Senior Specialist, Experience Strategy

Mastercard • New York, NY

3d

About The Position

At Mastercard, we believe that the future of our business depends on our ability to define and deliver great experiences. The Mastercard Foundry - an interdisciplinary group, including CXD (customer experience & design) teams, data scientists, technologists and more - is the new product development group of Mastercard, focused on de-risking and delivering new and differentiated customer-centric solutions. Our Experience Strategy & Research team, within CXD, leads early-stage product innovation by uncovering customer needs, identifying opportunities, and translating insights into strategic direction for product and business teams. We operate across discovery, problem definition, and concept development, ensuring that new products and experiences are grounded in customer needs, market dynamics, and organizational objectives. We focus on de-risking key customer, product, and business assumptions throughout the product innovation lifecycle, while fostering a continuous learning culture that drives more informed decisions and accelerates innovation. The Senior Specialist, Experience Strategy will play a vital role across multiple workstreams to support product innovation and opportunity discovery. You will support the translation of insights into opportunity areas, value propositions, and roadmap implications that inform new product innovation. In this role you will collaborate with a cross-functional team including other experience strategists, researchers, designers, product managers and technologists to provide strategic clarity by framing problems, defining opportunity spaces, and guiding prioritization decisions to support product development. This role is suited to individuals who feel comfortable with ambiguity, navigating multiple research sources, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to inform pragmatic implications for both the business and the future-state experience. We are looking for candidates that can demonstrate a background in the following or related fields; Experience/Product Strategy, Service Design, Design Thinking, Innovation, User Research, UX Design, Innovation and Business Strategy, Strategic Foresights/Futurists, Trend Analysis. Other complementary fields of interest may include: Brand Strategy, Behavioral Economics, Cultural/Social Studies, Anthropology, Data Analytics.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s in design, Business, Economics, Psychology, Marketing, Digital Media, Multimedia, Computer Science, Mathematics, Geography, or a related field or working experience equivalence
• Experienced in strategy, product strategy, innovation consulting, services design, or related Design Thinking field
• Demonstrates the ability to synthesize complex qualitative and quantitative data into insights, implications, and strategic recommendations, that impact product experience and business decisions
• Great facilitation and communication skills with experience in shaping and facilitating design thinking workshops to achieve focused objectives.
• Understanding of product development, including MVP scoping, roadmap prioritization, and strategic planning processes.
• Familiar with different experience strategy frameworks and able to identify the appropriate methodologies and framework to apply on projects.
• Familiarity with user research methodologies and the ability to collaborate effectively with research teams.
• Has the ability to work effectively in fast-paced, rapidly evolving, and ambiguous environments with multiple stakeholders.
• Curious about cultural and technological trends, innovation, CX & Design, and experience-based thinking.
• Is a collaborative and inclusive team player able to work with cross functional teams across multiple disciplines
• Curious about the global evolution of customer and consumer experiences in the world of payments, digital identity, consumer loyalty, and beyond.
• : An effective communicator and are able to articulate complex concepts clearly and persuasively to audiences.
• Experience working with a B2B2C business ecosystem.
• Excited about improving the world through “doing well by doing good.”

Responsibilities

• E2E: Participate from early discovery of the problem space through MVP definition, identifying customer needs, uncovering the right problems to solve, defining future opportunities, and crafting clear value proposition and visions for Mastercard’s New Product development portfolios
• Actionability: Translate insights into actionable recommendations that inform product roadmaps, MVP definitions, and prioritization frameworks before the development phase.
• Trends curation: Support the exploration of behavioral, experience, and technology trends to inform strategic thinking and outcomes.
• Foresights: Help to identify, track, and analyze societal, behavioral, consumer and landscape trends to develop strategic foresights
• Framing: Contribute to the definition and framing of problem statements and strategic opportunities to guide product and experience development.
• Innovation Stewardship: Support in guiding teams through the design thinking process by continuously refining, adapting, and anticipating our approach to de-risk early-stage product development and drive informed decision-making.
• Facilitation: Assist in designing and facilitating collaborative cross-disciplinary workshops to drive alignment, ideation, and/or prioritization.
• Narratives: Contribute to the development of compelling narratives and be comfortable presenting to a wide range of stakeholders
• Structured: Able to manage your priorities and timelines across multiple locations/time zones
• Growth: Embrace new challenges and have a desire to develop as a strategist and learn new skills.
• Capability: Contribute to the Customer Experience & Design community and support efforts to broaden and mature the understanding of Experience Strategy as a discipline
• Occasional travel may be required

Benefits

• 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

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level