Director, AI Governance, Risk & Resilience

Visa•Austin, TX

3d•$173,100 - $276,800•Hybrid

About The Position

Directors in Product Development/Management at Visa are responsible for leading the execution, evolution, and continuous improvement of governance, operational resilience, and risk management practices supporting technology products and AI-driven solutions within the payments ecosystem. This role serves as a key leader responsible for operationalizing and advancing Model Risk Management (MRM), incident management, audit readiness, and operational risk management capabilities across Visa's fraud and risk product portfolio. The Director partners closely with Product, Data Science, Engineering, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Audit, and Model Risk Management (MRM) stakeholders to establish scalable governance frameworks, strengthen operational controls, support regulatory and audit obligations, and enhance organizational resilience. This individual will drive day-to-day execution while helping shape the future state of governance and risk management practices as AI technologies, analytical methodologies, and regulatory expectations continue to evolve. Success in this role requires strong leadership, operational rigor, risk management expertise, and the ability to influence stakeholders across a highly matrixed environment. The Director will lead teams and initiatives focused on governance execution, operational resilience, incident management, issue remediation, process automation, and audit readiness while balancing innovation, risk management, and regulatory expectations. The ideal candidate brings a forward-thinking mindset and a demonstrated ability to adapt governance and operational practices to support emerging technologies, including Agentic AI, Generative AI, large language models (LLMs), and large transaction models (LTMs). All roles require digital fluency, including the ability to work with emerging technologies such as Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot) to support everyday work.

Requirements

10 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 8 years of work experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters/ MBA/JD/MD) or at least 3 years of work experience with a PhD
Experience leading operational risk management, governance, audit, compliance, operational resilience, or model risk management programs within financial services, technology, or other highly regulated industries.
Experience designing and implementing governance frameworks, controls, policies, and operating procedures that support regulatory, audit, risk management, and business objectives.
Experience leading large-scale cross-functional initiatives involving Product, Engineering, Data Science, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Audit, and Operations teams.
Experience driving issue management, remediation, and control enhancement programs across complex organizational environments.
Experience leading operational incident response and escalation activities, including stakeholder communications, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and executive reporting.
Experience establishing operational monitoring, risk assessment, and escalation processes to identify, manage, and mitigate product, technology, data, or model-related risks.
Experience developing governance reporting, key risk indicators (KRIs), operational metrics, and executive dashboards to support informed decision-making and leadership oversight.
Experience working effectively within Agile frameworks and complex matrixed organizations, influencing outcomes across organizational boundaries.
Experience recruiting, developing, and leading high-performing teams while fostering a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills with the ability to navigate ambiguity, evaluate risk, and drive effective execution.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting to senior leadership, governance forums, audit teams, regulators, and other key stakeholders.
Experience leveraging automation, workflow technologies, and process improvement methodologies to strengthen governance, improve operational effectiveness, and reduce operational risk.
Experience with Model Risk Management (MRM), model lifecycle governance, validation oversight, ongoing monitoring, issue remediation, and model inventory management.
Experience supporting AI/ML, analytics, fraud, risk, or data-driven products, including governance considerations associated with operating these solutions at scale.
Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and maturing incident management and operational resilience programs, including severity classification frameworks, escalation protocols, governance processes, executive reporting, post-incident reviews, lessons-learned programs, and operational readiness assessments.
Demonstrated success leading audit readiness activities, regulatory examinations, risk assessments, and remediation of audit, compliance, or regulatory findings.
Experience establishing risk and performance monitoring frameworks, including key risk indicators (KRIs), operational health metrics, governance dashboards, and executive reporting.
Experience driving large-scale cross-functional initiatives involving Product, Engineering, Data Science, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Audit, and Operations teams within complex matrixed organizations.
Experience leveraging automation, workflow tooling, and process optimization to strengthen governance, reduce operational risk, and improve organizational effectiveness.
Proven ability to recruit, develop, and lead high-performing teams while influencing senior stakeholders across business and technical functions.
Demonstrated ability to shape the future state of governance, operational resilience, and risk management practices in response to evolving AI technologies, including Agentic AI, Generative AI, large language models (LLMs), large transaction models (LTMs), and future analytical methodologies, ensuring the organization remains prepared to manage emerging risks while enabling innovation.

Responsibilities

Partner with organizational leaders to implement and continuously enhance Model Risk Management (MRM) processes across the model lifecycle, including inventory management, validation coordination, ongoing monitoring, annual reviews, issue remediation, and governance reporting.
Lead the design, implementation, and ongoing maturation of a portfolio-wide incident management program for model, data, technology, and operational events, including classification standards, escalation protocols, response procedures, root-cause analysis, lessons learned, and executive reporting.
Drive operational risk management activities by establishing and maintaining risk assessments, controls, risk indicators, governance processes, and monitoring frameworks supporting AI, analytics, and fraud products.
Lead day-to-day execution of audit readiness programs, ensuring documentation, evidence, inventories, attestations, controls, and governance artifacts remain accurate, complete, and inspection-ready.
Manage issue remediation programs and coordinate timely resolution of audit findings, MRM observations, compliance gaps, control deficiencies, and operational risk issues.
Partner with Product, Data Science, Engineering, Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Audit teams to translate governance requirements into scalable operating procedures and repeatable processes.
Establish and maintain operational risk dashboards, key risk indicators (KRIs), and governance reporting that provide leadership visibility into risk posture, emerging issues, and remediation progress.
Identify and implement opportunities to automate governance, compliance, monitoring, attestation, and audit support activities to improve efficiency and reduce operational risk.
Coordinate governance activities across MRM, Data Governance, AI Governance, Product, and Client Support teams to promote consistency, transparency, and operational effectiveness.
Prepare and present executive-level updates on operational risk, incidents, audit readiness, MRM activities, remediation efforts, and governance initiatives.
Recruit, develop, and mentor high-performing teams focused on governance operations, risk management, operational resilience, and continuous improvement.