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About the Role

This role leads Mastercard Japan's partnership and sponsorship strategy to drive brand preference, customer engagement, and commercial growth. It involves identifying, securing, and maximizing high-value partnerships and sponsorship assets, transforming them into scalable marketing platforms that create value for consumers, customers, and strategic partners.

Responsibilities

Define and lead Japan’s partnership and sponsorship strategy aligned to business priorities and brand positioning
Identify and secure high-impact strategic partnerships (e.g., including but not limited to culture, entertainment, and sports platforms) that create competitive differentiation
Establish a clear asset strategy that balances brand building, customer value, and monetization
Own the end-to-end lifecycle of sponsorship and partnership assets—from sourcing and structuring to activation and optimization
Translate assets into scalable, modular marketing solutions that can be deployed across issuer and merchant programs
Develop standardized activation frameworks to enable repeatable, high-impact execution
Partner with issuers and merchant customers to integrate sponsorship and partnership platforms into acquisition, engagement, and usage strategies
Design co-marketing programs that deliver measurable business outcomes and strengthen customer value proposition
Act as a strategic advisor to customers on leveraging marketing assets as growth drivers
Lead the development of differentiated consumer experiences that drive engagement, preference, and brand affinity
Ensure seamless integration into broader brand campaigns, always-on programs, and key platforms
Drive innovation in how partnerships are activated across physical, digital, and experiential channels
Maximize commercial returns from sponsorship and partnership assets through structured monetization models
Develop and track revenue streams tied to issuer programs and partnership-driven initiatives
Continuously identify opportunities to unlock incremental value from existing and new partnerships
Collaborate closely with Marketing, Services, Product, and finance teams at local, regional, and global levels to ensure alignment and scalability
Lead relationships with rights holders, strategic partners, and agencies to unlock innovation and incremental value
Ensure strong governance, measurement, and reporting across all partnership activities

Requirements

Minimum 15 years of experience in strategic partnerships, sponsorships, brand marketing, integrated marketing, or related fields
Proven track record developing and leading large-scale partnership and sponsorship programs from strategy development through execution and optimization
Experience working within leading global brands, top-tier marketing agencies, media organizations, rights holders, entertainment companies, sports organizations, or customer-facing platforms
Deep understanding of the Japan marketing landscape, including B2C, B2B, and B2B2C marketing, with demonstrated success driving customer acquisition, engagement, and loyalty
Strong commercial acumen with the ability to link marketing investments to measurable business outcomes, including brand preference, customer growth, revenue, and ROI
Demonstrated success identifying, negotiating, and managing complex strategic partnerships and sponsorship agreements
Proven ability to build scalable marketing platforms and translate sponsorship assets into commercial opportunities for customers and partners
Strong analytical, stakeholder management, and cross-functional leadership capabilities within highly matrixed organizations
Native-level Japanese and business-fluent English
Bachelor's degree required; MBA or equivalent advanced business qualification preferred
Strategic thinker who identifies emerging cultural, entertainment, sports, and consumer trends and translates them into scalable partnership opportunities
Entrepreneurial and hands-on leader with end-to-end ownership, from business case development and negotiation through activation and post-program evaluation
Strong relationship builder capable of influencing senior executives, customers, rights holders, agency partners, and cross-functional stakeholders
Skilled at balancing long-term brand-building objectives with short-term commercial outcomes
Exceptional program manager who can simultaneously lead multiple high-profile initiatives with excellence and attention to detail
Highly accountable, resilient, and comfortable operating in ambiguity and complex stakeholder environments
Passionate about creating innovative consumer experiences that strengthen brand preference and deliver measurable business impact
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
Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines

Skills

Strategic partnerships
Sponsorships
Brand marketing
Integrated marketing
Marketing strategy
Partnership strategy
Sponsorship strategy
Asset management
Productization
Customer engagement
Co-marketing
Consumer activation
Value creation
Monetization
Cross-functional leadership
Stakeholder management
Analytical skills
Program management
Negotiation
Business development
Relationship building
Influencing
Commercial acumen
ROI analysis
Market analysis
Trend identification
Business case development
Risk management
Information security
Japanese language proficiency
English language proficiency

Location

Japan

Work Type

Full-time

Experience Level

Director
15+ years of experience

Education Level

Bachelor's degree
MBA or equivalent advanced business qualification preferred

About the Company

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.