Mastercard Is Building a Team to Develop Crypto, Wallet Projects

Payments giant Mastercard is seeking to hire a number of blockchain professionals, including several senior roles, in an apparent effort to develop cryptocurrency and wallet products.

According to the company's career website, Mastercard is looking for a senior blockchain engineer and engineering lead, director for product development and innovation, vice president for product management and director of product management for cryptocurrency and wallets.

Other senior roles Mastercard is looking to fill also mention expertise in the blockchain tech, for example, vice president of network tech product management, director of payments platform and networks, senior analyst for strategic program management and others.

The director of product management for cryptocurrency and wallets, according to the description, will be expected to "lead the ideation, definition, design, and development of innovative crypto currency solutions, including wallet solutions," and have an experience in this field.

Along with the director for product development and innovation, vice president for product management, the wallet director is in charge of Mastercard's patent portfolio and filing new patent applications. Other than that, there are few specifics about the new role, but the job description speaks of the crypto industry quite favorably, asking a potential candidate:

"Do you have the courage to look into the eyes of disruptive forces without fear, and maneuver them to your advantage?

Do you have the desire to work at the cutting-edge intersection of payments and crypto-currencies?

Do you have the ambition to build something which you can narrate to your grandchildren?"

If the answer is yes — Mastercard is the right place for such a candidate, the description suggests.

The new leadership team is further supposed to advocate blockchain concepts within Mastercard itself. According to the description of the director's and VP positions, they will need to "establish shared vision across the company by influencing and building consensus among the various stakeholders."

Mastercard is a member of the Libra Association — a loose cross-industry consortium tentatively supporting the launch of Facebook's upcoming cryptocurrency, Libra. Facebook itself is now actively recruiting personnel for its native wallet, Calibra, but has pledged to allow free competition of wallets inside of the Libra ecosystem during the House and Senate hearings in July.

Mastercard image via Shutterstock