Vice President, Money Movement Operations, Visa Direct

Visa is a world leader in payments and technology, with over 259 billion payments transactions flowing safely between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities in 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 while driven by a common purpose – to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

Make an impact with a purpose-driven industry leader. Join us today and experience Life at Visa.

Vice President, Money Movement Operations, Visa Direct

Location: London, Paddington

Visa is seeking a dynamic, transformative leader to architect, build, and scale Money Movement Operations for Visa Direct. This is not a traditional operations role—it is a business leadership mandate for an executive with deep expertise in data, operational flows, risk management, controls, AI, and systems thinking. You will lead, recruit, and continually develop a global high-performing team, instilling a culture of ownership, precision, and continuous improvement.

This position will drive relentless transformation and innovation, embedding data science methodologies, advanced models, and Generative AI across global operational processes, systems, and tooling that power Visa’s regulated money movement businesses.

This role demands resilience, deep domain expertise, strategic vision and tactical execution, and the ability to thrive under pressure. Candidates must demonstrate a track record of building and leading transformation in complex, global environments. You will build, refine, and continuously mature operational capabilities with a focus on data-driven insights, automation, and engineering workflows that are transparent, modular, and adaptable.

Reporting to the SVP, Chief Operating Officer of Visa Direct, you will inspire and lead a global team of 200+, serving as a knowledgeable change agent in a demanding, regulated environment.

Core Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

• Lead Visa’s global money movement operations and platforms, focusing on automation, systems architecture, workflow engineering, and operational excellence.
• Build and scale a resilient operational ecosystem, embedding a risk-aware, client-centric culture across the organization.
• Partner cross-functionally to drive higher levels of Payment Success and No-Touch Processing, ensuring timely, accurate, and compliant cash reconciliation.
• Deeply investigate issues and incidents to identify root causes, strengthen controls, and proactively mitigate risk. Provide effective oversight and challenge of critical outsourcing relationships.
• Define and implement a target operating standard for Money Movement Operations—assess current processes, tooling, and capabilities; identify gaps; and execute against a maturity roadmap.
• Embed first-line risk ownership and accountability, cultivating a scalable, well documented, and resilient operational model.
• Partner with core enabling functions—including Treasury and Compliance—to ensure end-to-end Money Movement Operations run effectively, efficiently, and in full alignment with Visa’s standards and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain strong governance and reporting to management committees and the Board, ensuring visibility into top risks, key controls, and material issues, and full compliance with applicable laws, regulations, licenses, and supervisory expectations.

Collections and Payment Operations, including Business Testing

• Develop, implement, and maintain operational strategies, policies, and procedures aligned with long-term business objectives.
• Streamline and refine processes to maximize efficiency, scalability, and speed, supporting new products, services, and funding/settlement models.
• Lead the Business Testing function within Operations, embedding automation and GenAI to drive scale, speed, and accuracy across all testing activities—including smoke testing, user acceptance testing (UAT), and production testing for new connections and capabilities.
• Assess and ensure end-to-end operational readiness for launches and changes, leveraging advanced analytics and intelligent automation to validate that systems, processes, and teams are fully prepared.
• Continuously test and enhance incident resolution procedures for rapid, effective response; maintain expert coverage to resolve issues and minimize impact.
• Drive toward 100% no-touch processing and payment success rates through automation and process optimization.
• Implement data-driven methods and automation to ensure timely, accurate, and compliant payment reconciliations.
• Develop, implement, and regularly test business continuity plans to ensure preparedness for unforeseen events.
• Implement real-time monitoring, alerting, and early warning systems—including ML-driven analytics—to increase operational visibility and decrease incident detection and resolution time.
• Drive adoption of GenAI tools and machine learning models for operational analytics, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

Data Engineering, Analytics and Modelling

• Design, implement, and maintain robust data pipelines for operational analytics, reporting, and real-time decision-making.
• Investigate, design, and optimize data schemas and taxonomies across platforms for consistency, scalability, and high data quality.
• Build and deploy machine learning models for payment success, forecasting, anomaly detection, and operational efficiency.
• Oversee integration of diverse data sources into unified data architectures for seamless data flow and accessibility.
• Establish and enforce data governance standards, including data lineage, metadata management, and access controls.
• Lead automation of data ingestion, transformation, and validation processes to reduce manual intervention and accelerate time-to-insight.
• Implement monitoring and alerting for data pipelines to proactively detect and resolve data quality or processing issues.
• Ensure all data engineering solutions are compliant with regulatory requirements and support audit readiness.

Required

• Executive with 20+ years of experience in business operations and enterprise risk management within financial services, including 10+ years in hands-on technical roles (data engineering, model development, automation in payments and financial services).
• Extensive experience developing, monitoring, and managing best-in-class operational and risk methodologies, analytics, systems, and policies, with proven technical leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, inspire, and develop high-performing global teams of deep domain experts—earning respect through technical knowledge, example, and a hands-on approach. Successful in leading cross-functional teams to deliver complex projects.
• High emotional maturity, maintaining composure, sound judgment, and professionalism in high-pressure and demanding situations. Adept at navigating high-pressure environments, managing diverse workloads across time zones, and leading crisis events on short notice.
• Deep expertise in global payments and money movement, with experience in both first- and second-line functions. Proven track record resolving complex operational and systems issues across interconnected ecosystems.
• Skilled at managing large, global teams with a collaborative, inclusive, and inspiring leadership style.
• Highly ethical, intuitive, and comfortable challenging the status quo while maintaining constructive independence.
• Effective at engaging stakeholders across internal and external partners, fostering a culture of collaboration and inclusion.
• Advanced technical skills in data engineering, data science, and machine learning for operational use cases—designing and optimizing data pipelines and taxonomies for large-scale payment platforms.
• Strong programming/scripting skills (Python, SQL, Java or similar), with experience in building production-grade models and systems.
• Deep familiarity with cloud platforms, API development, and microservices—especially in regulated environments and in compliance with data privacy laws.
• Hands-on experience building and validating AI/ML models with a strong grasp of governance, explainability, and operational integration.
• Proven experience implementing workflow automation, intelligent automation, and advanced analytics for operational efficiency.
• Experience developing, monitoring, and managing best-in-class operational and risk methodologies, analytics, systems, and policies, with proven technical leadership.
• Drive adoption of GenAI tools and machine learning models for operational analytics, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
• Exceptional communication, analytical, and problem-solving abilities, with experience in incident response, business continuity, and crisis management.
• Willing and able to travel (10%+), work flexible hours globally, and respond rapidly to emerging issues.

Preferred

• In-depth working knowledge of US, UK, and EU regulatory regimes including BSA/AML/OFAC, CFPB/OCC/FFIEC, FCA/PRA, PSD2/PSR, DORA, GDPR, and UK Consumer Duty. Experience applying these frameworks in operational settings.
• Practical fluency in Three Lines of Defense, ERM, COSO, Model Risk (SR 11-7), and operational resilience programs. Not just theory—real-world implementation and oversight.
• Demonstrated ability to architect, launch, and scale new programs from scratch, including change management across complex organizations.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and launching operations in new markets or jurisdictions, with a bias toward action and clarity.

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.