Senior Manager, Global Business Controls

Company Description

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.

Job Description

Visa Direct is seeking a dynamic Senior Manager, Global Business Controls to help lead our risk management agenda across products, services, and operations. In this high-impact role, you will ensure Visa Direct’s business objectives are achieved in line with our industry-leading Enterprise Risk Management Framework and Risk Appetite. You will be a trusted advisor and first line risk management partner within the business, working at the intersection of innovation, growth, and regulatory responsibility within the fast-evolving payments landscape.

As a key member of the team, you will be accountable for identifying, assessing, and mitigating critical risks related to business growth, operations, and new market entry. Reporting to the Chief Operations Officer of Visa Direct, you will collaborate across the COO Leadership Team, reporting lines, and critical enabling functions to drive down risk exposure and strengthen our control environment. Your influence, credibility, and ability to foster genuine followership through trust, collaboration, and support will set you apart as a leader others want to work with. You will drive high-priority projects, lead governance initiatives, and partner across Visa’s global and regional teams—technology, product, operations, compliance, regulatory, legal, sales, and risk—to advance our risk culture and control environment.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead and influence first-line risk management for Visa Direct, supporting business changes, regulated subsidiary deliverables, and new market initiatives, while continuously improving resilience and control effectiveness.
• Collaborate with global and regional partners—including Technology, Product, Operations, Compliance, Regulatory, Legal, Sales, and Risk—to proactively identify and mitigate risks in our daily operations.
• Manage, monitor and report on the effectiveness of mitigation measures, partnering with data and insights teams to design and evolve key metrics and indicators.
• Champion a strong risk-aware culture by building partnerships, coaching teams, and further embedding risk management into day-to-day operations.
• Stay ahead of industry trends, regulatory changes, and external events, collaborating with experts to address emerging risks and opportunities for Visa Direct and its subsidiaries.
• Provide timely updates and insights to senior leadership, regulators, and external stakeholders on critical risk and control matters.

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

Qualifications

Essential:

• 7+ years’ experience in financial services or fintech, with a track record of leading or coordinating cross-functional teams under time pressure.
• Deep knowledge of risk and operational practices in regulated environments, including direct engagement with supervisors.
• Expertise in the payments industry, including regulatory frameworks and an understanding of risks related to money movement.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence—earning loyalty, building collaborative relationships, and inspiring others to follow your example.
• Strong grasp of the Three Lines of Defense model and its application within financial and technology organizations.
• Proven experience in assessing, managing, and mitigating operational and enterprise risks, with sufficient technical expertise to challenge and drive progress with Product, Operations, Technology, Control functions (e.g., Legal/Regulatory/Compliance/Risk).
• Skilled at working across global and local teams to deliver results in a complex, matrixed organization.
• Analytical, strategic, and tactical thinker with strong problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent interpersonal, presentation, communication, and facilitation skills, able to work independently in a fast-paced, changing environment.
• Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint.

Preferred:

• Experience working in, and driving business control maturity, across regulated entities in multiple jurisdictions (Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas)
• Experience working in, or closely with, operations, product, technology, regulatory, or compliance teams, with a strong understanding of the risks involved in money movement.
• Experience in day to day operational risk management— assessing, scoring, implementing mitigation strategies in day to day processes.