Director, Policy Design – Global Employee Leave & Accommodations

About the role

Mastercard is seeking a senior leader to shape its global employee leave and accommodation programs. The Director, Policy Design will own the design, governance and evolution of leave of absence, time‑off and medical accommodation policies worldwide, while serving as the regional lead for North America.

Key responsibilities

• Design and maintain global frameworks for all company leave and time‑off programs, including medical leave, disability, parental leave, bereavement, and PTO.
• Establish governance models and guardrails that ensure consistency across regions while allowing for local compliance.
• Partner with regional benefit leads, legal and compliance teams to align policies with country‑specific regulations.
• Continuously evolve policies to match business strategy, employee experience and external market practices.
• Lead the development and implementation of a global medical accommodations framework, including policies, processes and tools.
• Provide subject‑matter expertise on complex leave and accommodation cases to ensure consistency and mitigate risk.
• Collaborate with external counsel and consultants to monitor global legislative developments and update policies accordingly.
• Design and launch a global leave service center, defining workflows, service standards and operating processes.
• Evaluate outsourcing versus insourcing strategies for global leave administration and manage vendor performance.
• Leverage data and metrics to track absence trends, assess risk, and optimize spend, including oversight of U.S. worksite Health Centers and contract nursing staff.

Required profile

• Proven experience leading global HR policy design and governance initiatives.
• Deep knowledge of international leave, time‑off and medical accommodation regulations.
• Ability to partner effectively with regional benefit leads, legal, compliance and external counsel.
• Strong analytical mindset with experience using data to drive policy decisions and cost optimization.
• Experience managing cross‑functional projects and service‑center implementations.

Required skills