Associate Product Specialist, Launch Graduate Program 2026

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
Associate Product Specialist, Launch Graduate Program Lisbon, Portugal

Who is Mastercard?

At Mastercard, we're powering economies and empowering people, building a sustainable economy where everyone prospers. Our Product teams transform bold ideas into innovative solutions that address complex global challenges—ranging from digital currency and cybersecurity to financial inclusion. They develop strategies that not only meet business goals but also anticipate customer needs, all while driving positive social impact. Through collaboration, continuous learning, and a commitment to building a more inclusive and sustainable world, our Product professionals are redefining how people and businesses interact with payments globally.

Our Purpose

We work to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. We cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences enable us to be a better team – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation and delivers better business results.

Make an impact as an Associate Product Specialist

As an Associate Product Specialist, you will have the chance to learn how to develop business cases for new product opportunities, develop scalable customer-centric products, and see those projects through to go-to-market. When joining one of our highly collaborative product teams, you will have the opportunity to build and manage great products. We are looking for passionate and talented professionals, who share our vision for developing scalable customer-centric products with agility and excellence.

In this role, you will also participate in the Mastercard Launch program, an 18-month program aimed at entry level talent, to help you develop skills and gain cross-functional work experience. Launch participants will be assigned to a business unit where you will learn, develop new skills, and gain valuable on the job experience.

As An Associate Product Specialist, You May
Manage and own tasks across the product life cycle

Assist in establishing and monitoring progress against key milestones in the development and implementation process

Work with various product lines and technologies

Provide competitive landscape, trends, consumer insights, research and end-to-end program analytics

Engage with the business and engineering teams to track progress and identify dependencies and risks

Contribute to inspiring product visions, derived from market and customer needs, and evolving technology trends

Identify and measure product and business metrics to increase adoption and understand customers' ongoing needs

Conduct iterative experiments to identify and prioritize key features for inclusion with product releases and product roadmap

Develop presentations to be used in sales/partnership meetings

Define product pricing strategies

Speak with customers (existing or prospective) to fully understand how Mastercard product will impact their systems and business models

Assist customers to resolve operational issues that have been escalated

Project management of strategic initiatives

Work on potential product areas such as: Analytics, APIs, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrency/Blockchain, Cybersecurity, Loyalty, Marketing, Open Banking, or Payments (e-commerce, in store, etc.)

Projects Other Associate Product Specialist Launchers Have Worked On
Samantha developed a competitive analysis of a business intelligence product to understand market offerings and how Mastercard's product compared. Her analysis helped the team identify which features to accelerate on their roadmap.

William developed a model framework to define bundled pricing deals combining our Identity Solutions capabilities. His model was leveraged to launch a new pricing bundle with resellers and streamline the sales lifecycle for future deals.

Maria worked with stakeholders and customers to understand the analytics needed for our application, then developed the roadmap for incorporating a 3rd-party data analytics tool into the app experience.

All About You
Senior-level student completing a bachelor's/master's program, with an anticipated graduation date between September 2025 and September 2026.

Strong verbal and written communication skills in English

You have solid knowledge of payment processing, APIs and system integrations, data analytics (SQL/BI tools), agile product development, and emerging areas such as AI, cybersecurity, blockchain, and open banking.

Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite (e.g., Excel, PPT)

High energy level; flexible, adaptive and strong collaborator

Well planned, organized & structured to manage time & work effectively

Application Process

First step, submit your application

If you are eligible, you will receive an invitation for a digital interview; this includes answering pre-recorded interview questions

If you are recommended to advance, you will receive an invitation for final round interview(s); you will have the opportunity to meet with us virtually to learn more about our business and culture

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.