Associate Consultant, Launch Graduate Program 2026

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

Associate Consultant, Launch Graduate Program Johannesburg, South AfricaAt Mastercard, our Advisors & Consulting Services (ACS) group helps clients drive impact through data-driven insights, hands-on implementation, and a collaborative, tech-enabled culture. We invest in talent through global engagements, continuous learning, and programs like the Global Ambassadors Program, while fostering purpose through volunteerism, pro-bono work, and innovation that benefits both clients and communities.

Make an Impact as an Associate Consultant

As an Associate Consultant, you will collaborate within small teams to help some of the world's biggest brands answer and implement solutions for their most challenging strategic questions. You will immediately create meaningful contributions through taking ownership of deliverables and building external relationships with clients. Focusing on technology and data, you will gain broad exposure to a range of industries, including financial services, retail, restaurants, hospitality and more.

Specialization Track

We are looking for passionate and talented professionals, who share our vision for helping our customers with their most urgent business needs, and we are recruiting for Performance Analytics career track that make up our team. Track placements indicate the types of projects where you will spend most of your time; however, we encourage and enable working across tracks to allow team members to acquire diverse skills and experiences.

Performance Analytics

• Use quantitative and qualitative skills and enterprise applications (e.g., Business Intelligence Platforms, SQL, Python, and more) to drive data-led consulting solutions for customers. Weave together vast amounts Mastercard, client & 3rd party data assets to investigate trends, build propensity models, develop data visualizations, and synthesize millions of data points into a cohesive story. Engage with client stakeholders through virtual and in-person meetings, leveraging insights to inform strategic recommendations.
• Sampling of questions we help our customers answer:

o How does a financial institution's fraud/authorization metrics fare against competitors, and what are strategies that can help it be best-in-class?

o How is a technology customer's market share changing over time, and are there any segments where the client is relatively under penetrated?

Bring your Passion and Expertise

We recruit for and value the following core competencies:

• Passion: Actively seeks responsibility and takes pride in delivering the highest quality results and recommendations to our clients. Proven record of leadership in a work setting and/or through extracurricular activities.
• Analytic Excellence: Demonstrates a strong aptitude for structured problem solving, analytical and quantitative skills. Experience using data analysis or querying tools (e.g., SQL, SAS, Excel or Tableau) is an asset (particularly for Performance Analytics or Business Experimentation tracks).
• Business Interest: Clear interest in the world of business, and intuition for the way that companies make decisions.
• Rapid Growth: Eagerness to learn quickly, both through Mastercard's structured training curriculum and organic development opportunities.
• Teamwork: Willingness to work within small teams to produce outstanding deliverables, with a will to win attitude.
• Integrity: Outstanding record of academic achievement. Commitment to Mastercard's values of honesty and integrity with a willingness to embrace and learn from mistakes.
• Diverse Perspective: Brings a unique skillset or approach to the table in every client engagement or internal activity.
• Communication: Ability to communicate complex ideas effectively. Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Qualifications:

• Undergraduate or master's degree with an expected graduation date between November 2025 – August 2026
• Outstanding record of academic achievement
• Proven record of leadership in a work setting and/or through extracurricular activities
• Exceptional analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills
• Experience using data analysis or querying tools (e.g., SQL, SAS, Excel or Tableau) is an asset
• Ability to communicate complex ideas effectively – both verbally and in writing in English
• This role is not eligible for Mastercard's work authorization sponsorship. As such, candidates must be eligible to work in South Africa, now as well as in the future, without employer sponsorship.

To participate in our job simulation and experience what it's like to work as an Associate Consultant at Mastercard visit:

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.