How Mastercard Technologists Are Driving Innovation in Digital Finance and Cybersecurity
As the digital world expands, new opportunities and new forms of payment are emerging all the time. This brings new challenges: an increase in cyber threats — with bad actors leveraging AI — a highly competitive landscape and a need to innovate consistently to stay ahead.
Enter Mastercard.
With six decades of experience in payments technology, the company is uniquely positioned to secure this data-driven world, leading a transformation shaped by security and innovation.
What does Mastercard do?
Mastercard is a technology company in the payments space.
Just ask CEO Michael Miebach, who considers cybersecurity a “fundamental trend in the economy” and a key aspect of the organization’s growth. Miebach said Mastercard’s ability to combine digital payment technology with cybersecurity solutions makes it easier to work with banks, merchants and other partners.
“When we go to the customer and say, ‘We can help you with digitalization and with cybersecurity,’ they say, ‘The door is open,’” he shared in an interview with the OMR Podcast last year.
“When we go to the customer and say, ‘We can help you with digitalization and with cybersecurity,’ they say, ‘The door is open.’”
How Mastercard Secures Digital Payments With Tokenization, Passkeys and Threat Intelligence
In recent years, Mastercard has been focused on amplifying cybersecurity across its digital finance ecosystem.
Last year, the company launched Mastercard Threat Intelligence, a security solution that helps fraud and security teams work together proactively to prevent cyber-enabled payment fraud before it starts.
But that’s not all. According to Miebach, the company is investing heavily in tokenization, a technology that turns an individual’s 16-digit debit card number into a “stand-in” number stored on their device, ensuring their actual card information is never shared when they tap their contactless card or phone in a store or make payments online.
To further reinforce this effort, Mastercard has committed to phasing out manual card entry for e-commerce by 2030, in favor of a one-click experience that will work on any online platform by embedding tokenization and replacing passwords.
Instead of passwords, Mastercard has identified another way to make payments safer: passkeys.
“They’re like passwords, but smarter,” Ben Fox Rubin, editor-in-chief of Mastercard Newsroom, shared in a video posted on the company’s LinkedIn account.
Passkeys enable consumers to use biometrics like fingerprint or facial recognition to make purchases, just like many people do to unlock their mobile devices, removing the vulnerability that comes with traditional passwords. And considering last year was one of the worst years ever for data breaches, the shift toward passkeys appears inevitable to the teams at Mastercard, and the organization is ready to lead this transition.
How Mastercard Engineers and Researchers Develop AI and Emerging Payment Technologies
As Mastercard aims to usher in “the next economy” of digital finance, it’s leaning on its tech teams across the world to develop cutting-edge, secure and scalable solutions.
The company’s research and development plays a leading role in shaping the future of financial products and services. As part of the Mastercard Foundry, the company’s innovation and product development hub where new payment technologies and digital solutions are designed, tested and launched, the R&D team conducts deep research into emerging behaviors and trends, using emerging technologies like AI, quantum computing, Web 3 technologies and privacy enhancing technologies to explore new financial products and payment systems.
As R&D team members develop new solutions, they present proof-of-concept prototypes to customers visiting the company’s global Experience Centers and Alpha Rooms, innovation spaces where they showcase and test new technologies, enabling the team to gather firsthand feedback from clients and policymakers.
Mastercard’s R&D Focus Areas
- AI
- Blockchain and digital assets
- Quantum-safe security
- Advanced analytics and AI platforms
Meanwhile, on the company’s Test & Learn team, technologists enable customers to test business ideas and determine the most profitable way to roll them out. This team is also responsible for upholding the company’s Test & Learn platform, which uses predictive analytics to help healthcare organizations measure business initiatives and their outcomes.
For the data scientists, engineers, researchers and other technologists who work at Mastercard, the projects they tackle day to day may differ, but the goal is always the same: to unlock value for the company and its millions of users.
What It’s Like to Build a Technology Career at Mastercard
With over 150 million acceptance points worldwide, Mastercard is one of the most widely recognized brands.
“When it comes to payment and money, the topic of trust and the feeling of security is important,” said Miebach. “For technologists working at Mastercard, they can expect the security of a large tech company with the reliability requirements of financial infrastructure. But there’s something unexpected they will experience, too: mission and impact”.
“When it comes to payment and money, the topic of trust and the feeling of security is important.”
Miebach said that brands don’t just work through rationality; they rely on passion and addressing customers’ needs at the right moment. That perspective gave rise to Mastercard’s iconic “Priceless” campaign many years ago, which highlighted that while money can buy goods, experiences — like love, joy and friendship — are invaluable.
What Technologists Work on at Mastercard
- Global payment network infrastructure
- Fraud detection and cybersecurity
- Data and analytics platforms
- Digital payments and fintech products
- Identity and authentication
- Innovation and emerging technologies
For many technologists working at Mastercard, building the software, data systems and security technologies that enable billions of digital payments around the world is an opportunity that can be described as similarly “priceless.”
What kinds of technology careers exist at Mastercard?
Technology careers at Mastercard include roles for engineers, data scientists, researchers and other technologists working on global payment network infrastructure, fraud detection and cybersecurity, data and analytics platforms, digital payments products, identity and authentication, and emerging technologies.
How does Mastercard support innovation among its technologists?
Mastercard supports innovation through its research and development organization and the Mastercard Foundry, where teams design, test and launch new technologies. Technologists develop prototypes, explore emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing, and gather feedback through Experience Centers and Alpha Rooms to refine solutions.
What skills are important for technology careers in digital payments?
Important skills include the ability to work with emerging technologies like AI, advanced analytics and security systems, as well as building scalable, secure and reliable solutions. Technologists also need to focus on innovation, problem-solving and developing technologies that enhance trust and security in digital payments.
