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 SummaryCreative Director, Head of Creative PowerhouseOverviewThe Services team is a key differentiator for Mastercard, providing the cutting‑edgeservices that help our customers grow. Centered on data‑driven technologies, innovation,and scalable solutions, this team delivers consulting, marketing, loyalty programs, andanalytics to financial institutions and merchants globally.Within Services, the Marketing Services team develops and executes the programs thathelp our clients achieve their marketing goals. The Advisors Creative Desk (ACD) is thein‑house creative engine responsible for crafting creative strategy, ideating and deliveringengaging, forward‑thinking, brand‑consistent creative solutions across digital, social,experiential, content, and campaign formats.As Head of Creatives / Lead Creative Director, you will steward the overallcreative vision, operational excellence, and organizational health of the Creative Desk team.You will be accountable for end‑to‑end creative leadership - from concept development,team culture, and quality governance to cross‑functional alignment and commercialimpact. You bring strong creative intuition, operational discipline, and a passion forelevating craft while scaling creative capability across Europe and globally.Role & Responsibilities1. Executive Creative Leadership• Own the creative vision, quality standards, and output across all ACD workstreams.• Translate Mastercard’s business strategy into clear creative direction, structures,and operating principles.• Act as the final decision-maker on creative feasibility, prioritization, and standards.• Champion innovation and push creative boundaries while ensuring alignment withbrand, strategy, and client goals.• Represent the Creative Desk at senior stakeholder forums, ensuring strong creativepositioning and credibility.• Managing a team of Creative Leads located in Creative hubs (Lisbon and Warsaw).2. Creative Governance & Quality Control• Oversee development of creative strategy and ensure strong conceptual groundingacross all client deliverables.• Review, challenge, and elevate creative work at key milestones withoutmicromanaging; coach teams to reach excellence.• Ensure all creative meets strategic intent, brand guidelines, industry best practices,and innovation benchmarks.• Guarantee smooth handovers between concepting, art direction, copy, production,and post‑production teams.3. Team Leadership & People Management• Lead through a team of Creative Leads (4 direct reports), Senior Art Directors, CopyLeads, and Heads of Craft (approx. 30-40 ppl total)• Define roles, responsibilities, performance expectations, and growth paths acrosscreative disciplines.• Conduct senior‑level performance management; ensure high morale, clear direction,and a culture of accountability.• Hire, develop, and retain top creative talent; identify skill gaps and future capabilityneeds.• Foster a culture of curiosity, collaboration, and creative bravery – paying attentionto team’s needs and personal performance, being a present leader and partner (incl.Creative hubs presence – across Lisbon and Warsaw).4. Creative Operations & Delivery Oversight• Partner closely with global Leadership Team, Creative Project Managers andCreative Operations to align creative ambition with delivery realities.• Own capacity planning, resourcing decisions, and workload allocation across the fullstudio.• Identify roadblocks, especially capacity and capability concerns, early and drivesolutions.• Improve processes, workflows, and creative systems that enable excellence withoutbureaucracy.• Ensure efficient management of multiple briefs across categories, markets, andchannels.5. Strategic Partner to Business Development & AccountTeams• Support pitch development with creative framing, storytelling, and conceptdirection.• Provide feasibility assessments for new opportunities and ensure scope aligns witheffort and creative integrity.• Act as a creative authority in senior client conversations as needed.• Ensure ideas sold by the business can be delivered sustainably and with quality.6. Financial & Commercial Accountability• Maintain high‑level understanding of creative cost structures, utilization, andcommercial impacts.• Partner with Operations and Leadership to define pricing, budgeting, and resourcingmodels that protect creative quality.• Balance creative ambition with commercial viability and operational sustainability.7. Cross‑Functional Alignment & Collaboration• Serve as the connective tissue between Creative, Project Management, BusinessDevelopment, Product, and Leadership.• Drive unified operating rhythms, clear communication flows, and friction‑minimizingprocesses.• Ensure creative teams are aligned with business objectives, timelines, and clientexpectations.All About You — Required ProfileExperience• Extensive experience as a Creative Director, Executive Creative Director, or SeniorArt/Design Lead in a creative agency, in‑house studio, or brand consultancy.• Proven track record leading large (20–40+) multidisciplinary creative teams.• Demonstrated ability to operate at executive or near‑executive level with seniorstakeholders.• Strong experience in client management, creative strategy, and deliveringmulti‑market, multi‑format work.Skills & Competencies• Deep mastery in at least one core creative discipline (art direction, design, writing,strategy).• Exceptional leadership, decision-making, and people management skills.• Strong conceptual skills with ability to generate, evaluate, and articulate creativeideas.• Expert at defining briefs and presenting concepts to clients and senior internalteams.• Highly resilient, comfortable working under pressure, and capable of navigatingambiguity.• High emotional intelligence—trusted by creatives, project managers, and executives.• Operational fluency: ability to balance craft, process, and commercial constraints.Education• Bachelor’s degree required; postgraduate qualifications in creative disciplines ordigital marketing preferred.• Languages: English (full business proficiency), Polish/Portuguese. Any additional C1language is a big plus.Corporate Security ResponsibilityAll 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, andComplete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.