Director, Business Planning & Operations

Visa•San Francisco, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Strategy and Ops will lead the development of forward-looking Marketing strategy and narrative in support of 2030 Strategy based on themes, cultural and commerce trends, and emerging customer & client needs through seamless cross functional collaboration with Sales, Product regional & global Teams. The Director will own workstreams of key strategic initiatives (e.g., Consumer & B2B marketing strategy development, client and leadership forums) and ensure the NA Marketing leadership team is equipped with data and insights to meet the business & brand objectives. This person is expected to work horizontally, scaling the frameworks, tools, and processes that empower Marketing function to deliver growth imperatives. This role is ideal for someone passionate about building the connective tissue that enables high-performing organizations. The position reports to the Senior Director of Marketing Strategy, Planning and Ops and will be based in Visa’s San Francisco, California. The Strategy, Planning and Ops team partners with Marketing leadership to: (1) develop and refine the overarching medium-term and long-term marketing strategy to tackle the toughest strategic questions facing Visa’s business in the U.S. and Canada. (2) design and manage a cohesive operating plan, and (3) address matters that require executive attention. Strong candidates are versatile team-players who learn fast, have high EQ and IQ, and carry a demonstrated record of driving workstreams.

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
Strong command of financial, market and consumer data and frameworks with the ability to grasp and distill complex issues.
Prior experience with business strategy and business operations
Excellent analytical skills and experience cleaning, evaluating, joining and drawing conclusions from multiple data sets.
Structured thinker with robust conceptual thinking skills.
Attention to detail and the ability to structure and analyze financial, operational, and market data
Ability to engage, influence, and inspire teammates.
Ability to build relationships at senior levels across functional areas including product, sales, strategy, and finance
Ability to navigate complex and matrixed organizational structures
Strong executive communication and presentation skills. Impeccable written and oral communication
Ability to tell compelling, simple, elegant stories to internal and external audiences leveraging strong visual design skills.
Ability to craft compelling, executive-level communications in short time frames.
Excellent project management and program management skills and experience in leading cross-functional projects.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with multiple competing priorities.
Self-starter, team oriented, collaborative, diplomatic, and flexible
A hands-on approach to all activities with an unwavering passion for excellence.

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
Experience in and/or significant exposure to the payments industry preferred
10+ years of experience in product operations, program management, management consulting, or business operations, ideally supporting Product teams in a technology environment

Responsibilities

To power the next phase of Visa’s growth, continue to develop and refine a clear marketing strategy to leverage Visa’s historic strength in consumer and B2B payments to re-position the brand as a leader in all forms of digital payments and money movement.
Provide functional thought leadership to NA CMO and Marketing Leadership team to tackle toughest strategic challenges including brand strength, consumer and B2B trends
Work with marketing leadership to construct and maintain a coherent view of market opportunity and our ability to address them by customer segment and market, incorporating market/competitive intelligence, and customer insights/VOC, and potential threats
Set and manage OKRs/KPIs for marketing initiatives related to 2030 Strategy, track performance, and drive corrective actions
Define and own the learning agenda in partnership with Insights and Analytics team to drive innovation and leadership of Visa’s Brand among these next gen of consumers and strategic segments
Advance AI in NAM organization—prioritize use cases, define guardrails and success metrics, pilot and scale within approved tools
Structure and solve a wide array of business problems by collaborating with a range of internal stakeholders.
Organize and prioritize critical information, issues, and data to facilitate efficient decision making.
Build out unique, creative, and impactful recommendations.
Create and deliver executive updates—concise, decision‑ready readouts with impacts, risks, and clear asks