Director, Policy Design – Global Employee Leave & Accommodations

About this role

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, Policy Design – Global Employee Leave & Accommodations

Position Summary Lead the design, policy architecture, governance, and evolution of global employee leave of absence, time off, and medical accommodation programs. This role is responsible for establishing a consistent global framework while partnering with regional benefit leads to ensure programs are adaptable and compliant to local requirements. The role also serves as the regional lead for North America leave, time off, and medical accommodations, including oversight of the U.S. worksite Health Centers and contract nursing staff.

Key Responsibilities Global Policy Design & Governance • Design and maintain global frameworks for company leave and time off programs, including medical leave, disability, parental leave, bereavement leave, PTO, etc. • Establish governance models and guardrails that drive consistency across regions while allowing for local compliance and market-based practices • Partner with regional leads and legal/compliance teams to ensure alignment with country-specific regulations and requirements • Continuously evolve policies and programs to align with business strategy, employee experience, and external market practices

Leave & Accommodations Strategy Global Responsibilities • Lead the development and implementation of a global medical accommodations framework, including policies, processes, and tools to support local teams • Provide subject matter expertise on complex leave and accommodation cases to support consistency and risk mitigation • Partner with external counsel and consultants to monitor global legislative developments impacting time off and leave policies and ensure timely updates. • Drive standardization and scalability of leave and accommodations practices globally • Partner with internal People Services team to design and implement a global leave service center, including workflows, service standards, and operating processes • Evaluate and recommend outsourcing versus insourcing strategies for global leave administration • Partner with internal stakeholders and service delivery teams to ensure effective and efficient program execution • Ensure consistent practice related to offsets for state or local country regulatory leave programs. • Leverage data and metrics to track absence trends, manage vendor performance, evaluate risk, and optimize company spend

U.S. & Canada Responsibilities • Design and manage compliant employee leave, disability and accommodation programs including: Federal and state/provincial family and medical leave programs, Paid/Unpaid family and medical leave, sick leave, Short- and long-term disability coordination, Military leave, Personal and company-sponsored leaves of absence, ADA and other workplace accommodation requests • Serve as subject matter expert on leave and accommodation compliance requirements, including FMLA, ADA, PWFA, USERRA, and state/local paid leave laws; serve as the enterprise authority on complex overlapping entitlements, including interaction between time off, paid leave programs, unpaid statutory leaves (e.g., FMLA), disability benefits, and accommodations • Develop and maintain policies, procedures, employee communications, training materials, and operational documentation • Monitor legislative and regulatory developments and recommend policy or process updates as needed • Serve as escalation point for complex or sensitive employee leave and accommodation cases, in partnership with Employee Relations and Legal Worksite Health Center Oversight • Oversee U.S. health center strategy and operations, ensuring alignment with overall benefits strategy • Supervise contract health center staff • Manage vendor relationships and monitor service quality, cost effectiveness, and compliance

Strategic Projects & Team Enablement • Support the SVP, Global Benefits & Wellbeing in driving key global initiatives across the benefits portfolio • Provide project management support across the benefits function with a global integrated perspective • Develop executive-level presentations, business cases, and communications to support decision-making • Track and manage Global Benefits budget Qualifications & Experience • Significant experience in global benefits, with deep operational and strategic expertise in leave of absence, disability, and medical accommodations • Strong knowledge of global regulatory environments related to leave and workplace accommodations • Proven experience designing and implementing global policies and governance frameworks • Experience evaluating and managing external vendors and service providers • Strong financial acumen, including management of large and complex budgets

Skills & Capabilities • Strategic thinker with the ability to translate vision into globally scalable, practical solutions • Ability to operate independently and manage competing priorities effectively • Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills • Excellent project management, organizational, communication, and presentation skills • Analytical mindset with the ability to assess data, identify trends, and develop recommendations • Enterprise mindset with the ability to balance global consistency and regional flexibility • Trusted advisor who proactively identifies opportunities to improve programs, processes, and employee experience

Mastercard is a merit-based, inclusive, equal opportunity employer that considers app

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