Senior Counsel

MasterCard; United Arab Emirates; On-site; AED 500,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Mastercard seeks an experienced Senior Counsel to provide end-to-end strategic legal support to Core Payments in the EEMEA region. You will partner with regional leadership to shape product strategy, pricing initiatives, and regulatory compliance while translating complex risks into clear guidance.

The role requires a payments- and technology-minded lawyer with executive presence, superb drafting and negotiation skills, and the ability to lead cross-border matters and collaborate with global

Qualifications

• Extensive experience advising on payments, fintech, and technology matters.
• Ability to influence senior leadership and governance processes.
• Strong drafting and negotiation skills for complex agreements.
• Experience across multiple jurisdictions within EEMEA.
• Executive-level communication and strategic thinking.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic legal oversight across Core Payments lifecycle.
• Lead legal reviews of pricing, interchange, and commercialization initiatives.
• Coordinate cross-border matters with market counsel and external firms.
• Develop scalable legal frameworks, playbooks, and templates.
• Coach and guide junior lawyers and ensure governance compliance.

Skills

Strategic legal advice

Payments expertise

Regulatory compliance

Contract negotiation

Cross-border collaboration

Stakeholder management

English fluency

Education

Bar admission

Law degree

Job description

Title and Summary Senior Counsel Our Purpose Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide Together with our customers we are helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper We support a wide range of digital payment choices making transactions secure simple smart and accessible Our technology and innovation partnerships and networks combine to deliver products and services that help people businesses and governments realize their greatest potential Overview Mastercard is seeking an experienced senior lawyer to provide comprehensive end-to-end strategic legal support to the Core Payments business across Eastern Europe the Middle East and Africa EEMEA The role will serve as a senior legal partner to regional Core Payments leadership helping shape business strategy product development commercialization and region-wide pricing initiatives The successful candidate will be a payments- and technology-minded lawyer with strong executive presence sound commercial judgment and extensive product and transactional experience The role requires the ability to engage at both strategic and tactical levels anticipate legal and regulatory issues influence decision-making and translate complex risks into clear practical guidance

Role

Act as a trusted strategic advisor to EEMEA Core Payments leadership and relevant regional and global stakeholders on business priorities product strategy commercialization models and material legal and reputational risks Provide strategic legal oversight across the lifecycle of Core Payments products and initiatives from concept design and regional assessment through market enablement launch scaling enhancement and discontinuation Lead the legal review of EEMEA-wide Core Payments pricing and interchange initiatives including the legal assessment of proposed pricing models fee constructs bundling opt-in and opt-out structures customer impact communications and implementation considerations Advise on the legal and regulatory dimensions of pricing proposals and provide clear risk-balanced recommendations to inform relevant regional and global governance and approval processes Shape regional legal positions and guardrails for complex or novel Core Payments initiatives promoting consistency across EEMEA while recognizing market-specific legal and regulatory requirements Provide strategic challenge to business proposals identify alternatives and controls and help senior stakeholders make well-informed decisions in areas of legal uncertainty or heightened regulatory attention Lead or coordinate high-profile cross-border and sensitive matters including engagement with senior business leaders specialist counsel market legal teams and external counsel

Key Responsibilities

Support Core Payments portfolios across EEMEA including consumer products core network and processing solutions digital payments authentication tokenization card products cardholder solutions and related commercialization initiatives Partner closely with regional Core Payments leadership pricing finance global product sales business development customer delivery technology franchise regulatory compliance privacy intellectual property public policy communications and market business and legal teams Assess strategic pricing proposals for legal competition consumer protection regulatory contractual and reputational considerations and coordinate market-specific analysis where required Guide the development of defensible rationales customer propositions contractual frameworks and communications for new or revised fees product bundles and regional pricing programs Advise on product constructs customer journeys commercial models go-to-market strategies contracting structures and allocation of legal and operational responsibilities Oversee or handle complex commercial and technology agreements including customer partnership vendor and platform arrangements product terms enrollment forms addenda and statements of work Lead regional legal assessments legal scans and product governance processes and ensure timely coordination with market counsel and legal subject-matter experts Build strong relationships with global product counsel and other regions promote alignment of legal positions and adapt global frameworks and templates for EEMEA implementation Develop scalable legal frameworks playbooks templates and training that improve consistency transparency and speed of execution across EEMEA Provide senior-level guidance coaching and quality oversight to lawyers and legal resources supporting Core Payments matters without implying formal people-management responsibility Manage external counsel strategically and efficiently including scoping selection instruction quality oversight and budget management Escalate material issues appropriately and ensure compliance with Mastercard policies governance standards and record-keeping requirements

All About You

Qualified senior lawyer in one or more jurisdictions with a strong academic and professional training background Extensive experience in payments financial services fintech technology product and commercial legal matters preferably gained through a combination of in-house and leading private-practice experience Demonstrated record of providing strategic legal advice to senior business leaders and influencing complex high-impact decisions across multiple jurisdictions Strong understanding of payment networks product development commercialization and pricing Experience reviewing pricing fee or interchange initiatives is highly advantageous Sophisticated knowledge of competition consumer protection financial services regulation and nbsp Qualified senior lawyer in one or more jurisdictions, with a strong academic and professional training background.Extensive experience in payments, financial services, fintech, technology, product and commercial legal matters, preferably gained through a combination of in-house and leading private-practice experience.Demonstrated record of providing strategic legal advice to senior business leaders and influencing complex, high-impact decisions across multiple jurisdictions.Strong understanding of payment networks, product development, commercialization and pricing.Experience reviewing pricing, fee or interchange initiatives is highly advantageous.Sophisticated knowledge of competition, consumer protection, financial services regulation and contractual risk as they relate to payment products and pricing structures, with the judgment to coordinate specialist advice where necessary.Advanced drafting and negotiation skills, including experience with complex technology, customer, vendor, partnership and product agreements.Ability to understand complex products, data flows, technologies and economic models, identify the issues that matter and develop pragmatic, risk-balanced solutions.Excellent executive communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the credibility to advise, challenge and influence senior legal and business leadership.Proven ability to lead cross-functional and cross-border matters in a dynamic matrix environment, manage ambiguity and deliver under competing priorities and tight deadlines.Collaborative, curious, proactive and solutions-oriented, with sound judgment, high integrity and strong attention to detail.Fluency in English is required. Additional EEMEA language capability is an advantage.