Director/ Strategic Initiatives Lead, North America Executive Office

About Us
Visa is a world leader in payments technology, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories, dedicated to uplifting everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

At Visa, you'll have the opportunity to create impact at scale - tackling meaningful challenges, growing your skills and seeing your contributions impact lives around the world.

Join Visa and do work that matters - to you, to your community, and to the world. Progress starts with you.

Job Description

Team Description

The North America BizOps team is the engine behind the North America Region & Regional President's agenda. We're eight people with a broad mandate: running the day-to-day management of the North America business, the Regional President's Office and Chief of Staff work, AI transformation, employee engagement, client events, and priority initiatives. If it matters to how North America runs - or where it's headed - we're usually the ones making sure it happens.

The opportunity

We're looking for someone who delights in thorny problems and wants to own both sides - setting the strategy and doing the cross-functional work to see it through.

This is a high-visibility role building and leading our strategic initiatives arm. You'll sit close to the Regional President and her leadership team, take on the problems that matter most to the region, and own them end-to-end: framing the question, doing the analysis, shaping the strategy, and driving execution across functions until the outcome is real.

If you're the person friends and colleagues call when something is messy, ambiguous, or stuck - and you genuinely enjoy that - keep reading.

Who this is for

You're probably doing this kind of work today inside a top consulting firm or a similar environment, and you're ready to stop advising and start owning. You want to see your recommendations actually land, build the muscle of an operator, and grow into a senior initiatives leader inside one of the most important companies in payments.

You'll thrive here if you:

• Get energy from solving hard, ambiguous problems quickly and cleanly
• Move fast, work independently, and don't need a lot of process to produce great work
• Are comfortable in front of senior executives - clear, concise, calm under pressure
• Build structure where there isn't any, and create repeatable approaches others can use
• Have strong analytical instincts and can turn messy inputs into a sharp point of view
• Care as much about how the work gets done and how stakeholders experience it as the final answer

What you'll work on

No two months will look the same, but the work generally falls into a few buckets:

Embedding AI across the North America business.We're in the early innings of standing up a team focused on bringing AI workflows into how our business runs. Your first big initiative is to help define the vision, the operating model, the success metrics, and the connection points across the business - then run the program.

Leading the Regional President's priority initiatives.You'll be the go-to lead for the initiatives the Executive Office decides to drive directly. That means a mix of:

• Surge work- parachuting into a critical executive priority and driving it through to resolution
• Standing priorities- quarterbacking ongoing regional initiatives like AI, business management, goal-setting, people and culture, and major client moments
• Optimization - taking on the fuzzy problems where a team or way of working has room to evolve. You'll quickly get smart on the different viewpoints, context, and goals in play, then design and implement something better that actually sticks. Examples include reshaping team operating models, streamlining core regional processes, and rethinking how we develop and move top talent across the business.

Client readiness.Keeping cross-functional client plans tight and always-on for when we need to mobilize quickly across clients in our region. During big moments, acting as the PMO that connects the dots and moves the work forward across teams.

Why this role

This is a launchpad. You'll build a track record of execution across the most senior stakeholders in North America, get exposure to every part of the business, and have a great opportunity to scale into broader initiatives leadership from here.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years of work experience with a Bachelor's Degree, or 8+ years with an Advanced Degree (Master's, MBA, JD, MD), or 3+ years with a PhD

Preferred Qualifications

• 12+ years of work experience with a Bachelor's Degree, 8-10 years with an Advanced Degree (Master's, MBA, JD, MD), or 6+ years with a PhD
• Runs multiple things at once, well.You can independently own several initiatives in parallel without dropping quality or detail.
• Builds from zero.You're at your best when there's no playbook - you create the structure, the plan, and the repeatable approach others can follow.
• AI-native.You use AI tools as a core part of how you work today. Bonus if you've led an AI transformation - spotting the right workflows, defining what success looks like, and driving the change management to make it stick.
• Sharp analytical and communication instincts.You can take messy, complex inputs, find the insight, and turn it into a clear, concise, executive-ready output - written or verbal.
• Ramps fast.You get up to speed on new topics and teams quickly, add value early, and don't burden others to do it. You can size up an ambiguous situation, weigh the tradeoffs, and move.
• Business sense.You understand how Visa's business and clients work - or you know how to figure it out fast when you don't.
• Calm under pressure.Composure, judgment, and attention to detail hold up when the stakes are high and the clock is ticking.
• High EQ and strong people skills. You build trust quickly across functions and levels, and have well-honed influencing skills.
• Executive presence.You're comfortable in front of senior executives - clear, concise, and credible whether you're presenting, pushing back, or thinking on your feet.
• Low ego, high impact. You act with the end outcome and the stakeholder experience in mind. You step in where needed, look for ways to remove friction rather than add it, and care more about the result than who gets credit.
• Discreet.You handle highly sensitive information with professionalism and confidentiality.
• Tools.Expert in Microsoft Office, including advanced Excel and design-worth PPTs.

U.S. Applicants Only

Work Hours

Varies upon the needs of the department.

Travel Requirements

This position requires travel 5-10% of the time.

Mental/Physical Requirements

This position will be performed in an office setting. The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

Visa is an EEO Employer