Managing Consultant, Services Business Development, East Africa

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 Managing Consultant, Services Business Development, East Africa Role Overview Mastercard Services is a key differentiator for Mastercard, providing consulting, analytics, marketing, cyber, loyalty, personalization, open banking and digital solutions that help customers grow and transform their businesses. We are looking for a highly motivated and entrepreneurial Managing Consultant (Manager) to join our East Africa Services Business Development team. This role will work closely with the Cluster Leads to drive growth across financial institutions, fintechs, merchants, telcos and public sector customers across East Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. The ideal candidate is an independent self-starter with experience in consulting, financial services, banking, fintech or technology-enabled business development. This individual will be equally comfortable engaging senior client stakeholders, developing commercial opportunities, building business cases, and managing internal strategic and operational processes. This is a visible role requiring strong analytical capability, commercial acumen, relationship management skills and the ability to influence across a complex matrix organization. Key Responsibilities Business Development and Commercial Execution • Partner with account teams to identify, qualify, shape and close Services opportunities across financial institutions, fintechs, merchants, telecommunications and public-sector customers. • Lead or support the full sales cycle, including client discovery, solution design, proposals, pitches, value quantification, commercial negotiation and contracting. • Uncover both stated and implicit client needs, frame the core problem and translate priorities into hypotheses, workplans, recommendations and business cases. • Develop concise, persuasive, audience-appropriate presentations and written materials, from storyboarding through executive delivery. • Contribute to revenue targets, pipeline development, account planning and strategic deal bids. Solutioning, Analysis and Thought Leadership • Bring together Mastercard Services capabilities and subject-matter experts to create integrated, innovative solutions for clients. • Conduct market, industry and competitor analysis, and produce financial models, investment cases and executive-ready recommendations. • Apply a customer-first perspective to quantify value, anticipate challenges and identify growth opportunities. • Contribute to thought leadership, points of view, articles and reusable intellectual capital; capture and share assignment knowledge across the organization. Delivery and Stakeholder Management • Coordinate cross-functional teams across Account Management, Product, Finance, Legal, Delivery and regional Services to advance opportunities and remove barriers. • Provide commercial input into project delivery, identify risks or shortcomings early and help mobilize corrective action. • Build consensus among clients, consultants and subject-matter experts, fostering a collaborative one-team culture. Business Operations and Performance • Own cluster pipeline, revenue, funding and performance tracking, including monthly reporting, forecasting and dashboards. • Coordinate investment and funding approvals, allocation tracking and reporting. • Improve sales processes, operational efficiency and management visibility. What Success Looks Like • Becomes a trusted partner to Services and account leadership. • Builds and converts a healthy pipeline of strategic opportunities. • Improves the rigor and visibility of performance and funding management. • Builds strong client and internal relationships and supports high-quality delivery. All About You Experience and Capabilities • Several years in managerial level management consulting, corporate strategy, banking, financial services, fintech or technology-enabled business development. • Demonstrated ability to originate, develop and close consultative sales opportunities; payments or digital financial services experience preferred. • Strong structured problem-solving, quantitative analysis and financial modelling skills, including value quantification, forecasting and performance tracking. • Excellent executive communication, presentation and stakeholder-influence skills; able to simplify complexity and tailor messages to the audience. • Comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced, matrixed environment and coordinating diverse teams toward a shared goal. • Advanced Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills. English required; Education • Bachelor's degree required; MBA, Master's degree or equivalent relevant experience preferred. 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.