Director, Customer Success, Real Time Payments International - Maternity Cover (up to 12 months)

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, Customer Success, Real Time Payments International - Maternity Cover (up to 12 months) This is a fixed-term maternity cover opportunity for up to 12 months. Overview Mastercard's Real Time Payments (RTP) business enables the delivery of innovative account-to-account payment solutions that power critical payment infrastructure around the world. As Director, Customer Success, you will serve as the strategic owner of a portfolio of RTP customer relationships, ensuring customers achieve maximum value from Mastercard's solutions while delivering sustainable commercial growth and operational excellence. This role combines strategic account leadership, commercial management, solution governance, operational oversight, and executive stakeholder engagement. You will act as the voice of the customer within Mastercard, partnering across Product, Engineering, Operations, Technology, Finance, Risk, Legal, and Regional teams to deliver exceptional customer outcomes, drive portfolio performance, and strengthen long-term customer partnerships. Success in this role requires the ability to balance customer needs, commercial priorities, operational performance, and risk management within a complex, highly collaborative environment. Role Customer Strategy & Relationship Leadership • Own the strategic vision, customer success strategy, and long-term account plans for assigned RTP customers. • Build trusted relationships with key customer stakeholders, including executive leadership, becoming a strategic advisor and advocate for customer success. • Develop a deep understanding of customer goals, business drivers, market challenges, and growth opportunities. • Lead customer governance through regular business reviews, executive engagements, and strategic planning discussions. • Identify opportunities to strengthen customer value, increase adoption of RTP solutions, and expand Mastercard's footprint within customer organisations. Commercial Ownership & Growth • Own the customer P&L and be accountable for portfolio revenue, profitability, margin improvement, and commercial performance. • Drive revenue growth through contract renewals, service expansion, commercial change requests, and new business opportunities. • Maintain accurate forecasts and proactively manage sales, renewal, and change-request pipelines. • Partner with Finance and commercial teams to optimise customer economics and ensure achievement of business objectives. • Support the development of commercial strategies that align customer value creation with Mastercard growth goals. Customer Success & Value Delivery • Ensure customers realise measurable value from Mastercard's Real Time Payments products and services. • Drive delivery against customer commitments, contractual obligations, and agreed success metrics. • Establish and monitor key performance indicators, service levels, and customer health measures. • Lead the customer reporting process, ensuring accurate and meaningful insights support customer decision-making and business outcomes. • Act as the escalation point for strategic customer issues, driving resolution through effective cross-functional collaboration. Product & Solution Governance • Own customer roadmap discussions and ensure alignment between customer priorities and Mastercard product strategy. • Represent customer requirements and advocate for customer needs within Product, Engineering, and Delivery teams. • Prioritise and govern customer demand, including product enhancements, maintenance releases, service improvements, and solution development initiatives. • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define innovative and scalable solutions that address complex customer requirements. • Provide oversight of customer change initiatives to ensure successful execution and delivery. Operational Excellence & Risk Management • Serve as the first line of defence for operational, commercial, financial, and customer-related risks across the assigned portfolio. • Monitor service performance against agreed SLAs and KPIs, ensuring operational resilience and service stability. • Identify risks, dependencies, and improvement opportunities, implementing mitigation plans where required. • Partner with Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Operational teams to ensure adherence to governance and regulatory requirements. • Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance customer outcomes, operational effectiveness, and service quality. Enterprise Leadership & Collaboration • Build strong partnerships across Regional Teams, Product, Engineering, Technology, Delivery, Operations, Finance, Legal, Risk, and Franchise functions. • Influence stakeholders at all levels to align priorities and deliver customer and business objectives. • Lead through influence across a complex matrix organisation, fostering collaboration and accountability. • Contribute to broader RTP and Customer Success initiatives by sharing best practices, market insights, and customer feedback. • Champion a customer-centric culture across the organisation. All About You The ideal candidate will bring: • Significant experience in Customer Success, Strategic Account Management, Relationship Management, Commercial Leadership, or Business Development roles. • Proven experience managing complex enterprise customer relationships within payments, financial services, fintech, software, technology, or managed services environments. • Strong understanding of the payments ecosystem, with experience in account-to-account payments, real-time payments, payment infrastructure, or related solutions preferred. • Demonstrated success developing customer strategies that drive customer satisfaction, retention, growth, and long-term partnership value. • Proven track record of achieving commercial targets through account growth, renewals, expansion opportunities, and strategic customer engagement. • Experience managing customer P&Ls, financial performance, forecasting, and commercial negotiations. • Strong understanding of product management, solution delivery, and change management disciplines. • Experience leading cross-functional initiatives within highly matrixed organisations. • Exceptional stakeholder management skills with the ability to build credibility and influence at all levels, including C-suite executives. • Strong analytical and strategic thinking capabilities, with the ability to translate complex information into actionable business recommendations. • Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and executive engagement skills. • Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities and navigate ambiguity within a fast-paced environment. • Strong judgement, problem-solving capability, and a proactive approach to identifying and resolving challenges. • Leadership experience, including the ability to coach, mentor, and influence teams to achieve shared objectives. • High levels of integrity, accountability, and professionalism. • A collaborative mindset, strong self-awareness, and the ability to adapt effectively to changing business needs. 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.