Director, AI Strategy & Automation

Visa•San Francisco, CA

3d•$170,700 - $273,200•Hybrid

About The Position

Visa is seeking a strategic AI deployment and automation expert to lead and support the transformation of agentic and AI-enabled workflows in Advisory Services portfolios (Consulting & Analytics and Marketing Services) and Advisory Services Finance team. In this role, you will be a strategic partner and hands-on operator. The scope of this role covers two primary areas of responsibility: Strategic partner for AI leaders in Advisory Services to shape and support the AI roadmap, and Leading the financial planning and analysis (FP&A) process reimagination and AI deployment for the finance team supporting Value Added Services (VAS). Advisory Services AI strategic support: You will partner with cross-functional stakeholders to shape the strategy and execute on the rollout plan, track and measure the impact in Advisory Services operational leverage and KPIs, and evaluate further investments required to meet the long-term vision. Leading Advisory Services Finance AI deployment: You will review the process design and identify opportunities for automation and workflow optimization, driving prototyping and solution design, and deploying agentic AI-enabled workflows. The objective is to implement impactful agentic solutions for reporting and planning cycles and launch AI assistants supporting VAS FP&A that can respond from structured and unstructured data. You will help shape the integration bridges between AI tools and enterprise systems and agentic workflow models to unlock AI‑enabled capabilities. Successful candidate will have strong knowledge of AI solutions, automation suites, business processes and financial systems. The ideal candidate would have a bias toward action, and the ability to balance getting the details right while moving fast with seamless execution. You will gain invaluable experience in a position that offers significant responsibility and interaction with senior finance and cross-functional partners as well as considerable opportunity to have a large impact within a data-driven Finance organization. Our ideal candidate is a well-rounded top performer who can be a leader in a dynamic, high-energy, and ambiguous environment.

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.
10 years of experience, specifically working in the data science field and demonstrated track record of change management leveraging new technologies
Demonstrated experience with business processes, implementing analytics or automation projects
Proficient in visualization/BI tools (e.g., Tableau, PowerBI, Power Automate, Power Apps)
Effective communication with a wide range of cross-functional and internal audiences, with experience distilling complex concepts and analysis into concise actionable conclusions
Attention to detail with an understanding of the big picture - experience creating a vision with curiosity & creativity and ability to influence others to align to that vision
Excellent project management and organizational skills with demonstrated ability in driving change in an organization from concept through to execution
Practical, hands-on experience with the AI stacks (OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, Microsoft), and experience managing vendor/consulting relationships, forecasting technical costs (tokens), and monitoring system uptime/SLAs impact to agentic workflows efficacy.
"Hands-on-keyboard" mentality, taking an idea from stakeholders and turn it into a working agentic workflow without needing external engineering resources
Adaptable to change and comfortable working in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment, continuously evolving with emerging trends in AI
Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize/redesign workflows and drive measurable impact in key processes and deliverables (e.g., efficiency gains, quality improvements)
Understanding of enterprise reporting systems, e.g. Oracle Hyperion Planning, SAP or similar EPMs, Microsoft project suites or other integrated ERPs
Proficiency in data analysis and automation tools with hands-on ability to work with Python and SQL to manipulate data and automate tasks
Exposure to AI APIs, MCP and NLP tools (such as GPT-based services)
In-depth knowledge of machine learning models and using Python libraries (pandas, scikit-learn or similar).

Nice To Haves

12 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or 8-10 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 6+ years of work experience with a PhD Degree or higher in Finance, Economics, Computer Science or a related field

Responsibilities

Own strategic support for Advisory Services AI initiatives, and lead evaluation of investment business cases for AI initiatives across Consulting & Analytics and Marketing Services.
Define and implement scalable AI-enabled use cases and agentic workflows that auto-generate finance/business intelligence deliverables across cycles for month-end and quarter-end close, and business planning processes for budget and outlook.
Identify improvement opportunities, drive cross functional alignment to re-engineer workflows and implement AI tools and automation solutions using Python/RPA pipelines that streamline manual data aggregation, report generation and analysis across regions.
Drive change management to embed these solutions into our day-to-day operations and user adoption within the Advisory Services finance organization. This includes developing training programs, how-to guides, and FAQs for agentic tools.
Ensure consistency for business planning, resource allocation and performance tracking for Advisory Services AI tools across regions, with aligned metrics and reporting standards.
Conduct data analysis on financial data to assess revenue/cost benefits realization and ROI for AI initiatives and derive actionable insights that inform business strategy and decision-making.
Collaborate with global and regional Advisory FP&A partners, Finance Transformation office and Tech to identify and deliver innovative AI-first solutions for Advisory Services processes, tools and data architecture integration with enterprise platforms (e.g. Oracle/Hyperion planning, ERP and project tools).
Serve as the liaison between Advisory Services Finance team and Finance Transformation office and Technology teams on AI initiatives to coordinate tool development and integration with enterprise platforms (e.g. Oracle/Hyperion planning, ERP, project tools and data lakes).