Managing Consultant, Specialised Product Delivery (Research Solutions) – Advisors Research Center (ARC)

Job description

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 Managing Consultant, Specialised Product Delivery (Research Solutions) – Advisors Research Center (ARC) All About Us Mastercard’s Data & Services organization is a key differentiator, providing services that help customers grow through expertise, data-driven insights, and execution. Within Data & Services, Advisors & Consulting Services (A&CS) delivers projects and platforms for clients globally, staffed flexibly across geographies and skills. The Advisors Research Center (ARC) is a global research capability that provides primary and secondary research support across quantitative and qualitative methodologies, partnering with internal stakeholders and external vendors to deliver insight-led outcomes. All About the Role (Role Overview) The Managing Consultant, SPD (Research Solutions) is responsible for driving end-to-end scoping, proposal development, vendor engagement, and delivery governance for ARC market research engagements (client and internal). The role acts as a central “connector” across stakeholders to translate needs into structured research scopes, delivery plans, and portfolio reporting (e.g., dashboards, revenue/pipeline views). This role operates in a cross-functional environment, coordinating with internal stakeholders (e.g., A&CS teams, ARC researchers, reporting stakeholders) and external research partners (e.g., panel/recruitment suppliers), including commercial and contracting coordination where required ________________________________________ Roles & Responsibilities Client & Stakeholder Management (Research Intake → Scope & Pricing) • Serve as a primary point of contact for inbound research needs coming from Pre-Sales and Sales team members, scoping market research requirements for client and internal engagements. • Translate stakeholder objectives into structured research approaches (e.g., quant/qual/mixed), sample parameters, and deliverable expectations, working closely with delivery team and supporting creation of kickoff materials where applicable. Proposal Development & Pipeline Management • Coordinate inputs from delivery teams and stakeholders to develop proposals aligned to engagement objectives and constraints. • Support opportunity-to-delivery handoffs by maintaining clarity on scope, resourcing, and delivery plan elements (as applicable to the engagement). Vendor Engagement, Feasibility & Fieldwork Procurement • Run feasibility checks and manage RFQ/RFP-style exchanges with external vendors for recruitment/panels and fieldwork components (e.g., incidence assumptions, LOI considerations, sample feasibility, revised cost requests). • Coordinate vendor updates and internal alignment on next steps to progress execution. Hand over vendor engagement to delivery team once project kicks off. Contracting / Supplier Onboarding Coordination (as needed) • Coordinate with Legal, Sourcing, and Privacy stakeholders on supplier onboarding and contracting workflows (e.g., consolidating comments, progressing iterations, tracking open items). • Manage clause-level escalation and closure support with suppliers when required, including communicating closure-critical items and maintaining momentum on timelines. Delivery Governance, Ways of Working & Knowledge Hygiene • Support project governance and “ways of working” (e.g., ensuring project spaces/artifacts are appropriately housed and accessible) and help reinforce consistent delivery frameworks. • Participate in recurring portfolio cadences (e.g., pipeline and business review calls) to maintain shared visibility across active work and upcoming needs. Portfolio Reporting & Dashboards (Revenue / Pipeline Visibility) • Maintain reporting views and dashboards used for ongoing business visibility (e.g., revenue, backlog, weighted pipeline, locked revenue), including stakeholder-specific breakdowns and slide requirements • Coordinate inputs required to keep reporting accurate and consumable for recurring leadership/stakeholder updates. Enablement & Internal Communications (ARC Offering) • Contribute to internal enablement and workshop materials describing ARC’s engagement model, offerings, and pricing/packaging concepts where relevant. ________________________________________ Required Skills & Competencies • 8+ years of experience in research-related agency • Research operations & program management: translating briefs into scopes, timelines, governance packs, and delivery plans. • Commercial/ vendor management: RFQs, feasibility, cost/ scope trade-offs, Length of Interview (LOI) and sampling discussions. • Contracting coordination: cross-functional alignment with Legal/ Sourcing/ Privacy. • Analytics & reporting: dashboarding and KPI visibility (revenue/ pipeline/ backlog) • Collaboration & documentation: producing decks, trackers, and written minutes/ next steps. • Familiarity with financial services, payments, retail, technology or other data-rich industries ________________________________________ Success Measures (objective, role-aligned) • Quality and timeliness of scopes/ proposals produced; pipeline conversion to active work. • Vendor consolidation and reduction of 3P to Labour ratio • Vendor feasibility and commercial closure efficiency (cost/ scope alignment). • Dashboard accuracy for revenue/ pipeline reporting. • Growth in strategic markets and penetration in new markets. 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.