Senior Specialist, HR Services (Benefits) – Europe (South & Growth Countries)

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

Senior Specialist, HR Services (Benefits) – Europe (South & Growth Countries)

Overview
People Services is part of Mastercard’s Global Business Services Center (GBSC), delivering consistent, high-quality HR services across the organization. Supporting multiple regions and time zones, the team ensures operational excellence, compliance, and a strong employee experience.

The Senior Specialist, HR Services (Benefits) plays a critical role in supporting and stabilizing Benefits operations across Europe South and Growth countries. This role requires a high level of autonomy, accountability, and problem-solving capability, operating as a trusted expert in a complex, multi-country environment.

Beyond day-to-day administration, this role is responsible for owning complex processes end-to-end, resolving issues independently, strengthening controls, and ensuring audit readiness. The Senior Specialist acts as a go-to expert for benefits operations, handling escalations, driving continuous improvement, and supporting operational excellence across the region.

This is a hands-on, operational role with high ownership, requiring someone who is comfortable working independently, making decisions within governance frameworks, and proactively identifying and solving problems.

Is This You?
• Do you bring proven experience in HR operations, benefits administration, or shared services within an international environment?
• Are you comfortable working independently, taking full ownership of your activities with limited supervision?
• Do you naturally identify issues, investigate root causes, and implement solutions?
• Do you enjoy managing complex, multi-country processes and navigating ambiguity?
• Are you confident handling escalations, audits, and vendor interactions?
• Do you combine a strong service mindset with rigor, accuracy, and control?
• Do you thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities evolve and problems need quick resolution?

Role Responsibilities
• Act as a Senior Tier 2 expert for Europe Benefits, managing complex employee inquiries and escalations with a high level of ownership and accuracy
• Manage case intake and resolution in Workday Help (Ask People Services), handling an average volume of ~25 cases per day while maintaining quality, compliance, and SLAs
• Own end-to-end benefits administration processes for assigned countries, including eligibility, lifecycle events, and vendor coordination
• Operate as a subject matter expert, providing guidance on country-specific benefits policies, processes, and compliance requirements
• Independently resolve complex operational issues, identifying root causes and driving sustainable solutions
• Partner with external vendors and brokers, ensuring service quality, issue resolution, and alignment with contractual commitments
• Perform data validation, reconciliations, and invoice checks, ensuring accuracy and financial control
• Ensure audit readiness and compliance, maintaining documentation, approvals, and evidence in line with internal policies and regulatory requirements
• Support key activities such as renewals, open enrolment, compliance reviews, and country-specific initiatives
• Monitor SLAs, operational metrics, and risk indicators, proactively identifying and addressing gaps or recurring issues
• Collaborate with HR, Payroll, HRIS, Finance, and regional stakeholders to ensure accurate and timely service delivery
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives, simplifying processes and improving efficiency and employee experience
• Maintain and update process documentation and knowledge base, ensuring accuracy and consistency
• Support onboarding and knowledge sharing within the team

All About You
• Proven experience in HR operations, benefits administration, or shared services (multi-country exposure preferred)
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and manage responsibilities with minimal supervision
• Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyse issues, identify root causes, and implement solutions
• High level of ownership, accountability, and attention to detail
• Experience handling complex cases, audits, reconciliations, and v