Director Global Leave Administration

Our PurposeMastercard 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 SummaryDirector Global Leave AdministrationDirector Global Leave AdministrationThe GBSC People & Capability team is seeking a Director, Global Leave Administration, to lead global service delivery and operational excellence for leave, disability, and accommodation programs. This role is accountable for delivering compliant, consistent, and employee-centered services aligned with enterprise policies, governance, and standards defined by the Benefits Center of Excellence (COE). This leader will build, scale, and continuously improve a global administration model, including the team, processes, controls, technology, and vendor oversight required to support a growing global workforce. Working in close partnership with the Benefits COE and key stakeholders, this role executes global policies, frameworks, and service standards, provides operational insights to support continuous improvement, and advances modernization through process optimization, automation, and disciplined execution. The ideal candidate brings deep operational expertise, strong leadership, and process discipline, with a commitment to an inclusive employee experience and high-quality global service delivery. Role Operational Execution & Governance • Operationalize the global strategy and roadmap defined by the Benefits COE for leave of absence, disability management, and reasonable accommodations, aligned with workforce, inclusion, and employee experience priorities. • Build, implement, and continuously improve a global operating model and service delivery framework that drives consistency, scalability, compliance, and service excellence across regions, aligned to enterprise standards and governance set by the Benefits COE. • Monitor legislative and market developments to assess operational impact, escalate risk, and support implementation of policy or process changes defined with the Benefits COE, Legal, and Compliance. Global Program Leadership & Transformation • Implement and operationalize the global accommodations framework defined by the Benefits COE, enabling consistent, accessible, and compliant service delivery across regions. • Lead operational transformation through process redesign, automation, digital enablement, and change management across leave and accommodations services. • Develop and execute operational improvement plans that increase service effectiveness, employee experience, and organizational resilience. • Support expansion into new markets by standing up operational delivery, controls, and local execution requirements in alignment with COE-defined policy and regional statutory needs. • Support mergers, acquisitions, and organizational changes by integrating and harmonizing programs globally. Operational Excellence & Risk Management • Provide executive oversight of global leave and accommodations operations, ensuring compliant, timely, and high-quality service delivery across regions. • Establish and maintain case management, quality control, audit, and compliance processes that support consistent adjudication, lifecycle management, and audit readiness. • Identify, mitigate, and escalate operational, legal, regulatory, reputational, and employee risks, serving as the point of escalation for highly complex or enterprise-impacting cases and using insights to strengthen service effectiveness. • Define and maintain standardized operating procedures, control documentation, and operational communications to enable scalable execution and a consistent employee experience. • Lead vendor execution and day-to-day performance management, including service-level agreements, issue resolution, and continuous optimization aligned to COE strategy. Employee Experience & Accessibility • Champion a people-centered, accessible experience for employees navigating leave and accommodation needs, ensuring a seamless, equitable, and timely process. • Provide guidance to People & Capability, managers, and business leaders on complex operational leave and accommodation matters, escalating policy interpretation issues to the Benefits COE, Legal, or Employee Relations as needed. • Deliver employee, manager, and People & Capability education on service processes, case journeys, and operational requirements to support understanding and adoption of global programs. Vendor & Technology Leadership • Partner with the Benefits COE on vendor strategy and selection, and lead operational implementation, day-to-day governance, service performance, optimization, and integration across platforms and stakeholders. • Lead integration across People & Capability partners, Workday People & Capability technology, payroll, benefits, global mobility, Ask People Services, and employee experience platforms to support a connected operating model. • Identify and scale opportunities to use automation, artificial intelligence, and self-service capabilities to improve operational efficiency, consistency, and scalability. Leadership & Talent Development • Build, scale, and lead a high-performing global operations team across regions, establishing the structure, capabilities, and capacity required to deliver a growing global service. • Lead the organization through operational growth and transformation while establishing clear performance expectations, service levels, and a culture of accountability, inclusion, continuous improvement, and service excellence. • Mentor and develop future leaders while strengthening organizational capability and expertis