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
Director, Specialist Sales - SME
About Mastercard
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Through secure, simple, and smart payment solutions, Mastercard is helping power the digital economy and enabling inclusive growth worldwide.
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are a critical engine of global economic growth, representing ~75% of the workforce and ~50% of global GDP. Enabling SME growth through innovative payment solutions and expanded distribution models remains a strategic priority for Mastercard.
About the Role
Mastercard is seeking a commercially driven Director, SME Sales Specialist based in Istanbul to lead SME growth across Eastern Europe and Central Asia markets, including Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and adjacent countries.
This role sits at the intersection of sales execution, ecosystem development, and commercialization, with responsibility for converting strategic partnerships into measurable revenue outcomes. You will drive end-to-end performance across opportunity identification, pipeline development, deal closure, partner activation, and sustained revenue growth.
A key focus is expanding Mastercard’s SME reach beyond traditional issuing and acquiring channels by building scalable partnerships across fintechs, marketplaces, telcos, payroll providers, trade and logistics platforms, and other embedded finance ecosystems.
You will play a critical role in ensuring that launched partnerships translate into activation and revenue by driving card issuance, usage growth, and commercial performance across the portfolio.
The role also requires strong market engagement, representing Mastercard in customer discussions, industry forums, and ecosystem partnerships while shaping the SME narrative and go-to-market strategy across regions.
You will work closely with Account Management, Business Development, Product, and Customer Solutions teams to develop business cases, design solutions, and accelerate execution in market. This is a high-impact role requiring both strategic thinking and strong execution discipline in a fast-moving global environment.
Key Responsibilities
• Own and execute a revenue-driven sales and activation strategy focused on emerging SME payment flows and partner-led distribution models.
• Identify, prioritize, and convert high-potential opportunities across channel partners, embedded ecosystems, and co-brand or strategic partnerships.
• Drive pipeline progression, deal closure, partner activation, and revenue realization across SME programs.
• Expand Mastercard’s SME distribution footprint across banks, acquirers, fintechs, marketplaces, telcos, trade, logistics, and other ecosystem enablers.
• Translate unmet SME needs into scalable commercial opportunities and differentiated partner propositions.
• Build and maintain a structured, data-driven activation pipeline focused on commercial impact and strategic relevance.
• Collaborate with Account Management, Business Development, and Product teams to develop business cases, go-to-market strategies, and solution design.
• Oversee end-to-end execution of SME initiatives, ensuring launch readiness, alignment, and successful market rollout.
• Monitor industry trends, competitive dynamics, and emerging payment flows to inform strategy and identify growth opportunities.
• Represent Mastercard in external engagements including client meetings, industry events, and ecosystem forums.
• Partner with Customer Solutions Center and Product teams to support solution design, implementation, and post-launch optimization.
• Develop sales materials, workshops, training content, and structured narratives to support SME commercialization.
• Ensure consistent SME messaging and thought leadership across internal and external stakeholders.
All About You
• Proven track record in sales, business development, or partnerships with strong delivery of revenue growth and pipeline management.
• Experience engaging both commercial and technical stakeholders to drive solution design and adoption.
• Strong background in lead generation, deal negotiation, activation, and revenue delivery.
• Deep understanding of payments, financial services, and digital distribution models, with awareness of competitive dynamics and industry trends.
• Strong relationship-building, influencing, and communication skills across senior stakeholders.
• Ability to operate independently, manage multiple priorities, and deliver in fast-paced, matrixed global environments.
• Self-starter with strong execution discipline and comfort working with minimal guidance.
• Strong analytical thinking with the ability to build structured narratives, business cases, and presentations.
• Ability to storyboard and create clear, compelling, and structured executive-level communication materials.
• Demonstrated ability to lead initiatives end-to-end with strong organizational and time management skills.
• Experience in SME banking, SME payments, fintech, or consulting is highly desirable.
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.
