Head of Strategy and Analysis

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. Visa will accept applications for this role until at least 11-30-2026
Visa’s Global Data and AI team is seeking a Director, Consumer Payments Strategic Analytics to lead the analytics agenda supporting Visa’s Global Consumer Payments business. This is a senior individual contributor role with no formal direct reports, suited to a technically accomplished, business-minded analytics leader who sets direction through expertise and influence while remaining deeply engaged in hands-on execution.
The Director will own the strategic analytics roadmap for Consumer Payments, shaping priorities and selecting analytical methods and AI capabilities in partnership with business and analytics leaders. The role will lead complex projects and cross-functional initiatives from problem definition through implementation, personally develop analyses, code, and models, and build scalable data products and self-service capabilities. The Director will serve as a trusted advisor to senior Consumer Payments leaders, translating insights into decisions that improve business performance.
Success in the role will be measured by analytical excellence and business impact: better product choices, stronger portfolio performance, faster insight cycles, and a scalable analytics operating model that business partners can rely on. Coaching and mentoring junior and early-career colleagues is a core expectation, with regular opportunities to develop their technical judgment and guide their work through successful execution.
Visa requires at least 3 days in office. Analytics Strategy and Business Impact

• Own the multi-year strategic analytics agenda for Global Consumer Payments in partnership with business and analytics leaders, aligned to Visa’s growth priorities and the Consumer Payments business strategy.
• Translate executive-level business questions into an analytical portfolio with clear scope, methods, delivery plans, and expected impact; Identify market, product, customer, issuer, merchant, and portfolio opportunities through deep analysis of Visa data and the broader payments ecosystem.
• Quantify the value of analytics and AI investments, and communicate impact in terms senior leaders care about: growth, performance, risk, efficiency, and speed to decision.

Project Leadership and Mentorship

• Coach and mentor junior and early-career data scientists and strategic analysts, providing practical guidance, constructive feedback, and technical reviews that build judgment and independence from problem framing through execution and stakeholder adoption.
• Establish the analytical operating model for intake, prioritization, delivery, quality control, and insight adoption, including a clear entry point for internal business partners. Lead projects and initiatives by coordinating contributors, clarifying milestones, and resolving technical obstacles.
• Drive a single-source-of-truth culture: reusable frameworks, documented methodologies, common metrics, and scalable tools rather than one-off analysis.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships across Global Data and AI, Product, Strategy, Technology, and regional partners.
• Personally design and deliver predictive, descriptive, diagnostic, and prescriptive solutions, including segmentation, propensity modeling, forecasting, performance measurement, experimentation, and portfolio analysis, while providing technical guidance to project contributors.
• Shape AI strategy within the Consumer Payments analytics portfolio, including machine learning, generative AI, LLMs, and agentic AI, to automate repeatable workflows, improve insight quality, and unlock new business questions.
• Build and guide the development of scalable dashboards, decision tools, and self-service analytics that democratize data without sacrificing rigor.
• Partner with data engineering, platform, and technology teams to prototype, productionize, and operationalize models and data products.
• Champion responsible AI, model quality, reproducibility, documentation, and code standards across all analytical deliverables.

Represent Consumer Payments analytics in senior forums, influencing investment choices, product direction, and portfolio performance.

~ Contribute thought leadership by introducing new methods, reusable assets, and innovative approaches that raise the capability of Consumer Payments Data and Analytics.

10 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree; Master’s, MBA, JD, MD); or 6 or more years of relevant experience with a PhD.

12 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree; or 8 or more years with a PhD.

• 8+ years in analytics, data science, strategic insights, or related work with a Bachelor’s degree; 6+ years with a Master’s/MBA; or 5+ years with a PhD.
• Demonstrated success coaching and mentoring junior and early-career analytics or data science colleagues, strengthening their technical judgment, problem-solving skills, and ability to deliver independently.
• Proven ability to shape an analytics agenda, lead a portfolio of high-impact projects and cross-functional initiatives, and take ownership of delivery quality and measurable business outcomes in a matrixed environment.
• Excellent programming and analytical skills in Python and SQL, with sustained hands-on experience in large-scale environments such as Spark, Hive, Hadoop, or comparable platforms.
• Strong practical experience with AI/ML, including generative AI, LLMs, and AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, or similar platforms.
• Experience with agentic AI concepts and orchestration frameworks such as LangGraph, LangChain, or comparable tools, and a point of view on where these capabilities create real business value versus hype.
• Ability to personally develop and validate predictive and descriptive models, conduct statistical analysis, data mining, experimentation, and decision science, and guide colleagues through sound analytical execution.
• Experience personally building visual insights, dashboards, and reporting solutions using Tableau, Power BI, or similar BI tools, and guiding colleagues in their effective development and use.
• In addition, this position may be eligible for bonus and equity.Visa has a comprehensive benefits package for which this position may be eligible that includes Medical, Dental, Vision, 401(k), FSA/HSA, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, and Wellness Program.

Travel Requirements
This position requires travel 5-10% of the time.

This position will be performed in an office setting. The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

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 protect veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.