Associate Counsel (Feb 2025)

Who is Mastercard? 

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and businesses realise their greatest potential. 

Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all. 

The Mastercard Launch program is aimed at early career talent, to help you develop skills and gain cross-functional work experience. Over a period of 18 months, Launch participants will be assigned to a business unit, learn and develop skills, and gain valuable on-the-job experience. 

Overview 

Mastercard’s Associate Counsel role will be a member of our Legal Generalists team. This team is responsible for providing legal advice to assigned business units and/or markets providing comprehensive, end-to-end legal support by facilitating thoughtful risk-taking to enable Mastercard to deliver on strategy.

This includes but is not limited to contract agreements, employee relations, government engagement and requirements, structuring legal agreements related to business operations as well as investigating legal issues when and if they arise.

Role 

In this role you will be:

• Draft, review and/or negotiate routine legal agreements and assist with non-standard, complex, or more impactful (e.g., monetary value, visibility, and scope) deals under supervision.
• Work closely with businesses/markets and other attorneys to review and revise agreements and templates and standards terms and conditions.
• Execute clients’ projects based on direction from a supervisor at a range of job levels for deals and business issues, and interacts with third-party counsel.
• Provide legal advice to business units and/or markets under supervision.
• May coach others while serving as a technical expert, often participating in cross-functional initiatives, and sharing legal knowledge for a business and/or market.
• Complete Practical Legal Training under supervision and guidance from the Senior Counsel.
• Develop strong internal relationships and partner with multiple internal functions.
• Undertake analysis, research, and business planning, reporting trends to stakeholders.
• Manage to track of contractual agreements and deliverables as required.
• Support the team on various strategic initiatives.

All About You 

The ideal candidate for this position should: 

• Class of 2024 students pursuing a Masters's/bachelor’s degree in their final year of a legal degree.
• Seeking completion of Practical Legal Training.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills.
• Outstanding analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience working in an Agile environment.
• The ideal candidate for this position should continually look at the market and competition to see what is happening with the ability to speak to current market trends and innovation.
• Strong verbal, written and presentation skills are essential, with high competency using Excel and PowerPoint.
• Ability to present complex information and recommendations in an easily understood and impactful way.
• Experience in payments is an advantage but not a requirement.
• Familiarity in working in a sales / commercial environment including interacting with customers.
• You are proactive, curious to learn, and eager to crack complex topics.
• Pre-sales and technical implementation experience are desirable.
• Curious about technology and payments.
• Strong customer focus with proven ability to establish productive working relationships both internally and across customer organisations.
• Holds self and others accountable to deliver timely and high-quality results.

Please note that unfortunately, Mastercard does not sponsor immigration visas for graduate roles at this time. Please ensure that you have working rights for full-time employment to qualify for this position.

Working at Mastercard

Our culture offers a world of Priceless possibilities. It’s a culture of purpose, belonging and knowing that the work you do matters. We cultivate an environment for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views and experiences. Mastercard was recently named number 20 in the top 100 graduate programs by GradAustralia, and number 5 in Technology companies. 

At Mastercard, you get flexibility and choice to meet your needs and commitment to your personal and professional growth. It’s about bringing your authentic self to work.

Our benefits include:

• Hybrid work (i.e. 2office3home). Work where suits you and your team best.
• 'Work from elsewhere' or in one of our 210 offices worldwide for 4 weeks a year.
• Paid volunteering leave to make a difference in your community.
• Access to well-being initiatives and counselling services to boost your mind, body, and spirit.
• We got you covered for health insurance, travel Insurance and accidental insurance.
• Resource and funding assistance for personal and professional growth.
• A generous and inclusive parental leave policy.

You can also join one of our business resource groups (BRGs) to connect with your colleagues and make a lasting impact in an area that you are passionate about!