Manager, Cultural Foresight Lab

Visa•San Francisco, CA

9h•Hybrid

About The Position

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. The Challenge You Will Own: Culture changes quickly as new technologies, voices, and values reshape how people create, connect, and decide. Visa’s Cultural Foresight Lab identifies early signals across culture and key passion areas (music, gaming, sports, entertainment) and translates them into insight, frameworks, and narratives that help the brand show up authentically and stay relevant As a manager, you will play a key role in contributing to the cultural intelligence engine that enables Visa to anticipate what’s next. You’ll use research, trend spotting, and creativity to help identify and decode the motivations behind emerging behaviors, translating cultural signals into actionable opportunities that shape how Visa is represented in culture. The Impact You Will Drive, in collaboration with the Director of Visa’s Cultural Foresight Lab:

Requirements

5 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelors Degree or at least 2 years of work experience with an Advanced degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 0 years of work experience with a PhD
5+ years of experience in cultural insights, brand strategy, consumer research, trend forecasting, marketing, psychology, or related fields.
Experience conducting secondary and primary research (ethnographic, digital anthropology, netnography, qualitative)
Strong synthesis and storytelling skills, able to translate complexity into compelling narratives.
Self-starter, able to work independently in ambiguous and complex situations.
Creative thinker with the ability to execute by driving research, synthesis, and insight development from concept through delivery.
Has and displays a growth mindset by being open to feedback, learning from peers and partners, and adapting work based on new insights and changing business needs.
Proven track record of identifying early cultural signals and turning them into meaningful business implications.

Nice To Haves

6 or more years of work experience with a Bachelors Degree or 4 or more years of relevant experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or up to 3 years of relevant experience with a PhD
Experience in brand strategy, cultural strategy, consulting, trend insights, or entertainment/creator economy roles.
Experience developing marketing or creative strategies derived from key cultural insights.
Experience in fandom ecosystems, youth culture, or passion areas (sports, music, gaming, entertainment, creators).
Experience advising cross functional stakeholders or influencing without authority.
Background in research, anthropology, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, or similar.
Familiarity with foresight methodologies (signals, drivers, scenarios, cultural semiotics).

Responsibilities

Identify emerging cultural signals and trends across markets and passion areas, and analyze the underlying drivers accelerating their development.
Support the creation and evolution of foresight frameworks that translate emerging audience behaviors (Gen Z, youth culture, subcultures, niche fandoms) into practical guidance for teams.
Develop insight narratives and materials that help internal teams apply cultural intelligence to brand strategy, sponsorships/partnerships, experiential activations, and product innovation
Contribute to always-on and recurring foresight outputs (e.g., curated cultural drops, signals/trends reporting, and emerging audience insight modules) to keep stakeholders informed and inspired.
Maintain a constant pulse on cultural shifts, societal changes, technological advancements, and industry developments by continuously scanning signals across media, platforms, and communities and synthesizing what’s emerging into themes and implications.
Conduct primary and secondary research to uncover piercing cultural insights by designing and executing qualitative, ethnographic, digital anthropology, and or netnographic approaches that deepen understanding of emerging audiences, trends, and signals
Contribute creatively in ambiguous and evolving spaces by demonstrating curiosity, comfort with uncertainty, and a willingness to explore new perspectives, methods, and hypotheses.
Serve as a cultural translator by synthesizing insights from multiple sources into compelling narratives that clarify cultural meaning and business relevance for non-expert audiences.
Collaborate with cross-functional and global stakeholders as a consultative thought partner by shaping research hypotheses, challenging assumptions, and ensuring foresight frameworks can be applied across regions while aligning to shared standards and definitions.
Integrate cultural foresight into essential Visa workstreams by supporting cross-functional teams with insights, frameworks, and guidance that inform brand strategy, sponsorship planning, experiential activations, and product innovation
Contribute to insight deep dives that help teams identify the implications of emerging cultural trends and audience behaviors.
Support the promotion of the team’s work internally and externally by helping translate insights into engaging formats such as white papers, presentations, workshops, videos or audio content, podcasts, and other creative outputs.