Associate Consultant, Launch Graduate Program 2027 – Istanbul

About the role

Mastercard's Launch Graduate Program is an 18-month programme for recent graduates in Istanbul, Türkiye. Participants build specialized expertise through hands-on experience, structured learning and mentorship, working on real business challenges for clients in fields such as financial services, retail, restaurants and hospitality. The team sits within Advisors & Consulting Services, which delivers data-driven insights and implementation to clients.

Key responsibilities

• Work in small teams to help major brands answer and implement solutions to their most challenging strategic questions.
• Own deliverables and build external relationships with clients.
• Three specialization tracks are offered: Strategy & Transformation, Performance Analytics and Marketing.
• Strategy & Transformation: guide clients through strategic, tactical, operational and transformational challenges, supporting 1-3 concurrent projects of about 8-16 weeks each.
• Performance Analytics: use quantitative and qualitative skills and enterprise applications (Business Intelligence platforms, SQL, Python) to build propensity models, data visualizations and strategic recommendations, supporting several customers on projects from 4 weeks to 1 year.
• Marketing: design and run marketing campaigns, evaluate results and provide direct marketing expertise across channels, supporting 1-3 projects.

Required profile

• Undergraduate or master's degree with expected graduation between December 2026 and August 2027.
• Ability to communicate complex ideas clearly in English and Turkish, spoken and written.
• Availability to start in March or September 2027; applications close on 14 November.
• Analytic excellence, business interest, rapid growth, teamwork, integrity and a diverse perspective.

Required skills

• Experience with data analysis or querying tools (SQL, SAS, Excel, Tableau) is an asset, especially for Performance Analytics and Business Experimentation tracks.