Cross‑border Destination Marketing Director, Southeast Asia

Cross-Border Destination Marketing Director, Southeast Asia

The Cross-Border Destination Marketing Director for Southeast Asia is responsible for shaping, leading, and executing a regional marketing strategy that drives cross-border travel, spend, and economic impact across key Southeast Asian markets. This role brings together destination marketing, partnerships, ecosystem activation, data-driven insights, and brand storytelling to position Southeast Asia as a premier travel and commerce destination. The Director will work closely with tourism boards, government agencies, merchants, issuers, digital ecosystem partners, and internal teams to deliver integrated marketing programs that accelerate visitor growth and cross-border transactions. This is a highly strategic, externally facing leadership role with influence across multiple markets. This role will report into the Senior Vice President, Head of Integrated Marketing and Communication, South East Asia.

Key Responsibilities

• Regional Strategy & Leadership
• Develop and lead the cross-border destination marketing strategy for Southeast Asia, aligning with regional business priorities and market opportunities.
• Identify high-value corridors, travel flows, and commercial opportunities across inbound and outbound markets.
• Provide thought leadership on travel, tourism, and cross-border spend trends.
• Destination Marketing Campaigns
• Design and execute multi-market destination marketing campaigns that elevate visibility and drive measurable cross-border growth.
• Lead integrated media, digital, social, PR, and sponsorship initiatives showcasing Southeast Asia's unique travel and lifestyle offerings.
• Oversee creative development, content strategy, and campaign performance optimization.
• Partnership Development
• Build and manage strategic partnerships with national and city tourism boards, airlines, hotels, online travel platforms, retail groups, entertainment partners, and digital ecosystems.
• Develop co-marketing and co-investment models to support mutual objectives.
• Work closely with government and industry stakeholders to strengthen the region's tourism competitiveness.
• Cross-Border Ecosystem Activation
• Drive cross-border consumer engagement through cardholder benefits, travel packages, merchant offers, and loyalty initiatives.
• Partner with product teams to embed seamless travel and commerce experiences across the customer journey.
• Identify opportunities to enhance travel corridors through data insights, payment solutions, and ecosystem connectivity.
• Data-Driven Insights & Performance Management
• Leverage market intelligence, travel data, analytics, and consumer insights to shape strategies and measure effectiveness.
• Lead the development of dashboards, reporting frameworks, and KPIs to track ROI, growth, and campaign outcomes.
• Present performance analysis and strategic recommendations to senior leadership.
• Team & Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Work with and mentor a regional marketing team across SEA.
• Collaborate with Communications, Product, Advisors/Consulting, Sales, Digital, and Data teams to deliver cohesive programs.
• Act as the regional ambassador for cross-border initiatives across global and regional teams.

Required Qualifications

10+ years of experience in marketing, destination marketing, travel/tourism marketing, or integrated regional marketing. Strong track record in leading multi-market campaigns and managing high-level partnerships in SEA. Deep understanding of travel, tourism, retail, or digital ecosystems. Proven ability to translate insights into impactful strategies. Exceptional stakeholder management and negotiation skills. Strong leadership, communication, and storytelling capabilities. Experience navigating complex, cross-functional environments.

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.