Vice President, Platform Engineering

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 Vice President, Platform Engineering Role Overview This is a senior site and technology leadership role. This role will provide visible leadership for Mastercard (Vocalink) colleagues in Pune and drive culture, growth, prioritisation and effectiveness of Vocalink Pune capability through influence and is accountable for the connection between Pune execution and UK leadership, architecture, engineering, programme and business priorities. The successful candidate will bring enterprise-level technology leadership, executive presence and the ability to align a broad technical community via matrix management authority. This is not a software engineering leadership role. It requires experience influencing multidisciplinary infrastructure, platform, operations, architecture and enterprise technology stakeholders. Key Accountabilities • Act as the visible technology leadership and escalation point for Mastercard (Vocalink) colleagues in Pune, creating clarity and momentum without direct line-management authority. • Drive Vocalink culture in Pune by leading town halls, leadership forums and large colleague events, engaging and influencing audiences of 100 or more people. • Maintain an effective UK–Pune operating link, influencing People Leaders and technical stakeholders to align local execution with UK strategy, architecture, governance and business accountability. • Translate technology strategy, roadmaps and programme direction into a clear, sequenced and achievable portfolio of work. • Facilitate and influence prioritisation across strategic change, regulatory commitments, operational resilience, technical debt and service improvement, securing agreement from accountable leaders. • Provide matrix leadership across multidisciplinary teams, using technical fluency to challenge assumptions, expose dependencies and shape sound decisions. • Establish governance for demand, capacity, delivery health, risks, dependencies and escalation. • Identify and remove systemic blockers, including unclear ownership, decision delays, skills gaps, environmental constraints and cross-team dependencies. • Influence UK and Pune leaders to grow the volume and complexity of work delivered from Pune by aligning demand, capacity, capability and realistic delivery plans. • Drive measurable efficiency through automation, standardisation, simplification, reuse and improved ways of working. • Coach, connect and influence local leaders to drive talent retention, strengthen leadership depth, succession and technical capability while reinforcing an inclusive and accountable culture. • Build effective relationships with senior leaders, architects, engineers, programme teams, support functions, partners and vendors. Expected Outcomes • A unified UK–Pune operating model achieved through strong relationships, shared priorities, clear ownership and effective escalation routes. • A transparent and prioritised portfolio aligned to business outcomes and technology strategy. • Pune Tech Hub strategy to create a high-performing, increasingly productive workforce, underpinned by robust quality, resilience and controls. • Faster removal of blockers and more effective management of cross-functional dependencies. • Measurable improvements in productivity, autom