Analyst, Applied Research

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 Analyst, Applied Research We are looking for an analyst to join Mastercard’s Economics Institute’s Applied Research team. This individual will be critical to growing the Institute’s ability to deliver economic insights, enhance revenue-generating products, and support advisory services. The analyst will work with unique, multi-faceted data sources to develop cutting-edge models and actionable insights that inform strategic decisions. We are looking for an individual who will: • Develop and improve models across the entire pipeline – from data ingestion to statistical modeling, including macro scenarios, and communicating the results to key stakeholders • Build, backtest, validate, and monitor forecasting models • Improve variable selection and reduction techniques to identify high quality predictive variables • Detect patterns or anomalies in datasets and produce concise insights for economists • Research and integrate econometric and machine learning models in order to create insights and compelling visualizations of data trends to develop interactive dashboards/apps for client presentations • Collaborate with customers, client services, and economic advisory teams to understand and translate client pain points and requirements into detailed business and data specifications. Design and define clear data structures to support the development of robust datasets, models, forecasts, and actionable insights. Ensure deliverables meet client needs by aligning technical solutions with business objectives. • Participate in every stage of a project from briefing to ideation, to content development to draft/prototyping, testing, feedback collection and finalization About you • Creative and passionate about economics, machine learning, data, technology, and its applications, with an entrepreneurial mindset • Demonstrated experience in different machine learning and statistics models with the ability to communicate models in a non-technical manner • Proficient in one or more of R, Python, or similar languages; experience with SQL and Tableau is a plus • Demonstrated success in modeling with big data and experience with tools such as Spark, Hadoop, Hive is strongly preferred • Experience applying AI techniques, including large language models (LLMs), to economic modeling and forecasting is a strong plus • Quantitative modeling experience 1-2 years, ideally in a tech, financial or academic research field • Good foundation in economics with an advanced degree in math/statistics/quantitative field • Excellent at managing multiple projects and staying calm under pressure 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.