Definitely Don't work here if you work in IT - Business Leader Mastercard Employee Review

1.0
24 Aug 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

bonus good location in ofallon missouri in suburbs outside of St. Louis Great if you are in leadership ranks

Cons

If you are in technical ranks and on a product team it will feel like slave labor. Many folks they bring over on a work Visa that can't leave a company for 5 years. Then they work them to death. If you are not on a product team you likely will be just managing propaganda and branding your team. More work is spend on saying "look what I did" at MasterCard than actually doing work unless you are on a product team. On a product team it is pretty much working 24x7 to get the product out the door on a shoe string budget. Cowboy style of delivery where you throw something together and pull the trigger to get it into production and hope for the best. Tehnical folks are required to be available ALL of the time. Long hours in the middle of the night and all night on many occasions. No overtime pay unless you are consulting but if you record what you work, they'll get rid of you and get someone you will work more but report less. Leadership does not typically work more than 50 hours a week where technical resources can be working ALL of the time. The greatest caution I can give you if you decide to work for MasterCard is be positive always and never make a negative comment or be too objective. Roll with the flow and stay away from the front of the bus. Extremely political climate with low technical aptitude individuals in the technical ranks. The culture for technical folks is to get a bunch of people in a room and have them fight it out. The best salesman wins vs. the most intelligent one or the one with the most experience. If you have a sales background with just a generalist understanding of technology, you'll do great at MasterCard. If you are a specialist with experience vs. just reading something and selling it, you'll go crazy. Nothing worse than having more technical vs. sales skills in the MasterCard environment. Other largest con I can think of is that you will receive no pay for performance at all. It is entirely based on what project you are working on. Little in the way of career growth at MasterCard. This is a consulting environment and nothing more. You will not grow. Though I'm an SBL, I am one of the few that lead and the pressures for shoestring budget are ridiculous.

Explore other reviews about Mastercard

5.0
15 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good people to work with, opportunities for growth

Cons

Tasks may get mundane, otherwise none to speak of

4.0
27 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Mastercard does a great job fostering an inclusive and supportive environment. There are genuinely good people throughout the organization, and leadership often invests in employee engagement through events, recognition, and culture-building initiatives. I enjoyed many of the relationships I built while working there, and there are teams that truly care about collaboration and supporting one another.

Cons

Compensation at the director level did not feel competitive compared to the level of responsibility expected. Career advancement can also be extremely challenging due to how top-heavy the organization is with senior leadership roles. There are a large number of Senior Vice Presidents, sometimes without clear scope or experience aligned to the title, which creates limited room for high-performing employees to grow. At times, it felt like senior leaders were being hired primarily to manage or communicate with other senior leaders, rather than drive meaningful operational impact. In product and go-to-market roles especially, priorities are often heavily driven by funding decisions. It can be frustrating when projects suddenly shift in importance or remain underfunded for long periods of time while awaiting senior leadership review. This sometimes leaves highly talented employees in limbo, unable to move initiatives forward despite strong momentum or market opportunity. The organization can also be very comfortable with the status quo, which creates a slower pace that many employees seem accustomed to. For people who are highly motivated and eager to drive change, it can feel difficult to navigate the number of roadblocks and layers of approval required to move initiatives forward.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All