Visa is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating more than 215 billion payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive.

When you join Visa, you join a culture of purpose and belonging – where your growth is priority, your identity is embraced, and the work you do matters. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere. Your work will have a direct impact on billions of people around the world – helping unlock financial access to enable the future of money movement.

Join Visa: A Network Working for Everyone.

The main objective of the role is to help deepen client relationships and optimize client performance by creating a dedicated practice of commercial payments experts (inc. Cash Management and Trade Finance), serving large commercial banks and Fintech partners in B2B payments and helping them design and assess their strategy, implement initiatives around their channels and in general capture the full potential from business customers engaging.

The Visa Consulting Director will be responsible for the development of the Commercial service line in terms of offerings development and thought leadership, cooperating with other Visa CEMEA functions and with other Visa global regions.

The candidate will also become a Subject Matter Expert on the topic of consulting around Commercial banking and deliver consulting support and projects to VISA's key clients across the CEMEA region.

Principal Responsibilities/Key Results Area

• Collaborate with VCA colleagues, Visa account executives and other Visa functions to cultivate and manage a pipeline of commercial engagement opportunities with the largest CEMEA banks and merchants
  • Lead and/or serve as a subject matter expert on consulting engagements in the sphere of Commercial banking (Micro, SME, Medium and Large Corporates), Transactional Banking, Cash Management, Trade Finance, including but not limited to the following:
• Using VISA and external data to analyze client needs across the focus markets and identify opportunities for consulting assignments with VISA’s key clients.
• Support and contribute to sales pitches
• Lead or contribute to internal problem-solving sessions
• Prepare for, and participate in, client discussions
• Own work streams related to fact finding, data analysis (e.g., business case analysis), or content development
• Work closely with VBS (Visa Business Solution) team as well as other Visa functions such as Digital Partnerships & Ventures, Innovation Centers, Marketing etc., to develop new offerings and to ensure a seamless Consulting experience
• Help the talent growth of the VCA Commercial Practice through the development of internal resources and the hire of new talents, he/she will potentially have to manage
• Create new approaches, toolkits, and best practice documents that can be leveraged across Collaborate with VCA colleagues globally to share best practices and, as needed, support client development or engagements in other markets
• Develop enduring relationships with clients and colleagues across Visa
• Develop thought leaderships including – but not limited to – the preparation of white papers and the participation to external events

• A well-qualified candidate will have broad and deep expertise in Commercial and Transactional Banking with primary focus – but not limited to – on corporate payments, cash management, trade finance. Key elements to assess his/her candidacy will include expertise on the following topics:
• Business needs of commercial customers and their suppliers, e.g., payables and receivables practices and challenges; the role of payments in working capital management; drivers of payments method choice, such as payments fees / revenue share, operational efficiency, payment terms, cash flow, reconciliation / reporting needs, risk /controls / value added services, etc.
• Best practices to meet customer needs across the customer lifecycle and functional areas in banking, e.g., customer acquisition, cross-sell, underwriting, implementations / onboarding, account management and optimization, supplier enrollment, customer retention
• Industry trends, such as the rise of RTP, changing regulatory environment, evolving economics of payments, increasing digitalization and development of digital channels, increasing use of advanced analytics and other technologies in payments, adoption of open banking globally, etc.
• Fintech & Digital native players, including where they play across the value chain of commercial and corporate banking and their relative strengths and weaknesses vs. competitors (primary focus – but not limited to – on payments)
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent. Master’s degree preferred.
• At least 10 years of overall work experience
• At least 5 years of solid experience in the sphere of commercial and/or transactional banking (including corporate payments, cash management, trade finance); experience should be gained within a top-tier bank or the financial services practice of a top-tier consulting firm.
• Combination of regional and global experience is also desired; previous work experience across multiple CEMEA sub-regions (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other Former Soviet Union countries, South Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa) would be a differentiating factor
• At least 2 years of experience in management consulting and deep consulting skills and client engagement capabilities including:
  • Diplomatic skills to work in a multi functional environment and ability to extract desired outcomes.
  • Comfortable interacting with and presenting to senior management of clients and VISA.
  • Highly analytical with advanced PowerPoint skills and Excel skills
  • Superior project management skills. Fluent communicator.
• Results driven, flexible and both internally and externally customer focused.
• Able to travel frequently and work on client site.
• Self-motivated and able to use own initiative with limited direction.
• Strong teamwork and collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively with inter-disciplinary groups.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.
• Fluency in English is mandatory, Fluency in Russian is a differentiating factor, Fluency in Arabic is an additional plus