Senior Director, Head of Products & Solutions for WCA

Company Description

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 Senior Director, Head of Products & Solutions for WCA This role will provide thought leadership and lead the design and execution of a market‑driven, innovative solutions strategy across West & Central Africa. The incumbent is accountable for ensuring Visa delivers fit‑for‑purpose, scalable solutions that solve client needs, accelerate mass adoption, and drive measurable revenue growth and profitability across the sub‑region.

The leader will own prioritization and execution governance across core and digital solution domains, working in close partnership with Sales, Product, and Delivery teams to deeply understand market needs and bring—or co‑create—relevant Visa capabilities to market in a coordinated, solutions‑centric manner. Success in the role is tightly aligned with WCA scorecard outcomes, including commercial performance, pipeline health, client satisfaction, and delivery excellence.

In addition, the role will anchor modern portfolio management and new ways of working, driving a shift from a traditional product‑led approach to a solutions mindset. This requires strong strategic workforce planning, talent development, and sustained cross‑functional alignment with both internal and external stakeholders.

The Senior Director will also shape and scale innovative solution adoption across key WCA segments—including Mass, Mid‑Mass, Affluent, and Credit—while partnering closely with stakeholders across Visa to unlock growth and deliver sustained impact.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy, Portfolio & Growth

• Develop, deliver, and activate WCA solutions strategies and plans that drive Visa’s competitive advantage and growth agenda.
• Establish and execute near- and long-term strategies that accelerate growth across WCA, including coverage of Mass, Mid-Mass, Affluent, Credit segments
• Identify, shape, and deliver Fit for Purpose solutions that leverage Visa platforms, services, innovation leadership, and partnerships—bringing together Visa and client assets into compelling value propositions.  
• Lead portfolio management and optimization practices, ensuring resources are allocated to the most impactful opportunities and that solutions are curated for local market needs.  

Commercial Ownership, Pipeline & Financial Accountability

• Drive cardable business results and commercial expansion in WCA, including strategy setting, business development, and solution delivery in partnership with GTM channels.  
• Own planning, forecasting, and performance management against plans and targets, manage business rhythm, reporting, and key commercial operating metrics.  
• Carry financial accountability for solution outcomes, including budget, investment decisions, and profitability management to drive and meet business objectives.  
• Drive end-to-end pipeline discipline and adoption acceleration for value-added capabilities, ensuring solutions are embedded into proposals and client plans to maximize deal value.  

Client Leadership & Market Shaping

• Serve as a senior client-facing leader, providing consultative insights grounded in existing and future solution capabilities.
• Lead thought leadership and development with issuers, acquirers, technology partners, and emerging ecosystem providers to expand Visa’s relevance for all segments and influence in WCA.  
• Capture and translate client feedback into solution requirements and evolution, working with regional/global partners to close product gaps and define new use cases.  

Cross-Functional Leadership & Delivery Governance

• Lead category-wide initiatives with key stakeholders and cross-functional teams to deliver outcomes aligned to corporate and client objectives.  
• Collaborate closely with partners including Fintech MSA, Account Executives/Country teams, Marketing, CMS, Client Delivery/Client Services, and support functions to drive growth and ensure successful execution.  
• Partner with global teams to deliver globally consistent and regionally relevant solutions, ensuring scalable delivery and effective handoffs from sale to implementation.  

People Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team, set clear goals/OKRs, track results, coach performance, and strengthen succession planning and talent pipelines.  
• Drive quality recruitment, career development, performance management, and talent assessment across the team, strengthening capability depth and readiness.  

External Representation

• Act as an advocate of Visa’s solutions and initiatives in the industry, including preparation and delivery of the Visa narrative at forums, conferences, and customer events.  

KEY COMPETENCIES

Team Leadership
Proven ability to lead innovative, high-performing, matrixed teams, attract, develop, and retain top talent, and raise the bar on capability and execution.  

Results Orientation
Track record of delivering timely innovative implementation, measurable commercial outcomes through differentiated solutions and increased adoption, supported by strong operational discipline.  

Collaboration & Influencing
Exceptional stakeholder leadership and influence in a global, matrixed environment, ability to align priorities, resolve constraints, and drive decisions across functions and geographies.

Strategic Orientation
Strong strategic planning capability, market insight, and ability to translate trends into a structured enablement and execution process to deliver client and business outcomes.  

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager.

Qualifications

Professional / Business Experience 15+ years of relevant experience in fintechs, payments, digital commerce, banking, telco, technology, or adjacent fields, with senior leadership exposure. Demonstrated experience influencing and engaging C-level stakeholders and leading complex commercial initiatives.   Experience developing strategies across diverse markets and diverse segments (emerging and developed preferred). Strong negotiation skills and proven track record of achieving results through partnerships and deal-making. Technical / Domain Expertise Strong knowledge of West and Central Africa Advanced understanding of payment and commerce solutions and processes, with strong business acumen and comfort shaping commercial architectures. Strong grasp of B2B to C payment trends, regulatory considerations, and market gaps (highly valued for WCA growth).   Ability to operate fast with ambiguity, build structured plans, and execute through cross-functional teams. Leadership Attributes Naturally inquisitive problem-solver with strong analytical and quantitative capability. Ability to understand local specificities and challenges, and to build and advocate for tailored solutions, and adapt global platforms to local needs Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, ability to communicate across all organizational levels.   Passion for talent development and leading through influence in a matrix environment.   Mobility Ability to travel up to 30%.  

Additional Information

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.