Director of Strategic Initiatives, Strategy & Commercial Operations UK & Ireland

Visa is a world leader in payments and technology, with over 259 billion payments transactions flowing safely between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities in more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive while driven by a common purpose – to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

Make an impact with a purpose-driven industry leader. Join us today and experience Life at Visa.

Job Description

What is it all about? 

The Director for Strategic Initiatives, within the Strategy and Commercial Operations (SCO) team is accountable for leading a portfolio of strategic commercial programmes for UK & Ireland cluster. They will be required to work alongside teams and leadership to define, develop and execute programmes that will commercially transform our business.

The role reports into the Head of Strategy and Commercial Operations for UK & Ireland. The SCO team is primarily responsible for all revenue-generating activities in UK & Ireland. It is responsible for evolving the cluster strategy to address new strategic issues and opportunities and for building strong commercial capabilities in cluster that will significantly grow Visa’s businesses and drive revenue growth and diversification.

Whilst being primarily focused on program management and execution of strategic initiatives, the Director of Strategic Initiatives will be required to support the SCO team more broadly. This will include the development and execution of the cluster strategy, for the target setting and aggregate view of the sales pipeline in the cluster and for ensuring the cluster meets or exceeds its financial and scorecard goals.

What we expect of you, day to day:

• Lead the design, development, and delivery of complex, strategic initiatives, ensuring alignment with business objectives and critical milestones.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams and executives to determine strategic approaches, prioritize benefit realization, and adapt initiatives based on internal and external developments.

• Lead project, programme, and portfolio management, acting as a subject matter expert for best practices and driving agile development across UK & Ireland.

• Utilize data and hypotheses to inform key strategic decisions and translate complex situations into clear, measurable plans with defined accountabilities.

• Develop and deliver executive-level communications, including presentations for internal and client meetings, and manage priorities to ensure successful program delivery.

• Promote transparency and accountability in execution, provide timely and insightful communications, and foster high-trust relationships with stakeholders at all levels.

• Supports proactively managing the overall sales pipeline for the cluster, working with relevant teams to develop joined-up plans.

• Manages key cluster governance (such as recurring operational and strategic meetings), including the creation of content.

• Supports in identifying cluster business performance targets and KPI’s and alignment of these at the European level.

• Responsible for key cluster operational activities as needed.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager.

Qualifications

What we're after...

We are looking for an individual who brings breadth of experience, a curiosity about payments, is results-driven and client-focused. Candidates should:

• Possess experience and tenure from a strategy consulting, corporate strategy, or related role, with experience in leading strategic initiatives and working with senior management.
• Hold a bachelor's degree in business administration, economics, finance, or a related field, with an MBA or other advanced degree being highly desirable.
• Demonstrate a strong sales mindset, with the ability to develop and execute strategic sales initiatives, and become knowledgeable of Visa’s various solutions across Consumer, VAS, and CMS, including understanding market dynamics, identifying opportunities, and delivering results that contribute to the organization's growth.
• Exhibit strong analytical and problem-solving skills to assess complex business situations, develop hypotheses to solutions, and propose paths for validating and refining.
• Showcase excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence stakeholders up to the executive level, especially in a matrixed environment.
• Display curiosity and pragmatism, with the aptitude to identify new opportunities, proactively propose solutions, handle objections, and navigate successful outcomes.
• Be a strong team player, self-motivated, and able to work independently, taking ownership of projects, coordinating across functional activities, obtaining buy-in, and elevating issues at critical junctures appropriately.

Additional Information

Visa is an EEO 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.