Business Development Director, Agentic AI Partnerships (San Francisco)

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 Commercial Solutions (VCS) is a rapidly expanding team dedicated to delivering innovative payment solutions for businesses and governments worldwide. By partnering with Financial Institutions and Fintechs, VCS offers core payment products combined with seamless experiences that streamline critical business processes such as expense management, compliance, and AP/AR payments. The goal is to enhance cash flow, productivity, and efficiency for clients. VCS provides tailored products for all business sizes, featuring automated payment processing, expense tracking, and detailed reporting and reconciliation, all within a secure and globally recognized payment network. This empowers businesses to manage finances more effectively, reduce costs, and gain valuable insights into spending patterns.

There is a rapid shift from plastic to digital credentials within the B2B payments ecosystem, mirroring and building upon the same shift within consumer payments over the past decade. In addition, the usage of GenAI and agentic concepts is moving at an exceptional pace. We are seeking a leader who can navigate and harness the true power of agentic AI within the commercial payments ecosystem.

If you are passionate about transforming the B2B payments landscape and have a proven track record of leadership and innovation in this field, we invite you to join our team and make a significant impact on the future of B2B commerce. We are transforming the commercial payments landscape and looking for a dynamic, experienced leaders to spearhead our partnerships with GenAI and Agentic companies.

You will be successful in this role if you have:

• A deep understanding and practical application of GenAI and Agentic AI
• Demonstrated leadership in identifying powerful solutions with external partners and developing high growth commercial deals
• Proven experience developing commercial deals
• Strong collaborative skills to work closely with clients, partners, business unit leaders, engineering, architects, user experience teams, and global cross-functional counterparts.
• A creative and action-oriented approach to innovation and prototyping, interacting with executives and stakeholders to brainstorm ideas and bring pilots to market with 3rd parties
• Developer first know-how and ability to evangelize solutions for/with developers

Essential Functions

Partnership management

• Identify, evaluate and establish strategic partnership with leading AI technology providers and startups to accelerate innovation
• Negotiate and secure commercial deals to drive the development of agentic AI in the commercial space
• Client Partnership: Partner with clients throughout the payment ecosystem to develop product strategies and co-create innovative solutions that address their specific needs.
• Rapid Prototyping: Quickly convert creative ideas into working prototypes, leveraging existing Visa solutions and external capabilities to test and validate concepts.
• Partner Engagement: Identify key partners and work with clients to deliver solutions at scale, ensuring broad market adoption.

Annual Operating Plan:

• Strategic Planning: Build a comprehensive annual operating plan that includes financial forecasts (Total Addressable Market, Serviceable Available Market, Serviceable Obtainable Market) and sets clear Objective Key Results (OKRs), ensuring alignment with Visa's strategic goals.
• Regional Coordination: Collaborate closely with regional teams to ensure the plan is cohesive, actionable, and reflective of local market needs and opportunities.

Strategy:

• Thought Leadership: Deliver a Point of View (POV) and evolving strategy for AI usage in commercial applications, positioning Visa as the industry leader.
• Client-Centric Product Strategies: Develop and implement product strategies that align with client needs and the company's vision, ensuring Visa is the go-to solution for B2B payments.
• Collaborative Innovation: Brainstorm with internal and external teams to develop innovative ideas and potential solutions for co-creation and market differentiation.
• Cross-Functional Liaison: Liaise with other business units, product leaders, engineering, and other relevant groups to ensure flawless execution and alignment of strategic goals.
• Senior Leadership Communication: Provide regular status updates, action plans, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership, ensuring transparency and informed decision-making.

Performance Management:

• Regular Cadence: Develop and lead a regular performance management cadence, including business reviews and internal communications to track progress and drive accountability.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead cross-functional teams across research, design, and development to design, test, and pilot new products, ensuring collaborative success.
• Goal Alignment: Work closely with internal and external product and partner teams to align on goals and scope, plan critical paths, identify operational risks, and ensure transparent communication.

Commercialization:

• Sales Collaboration: Work with regional and global sales/account executives to identify and enable use cases related to commercial applications, with the goal of scaling successful solutions.
• Monetization & Business Models: Develop robust monetization strategies and business models that move with speed and delight end users, ensuring strong market competitiveness.
• Go-To-Market Activities: Perform go-to-market activities by partnering closely with internal and external stakeholders, driving effective market entry and growth.
• Core Product Coordination: Drive coordination with core product teams to enable seamless commercialization of new solutions.

Culture:

• Inclusive Culture: Demonstrate strong leadership skills, focusing on diverse, high-performing teams, and fostering an inclusive culture that values curiosity and collaboration.
• Amplify Leadership Principles: Embody Visa's Leadership Principles, promoting excellence, innovation, and integrity in all activities.
• We look forward to having someone who is passionate about leading the transformation of B2B payments and can drive substantial impact through strategic vision and innovative solutions. If you have the skills and experience we're looking for, we invite you to join us and shape the future of B2B commerce.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office 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
* Industry and technical knowledge and expertise: Deep experience in AI, with a strong focus on GenAI and Agentic AI, related technologies and companies leading the development. Proven experience in a mid-management to senior management role. 5+ years of experience in the payments industry with strong emphasis on AP/AR processes, ERP and payment integrations.
* Commercial Acumen: Demonstrated ability to negotiate and close commercial deals, with a strong understanding of financial models and business development. Ability to pursue new partnership opportunities that align with company goals.
* Partnerships: Proven track record of building and managing strategic partnerships within the AI and technology ecosystem.
* Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
* Industry Knowledge: In-depth knowledge of the commercial payments industry and its regulatory environment is highly desirable.
* Experience working with a diverse range of players in the payments ecosystem and empathizing with their commerce and payments needs
* Demonstrated thought leadership and the aptitude to think creatively and identify new opportunities to innovate and differentiate with evidence of tangible business results
* Customer champion with a proven track record of developing and executing a product vision for successful products based on deep understanding of customer needs
* Experience negotiating and motivating a variety of clients - fintechs, Big Tech, traditional payment players, to deliver results for the ecosystem
* Excellent ability to communicate strategy, and secure internal investment by consistently executing strategy and delivering results.
* Proven success influencing senior stakeholders, and decision makers across the globe (including C-suite)
* Ability to explain complex business and technical concepts to a broad audiences in an approachable way
* Natural collaborator, with