, please contact reasonable_accommodation@mastercard.com and identify the type of accommodation or assistance you are requesting. Do not include any medical or health information in this email. The Reasonable Accommodations team will respond to your email promptly. 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. 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 O'Fallon, Missouri: $130,000 - $221,000 USD