Director - Fintech Strategy & Market Enablement

Job description

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 The Director, CEMEA VCS Fintech Strategy, Sales & Market Enablement will shape and execute the regional fintech growth agenda for Visa Commercial Solutions across CEMEA. This role will serve as the strategic anchor for fintech-led market development, connecting ecosystem intelligence, client needs, product capabilities, and sales priorities into a clear set of commercial opportunities for VCS. The role will define and execute regional fintech strategy, identify priority regional and global fintechs, map key-market opportunities, and translate those opportunities into scalable commercial use cases. Operating as an influential individual leader, this Director will work across Sales, including Large & Mid-Market and SMB, Product, regional and market teams, including Africa and other growth markets, and commercialization functions to accelerate fintech-related revenue opportunities. The role will balance strategic thought leadership with disciplined execution: shaping market narratives, identifying and qualifying fintech opportunities, enabling sales teams with playbooks and partner propositions, and driving priority opportunities from early qualification through onboarding, launch, and early scale. The successful candidate will combine deep fintech and commercial payments expertise with strong executive presence, commercial judgment, cross-functional influence, and the ability to convert ambiguity into structured, revenue-generating market action. The role will be accountable for building a more systematic fintech growth engine for CEMEA VCS: one that strengthens market intelligence, improves sales readiness, advances priority partnerships, and creates measurable pipeline, adoption, and revenue outcomes. Key Responsibilities: Define and lead the CEMEA VCS fintech strategy: Develop a clear regional fintech strategy across priority CEMEA markets, including target segments, opportunity sizing, strategic use cases, success metrics, and execution roadmap. Shape the fintech market-development agenda: Build and maintain a strategic view of the fintech landscape across priority markets, identifying high-potential players, emerging business models, relevant use cases, and where VCS should focus first. Support development of a strong fintech opportunity pipeline: Work closely with VCS Specialist Sales teams to regional and global fintech opportunities in CEMEA Region relevant to commercial payments, B2B flows, embedded finance, expense management, procurement, AP/AR, fleet, healthcare payouts, working capital, and related use cases. Drive ecosystem engagement and strategic partnerships: Build relationships across accelerators, incubators, venture networks, innovation hubs, banks, technology partners, and market influencers to identify opportunities early and keep VCS connected to the fintech ecosystem. Translate fintech propositions into VCS commercial use cases: Evaluate fintech opportunities through a practical commercial lens, identifying where VCS can create value for clients, partners, markets, and revenue growth. . Position VCS solutions effectively within fintech ecosystems by aligning product strengths to partner needs, enabling clear value propositions, solution fit, and scalable commercial models across priority segments. Shape GTM and commercialization plans for priority fintech opportunities: Define value propositions, positioning, use-case narratives, pricing inputs, launch plans, and distribution approaches grounded in client needs, market insights, product readiness, and fintech partner relevance. Enable Sales, market teams, and internal capability building: Equip regional and in-market Sales teams, including LMM and SMB coverage teams, with target-account views, partner narratives, use-case hypotheses, sales plays, training, GTM assets, playbooks, and feedback loops needed to open, progress, and scale fintech conversations. Orchestrate cross-functional execution across the matrix: Coordinate Product, Sales, Marketing, Client Services, Technology, Operations, Risk, Legal, Compliance, Pricing, Finance, regional teams, and market teams to manage dependencies, resolve risks, and advance priority fintech opportunities through pilot, limited release, launch, and early scale. Create a structured feedback loop from market to product and strategy: Bring client, partner, market, competitive, and regulatory insights back into product roadmaps, commercialization plans, and fintech strategy to improve proposition fit, usability, and scalability. Lead transition from incubation to scalable growth: For validated opportunities, manage structured handover to Sales and market teams, ensuring knowledge transfer, operational readiness, execution continuity, and clear ownership for BAU growth. Visa requires at least 3 days in office, expectations of these days will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager. Qualifications 15+ years of relevant experience in fintech, payments, financial services, commercial banking, B2B platforms, enterprise technology, IT, partnerships, product strategy, business development, product commercialization, or GTM strategy. Strong commercial payments and B2B fintech expertise, ideally including commercial cards, virtual cards, B2B money movement, embedded finance, AP/AR, procurement, expense management, working capital, cross-border, and digital platform-based solutions. Solid experience across IT and enterprise technology environments, including working with APIs, platform integrations, ERP/treasury systems, or scalable digital architectures supporting fintech and B2B payment use cases. Deep understanding of the CEMEA fintech ecosystem, including fintech hubs, accelerators, incubators, venture networks, banks, technology platforms, and evolving market dynamics. Proven ability to identify, evaluate, and convert fintech and B2B partnership opportunities through market mapping, pipeline development, opportunity sizing, business casing, solutioning, and execution. Strong commercial and analytical skills, including market assessment, financial modeling, prioritization, and outcome-based planning tied to revenue and pipeline growth. Exceptional ability to influence without direct authority, align senior stakeholders, and drive outcomes across matrixed regional, global, product, sales, technology, and market teams. Excellent executive communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to translate complex fintech, technical, and commercial concepts into clear, compelling narratives. Comfort operating in ambiguity and at fintech pace, with the ability to create structure, manage multiple priorities, and balance strategic thinking with disciplined execution. Preferred Experience: Experience working directly with fintechs, digital platforms, or venture-backed companies, including partnerships or ecosystem roles. Exposure to commercial banking, B2B fintech, enterprise software, or ERP/treasury environments supporting payment or working capital solutions. Experience supporting go-to-market execution, including sales enablement, partner engagement, or new product launches. Cross-regional or emerging market experience, with the ability to adapt global capabilities to local market needs across CEMEA. Visa is an EEO Employer Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.