About the Role
Visa is a global leader in payments technology, committed to enhancing financial inclusion worldwide. We facilitate transactions across more than 200 countries and territories, offering opportunities to make a significant impact and address complex challenges. Joining Visa means contributing to meaningful work that benefits individuals, communities, and the global economy.
The Senior Director - Head of Visa Direct KBO will lead the sales and commercialization efforts for Visa Direct, a suite of solutions designed to facilitate money movement across cards, accounts, and wallets. This pivotal role addresses market needs through various use cases, including P2P, B2B, and B2C transactions, encompassing Visa Direct (Card, Account & Wallet) and Currency Cloud. The position requires a strategic thinker with expertise in sales, commercialization, and implementation, alongside a deep understanding of payments, mobile technology, consumer behavior, and Visa's business objectives. This is a matrixed, cross-functional role demanding strong organizational and interpersonal skills to engage effectively with country teams, specialized product groups, financial institutions, merchants, acquirers, client consulting, marketing, corporate communications, legal, and finance to achieve ambitious business growth objectives.
Key Responsibilities
- Achieve or exceed aggressive sales and revenue targets for the Money Movement product suite in partnership with country Account Executive (AE) teams.
- Guide clients through the entire sales cycle, from prospecting and solutioning to deal structuring and contracting.
- Develop and execute comprehensive business and sales strategies for sales acceleration, including identifying high-potential client targets, key use cases, and target verticals.
- Leverage market sizing studies and regional deep dives to define target use cases and clients, ensuring optimal resource deployment for growth.
- Ensure sales teams are equipped with client-ready, legally approved sales materials and develop strategies for new use cases in collaboration with wider Money Movement product and client teams for regional expansion.
- Identify market trends where real-time payments can address pain points and develop effective objection handling materials.
- Act as a thought leader and influencer in the development and deployment of Money Movement solutions, managing the full cycle from articulating the value proposition to testing plans with key partners and instituting program management for effective deployment and tracking.
- Define and lead the execution of go-to-market plans for Money Movement solutions, with a specific focus on defined target markets and solutions.
- Drive three key workstreams for Money Movement growth: cross-selling to existing Visa clients, leading prospecting for new clients, and selling to acquirers, processors, gateways, and Fintechs to integrate the Money Movement product suite into their offerings.
- Drive robust pipeline development and review processes across multiple sales teams in the region, consolidating and reporting progress to Money Movement leadership.
- Champion multi-product and/or cross-regional solutions and pricing through the deal review process and support the regional Money Movement executive in Steering Committee material development.
- Build and lead the Money Movement team through transformational change, determining the optimal deployment of Commercialization and Sales Engineering resources.
- Establish team roles, build job requirements, and lead the hiring and onboarding of new team members as necessary.
- Lead annual team goal planning and execution plans in collaboration with country AE teams, focusing on engagement and professional development.
- Collaborate with cross-functional partners across the region to ensure all aspects of client-facing engagement materials are aligned with Visa standards, relevant for external audiences, follow approval processes, and ensure seamless handoffs from sales to implementation.
- Create and implement a procedure for gathering client feedback on products and value-added services, communicating these insights to the Money Movement team and broader Visa teams.
- Work with regional and global Money Movement product teams and operations to understand issuer readiness, client implementation status, and post-launch support.
- Serve as a people leader and role model, promoting transparency, healthy debate, ethical behavior, and integrity, while leading talent initiatives to attract, retain, and develop high-performing employees.
Qualifications and Requirements
- Creative self-starter with a bias toward action and a proven track record for successfully commercializing payments technology products that delight customers.
- 10+ years of payments-related and leadership experience, including at least 5 years of experience leading commercialization teams, product management, strategy development, and/or management consulting.
- Demonstrated thought leadership and the aptitude to think creatively and identify new ways to innovate and differentiate products, with evidence of tangible business results.
- Ability to inspire direct reports and influence those without direct supervisory responsibility.
- Possess high levels of professionalism and leadership skills to build business relationships, trust, and respect with new entities and enablers.
- Strong collaborator, self-motivated, and able to work independently to coordinate cross-functional activities, obtain buy-in, and elevate issues at critical junctures appropriately.
- An advanced degree from a top school is strongly preferred.
Required Skills
- Sales and Commercialization
- Implementation and Program Management
- Deep understanding of Payments, Mobile Technology, and Consumer Behavior
- Business Strategy and Market Sizing
- Use Case Identification and Stakeholder Engagement
- Product Roadmap Coordination and Cross-functional Collaboration
- Organizational and Interpersonal Skills
- Thought Leadership and Business Growth Mindset
- Enterprise Sales and Sales Cycle Management
- Solutioning, Deal Structuring, and Contracting
- Sales Acceleration and Client Prospecting
- Vertical Market Expertise
- Resource Deployment and Sales Materials Development
- Expertise in Money Movement Solutions and Real-time Payments
- Objection Handling and Value Proposition Articulation
- Go-to-Market Planning
- Cross-selling and Pipeline Development/Review
- Multi-product and Cross-regional Solutions
- Deal Review Process and Steering Committee Support
- Team Leadership and Transformational Change Management
- Sales Engineering Resource Management
- Team Goal Planning and Onboarding
- Professional Development and Talent Management
- Client Engagement Materials and Messaging/Communication
- Approval Processes and Sales to Implementation Handoff
- Client Feedback Gathering and Product Insights Communication
- Understanding of Issuer Readiness, Client Implementation Status, and Post-launch Support
- Employee Retention and High-performing Employee Development
- Excellent Problem-solving and Communication Skills (Verbal and Written)
- Executive Presence
- Innovation and Differentiation
- Collaboration and Self-Motivation
- Experience with Push Payments, FI Solutions, Digital Payment Solutions, and Emerging Payments
- Familiarity with Ideation/Go-to-market Approaches, Mobile Money, Remittances, Payment Cards, ISO 20022, RTP, API-based Platforms, and Overlay Services (*, Alias)
Work Environment and Location
This is a full-time position based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Visa requires employees to work from the office at least 3 days per week, with specific expectations to be confirmed by the Hiring Manager.
Visa is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.