Director, AI & Data Governance – Data Stewardship & Governance Enablement

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 Director, AI & Data Governance – Data Stewardship & Governance Enablement Overview Mastercard’s Enterprise Data Governance team is seeking a Director, AI & Data Governance to enable data governance across the enterprise through a federated stewardship model. As an established subject matter expert, this self-starter will lead data stewardship within selected business teams and data domains, help refine the Enterprise Data Governance framework, and provide strategic input to enable adherence to data governance policies and standards. The ideal candidate has hands-on experience standing up and scaling data stewardship programs, turning policy and standards into practical, repeatable processes, and influencing stakeholders at all levels to adopt them. This role will report to a Director, AI & Data Governance. Role • Lead and facilitate data stewardship networks, providing guidance, coaching, and escalation support while fostering a culture of collaboration and accountability. • Support stewardship teams by writing and maintaining business glossary terms, critical data elements, classification and transformation logic in the data catalog, translating technical logic into plain language for non-technical stakeholders. • Drive awareness and adoption of data and AI management practices within stewardship networks through training, communications, and forums that improve data literacy. • Build and maintain stewardship onboarding, playbooks, procedures, and tooling so domains can perform governance activities consistently and independently. • Contribute expertise to help drive implementation and continual improvement of the data governance framework, including policies, standards, specifications, and procedures, adapting to changes in AI & Data. • Provide strategic input to refine and operationalize the governance adherence program that translates data governance policies and standards into practical readiness and maturity criteria, monitoring activities, and remediation practices. • Serve as a trusted advisor to data stewardship networks and stakeholders on data governance and stewardship practices and contribute to thought leadership internally. All About You • Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field; CDMP or similar certification is a plus. • Proven track record of operationalizing data stewardship, including standing up stewardship roles, onboarding stewards, and embedding governance activities into business and domain processes. • Highly motivated self-starter who can move between strategy and hands-on, ‘in the trenches’ execution and deliver measurable results under time constraints. • Deep knowledge of data governance principles and industry frameworks such as DAMA-DMBOK, with demonstrated ability to translate policies, standards, and procedures into practical governance practices. • Strong understanding of metadata management with familiarity of business and technical metadata, business glossaries, critical data elements, classification, and lineage; experience with data catalog platforms is a plus. • Experience with governance maturity or adherence assessments, including how results inform stewardship priorities. • Experience driving adoption of new practices, improving governance processes, and translating strategy into short- and medium-term stewardship roadmaps. • Proven ability to influence without direct authority and build strong relationships with cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders. • Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to turn complex governance concepts into clear, business-friendly messages. • CEFR English proficiency: C1 (Advanced) or equivalent. Ability to facilitate meetings, engage with business stakeholders, write clear documentation, and communicate complex data concepts to technical and non-technical audiences. 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.