Director, Visa Direct Account Management

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

Visa Direct is a fast-growing money movement service that enables Visa clients, including issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants, remitters and service providers, to facilitate domestic and cross-border fund transfers and disbursements to cards, accounts and wallets. Visa Direct uses push payment technology, including Original Credit Transaction (OCT), and relevant account and real-time payment rails to support a broad range of consumer and business use cases, including person-to-person transfer, cross-border remittances, marketplace payouts, royalty and digital content payouts, gig economy services and other business-to-consumer or small business payment flows.

We are seeking a Director, Visa Direct Account Management Sales, to help manage and grow Visa Direct with key money movement partners in the Canadian market. The role will focus on deepening client relationships, identifying and executing growth opportunities, building sales pipeline, and helping clients expand routes, corridors, use cases and endpoints that drive transaction volume, revenue and Visa share.

The successful candidate will directly manage a portfolio of assigned client accounts, which may include financial institutions, credit unions, fintech's, remitters and other strategic partners. The Director will work closely with Client Account Executives, Visa Direct product and commercialization teams, pricing, legal, risk, compliance, marketing, client services, finance and regional teams to advance client priorities and support program growth from opportunity identification through launch, ramp, optimization and renewal.

This is a client-facing role that requires strong commercial judgment, account management discipline, consultative selling skills, organizational savvy and comfort working in a matrixed environment. The ideal candidate is a structured, analytical and proactive sales professional with experience growing payment or money movement relationships, influencing cross-functional stakeholders and translating complex solutions into clear client value.

Responsibilities:

The Director, Visa Direct Account Management Sales, is accountable for delivering growth across assigned Visa Direct client accounts in Canada and contributing to the broader Canadian Visa Direct portfolio strategy. The role is responsible for managing client relationships, developing account plans, building pipeline, advancing sales opportunities and driving initiatives that increase transaction volume, revenue, use case adoption and program performance.

The individual will apply sound commercial judgment to evaluate opportunities, recommend the right path of action, coordinate internal resources and help bring growth initiatives to market. The Director will work across product, pricing, rules, marketing, legal, compliance, risk, finance, client services, operations and regional teams to support technology readiness, corridor expansion, pricing or rule changes, authorization performance, network optimization and lifecycle management across pre-launch, launch, ramp, growth and optimization phases.

We work in an agile environment, so this person must be assertive, proactive and comfortable pivoting as new information and lessons learned come to light. Strong interpersonal skills, communication, stakeholder management and client-facing confidence are critical.

Responsibilities include:

Account and portfolio growth

• Accountable for assigned account revenue and transaction growth by delivering client growth targets and supporting broader Canadian portfolio objectives across routes, corridors, use cases and endpoints.

• Achieve and exceed account transaction and revenue targets for Visa Direct clients under management, including building clear plans to increase transaction volume, revenue and Visa share.

• Develop and manage account strategies that identify high-potential use cases, marketing opportunities, commercialization priorities and growth acceleration levers.

• Set and track client-specific performance goals by product, use case and enablement milestones, including new endpoints, corridor expansion and program optimization priorities.

Sales pipeline development and commercialization

• Build and manage sales pipeline across endpoint options, routes, corridors, use cases and value-added services within primary and extended client lines of business.

• Lead or support new and renewal deal activity including opportunity identification, solutioning, business case development, incentives, negotiation and contracting in partnership with internal stakeholders.

• Manage clients through the sales cycle from opportunity development through launch, ramp and ongoing optimization.

• Maintain disciplined opportunity tracking and reporting for accounts under management, including pipeline status, risks, next steps and expected financial impact.

Client relationship management

• Establish trusted working relationships with clients to understand their business strategy, money movement priorities and operating model.

• Partner with Client Account Executives to define account priorities, align on annual transaction and revenue plans and advance prioritized strategic milestones.

• Engage senior client stakeholders as appropriate with clear, credible and commercially relevant communication on Visa Direct opportunities and performance.

• Work with Marketing to ensure client-facing materials are clear, compelling, on-message and effective in accelerating client understanding and adoption.

Cross-functional execution

• Partner with Visa Direct commercialization teams to identify go-to-market needs and ensure the right value proposition, product construct and client solution are in place.

• Collaborate with Finance and leadership on forecasting, performance tracking and monthly or quarterly reporting for accounts under management.

• Work with Legal, Risk, Compliance and Pricing to support client contracts, governance requirements and commercial structures that drive successful outcomes for Visa and clients.

• Coordinate with Client Services and product teams to monitor program health, address production issues and recommend optimization opportunities.

Program performance and optimization

• Actively investigate and manage account program performance with a bias toward resolving issues quickly and completely.

• Analyze dashboards and identify performance trends bringing in product, client services and subject matter experts as needed to address issues and identify growth opportunities.

• Support transaction yield optimization including price, FX and underperforming program revenue impact, in partnership with relevant internal teams.

• Identify and raise product feature enhancements based on client feedback, market needs and account growth priorities.

Account planning and business reviews

• Develop and maintain account plans for assigned clients, including transaction and revenue targets, strategic priorities, milestones, risks and dependencies.

• Provide insightful program performance reviews that identify growth opportunities, define action plans and support client engagement.

• Lead regular account review and opportunity-solving sessions with cross-functional teams to unblock stalled programs or accelerate growth where transaction volume has plateaued.

• Contribute to Canadian and North America Visa Direct reporting by sharing account progress, pipeline updates, risks and priorities through established internal mechanisms.

Visa requires at least 3 days in office, expectations of these days will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager. 

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

• 10 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 8 years of work experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters/ MBA/JD/MD) or at least 3 years of work experience with a PhD

Preferred Qualifications:

• 12 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or 8-10 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 6+ years of work experience with a PhD
• 8+ years of sales, account management, business development or client growth experience, preferably in payments, money movement, financial services, fintech, banking or related technology sectors.
• 5+ years of experience managing complex client relationships, commercial opportunities and cross-functional execution in a matrixed organization.
• Demonstrated success growing client accounts, building sales pipeline, commercializing new products or capabilities, launching programs and ramping transaction volume or revenue.
• Experience working with financial institutions, credit unions, fintech's, remitters, processors, merchants, acquirers or other money movement ecosystem participants preferred.
• Strong understanding of digital payments, push payments, real-time payments, cross-border money movement, card, account and wallet-based payment flows, or related transaction-based businesses preferred.
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to identify growth opportunities, structure clear account plans and execute against financial targets.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with a practical, client-focused mindset and a bias toward action.
• Excellent listening, written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex business and technical concepts clearly to a broad audience.
• Strong executive presence and client-facing confidence, with the ability to engage senior stakeholders and influence outcomes without direct authority.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate across product, sales, pricing, legal, compliance, risk, marketing, client services, operations, finance and regional teams.
• Analytical mindset with comfort using dashboards, performance data and financial metrics to identify trends, issues and optimization opportunities.
• Creative self-starter who is comfortable operating independently, prioritizing across multiple accounts and escalating issues appropriately at critical junctures.
• High level of professionalism and relationship-building skills, with the ability to earn trust and respect from clients, partners and internal stakeholders.
• Passion for transforming payments and excitement about helping grow Visa Direct in Canada.

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.

Visa welcome and encourages application from persons with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.