Director, Cross-Border Risk Business Partner
Visa · Atlanta, United States · 1d ago
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's Product and Payment Services Risk (PPSR) organization is seeking a highly strategic and commercially minded risk leader to serve as the primary Risk Business Partner supporting Visa's Cross-Border (XB) organization.
This role sits at the intersection of cross-border payments, regulatory compliance, operational risk management, strategic growth, client enablement, and payment ecosystem governance.
As a trusted advisor to senior executives, you will influence critical decisions that shape Visa's risk posture across a rapidly expanding portfolio of cross-border initiatives, including cross-border issuing, strategic growth programs, regulatory transformation efforts, and ecosystem partnerships.
You will partner directly with business leadership, Client Services, Product, Compliance, Legal, regional stakeholders, technology and other Risk teams to proactively identify emerging risks, strengthen governance, enhance controls, and enable sustainable growth across increasingly complex cross-border operating environments.
This individual will bring strong enterprise and operational risk expertise, strategic thinking capabilities, and a deep understanding of payments, regulatory frameworks, financial crime risks, and global payment ecosystems.
The ideal candidate is viewed by executive leadership as a thought leader capable of translating complex risk, regulatory, and operational challenges into actionable business insights while enabling responsible growth across a dynamic global payments landscape.
What You'll Do
Strategic Risk Leadership
- Serve as the primary risk advisor to the Cross-Border organization, influencing business strategy, operating model evolution, market expansion initiatives, and long-term growth priorities.
- Partner with executive leadership to identify, assess, monitor, and mitigate key operational, regulatory, strategic, financial crime, third-party, and technology risks.
- Develop and maintain a forward-looking view of emerging risks impacting cross-border issuance, payment flows, licensing requirements, market expansion, and evolving regulatory expectations.
- Assess strategic initiatives, partnerships, and new business opportunities through a risk lens while enabling responsible innovation and growth.
- Provide effective challenge and risk-based recommendations to support informed decision-making at the executive level.
Cross-Border Payments Expertise
- Partner closely with business, product, licensing, compliance, Client Services, and regional teams supporting cross-border payment and issuance programs.
- Evaluate risks associated with new corridors, market expansion, issuer partner models, fintech partnerships, stablecoin-related initiatives, and emerging cross-border payment capabilities.
- Monitor evolving regulatory requirements and industry developments impacting cross-border payment activities.
- Support efforts to strengthen transparency, monitoring, and reporting capabilities across cross-border programs.
Enterprise Risk Management & Governance
- Connect Visa's Risk Appetite Framework to cross-border business strategy, growth objectives, and operational execution.
- Lead risk assessments for significant business initiatives, market expansions, product launches, and regulatory-driven changes.
- Drive compliance and execution across enterprise risk programs, including Product Risk Review (PRR) Risk & Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) Third-Party Lifecycle Management Program (TLMP) Visa Data Assessment (ViDA) Regulatory and Operational Risk Programs
- Develop comprehensive top-down and bottom-up risk views of the cross-border portfolio to inform leadership decision-making.
- Strengthen first-line ownership, accountability, governance, and issue management practices across the organization.
Risk Oversight, Reporting & Insights
- Develop and maintain comprehensive cross-border risk profiles spanning operational, strategic, regulatory, financial crime, and growth-related risks.
- Establish meaningful key risk indicators, dashboards, and reporting frameworks to support leadership oversight and regulatory readiness.
- Translate business activity, emerging issues, and risk events into actionable risk themes, trends, and mitigation priorities.
- Support executive, regulatory, and governance committee reporting through decision-useful risk insights and analysis.
- Drive continuous improvement in risk monitoring, reporting quality, and management information.
Executive Engagement & Influence
- Present cross-border risk themes, emerging developments, and portfolio-level insights to senior leadership.
- Develop compelling risk narratives that support strategic decision-making and sustainable growth.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to executives, helping balance risk management, regulatory obligations, innovation, client experience, and commercial objectives.
- Support regulator engagement, audit activities, governance forums, and leadership communications.
Change & Transformation Leadership
- Support strategic initiatives involving cross-border issuance, market expansion, operational modernization, monitoring and reporting enhancements, and new business models.
- Lead efforts to enhance governance, operational resiliency, controls maturity, and risk transparency across the Cross-Border portfolio.
- Foster a strong risk culture by embedding risk management practices into business planning, strategic decision-making, and day-to-day operations.
- Help shape the future Cross-Border risk operating model through strong stakeholder partnership, scalable governance, and proactive risk engagement.
This role is a Hybrid position to be located in our Atlanta, GA office location. 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
- Exceptional communication, presentation, stakeholder management, and executive influence skills.
- Proven ability to evaluate complex business, operational, and regulatory issues and translate them into practical risk and business recommendations.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking capabilities.
- Experience working across large, global, matrixed organizations and influencing senior stakeholders without direct authority.
- Experience supporting payment networks, cross-border payment businesses, issuing, acquiring, treasury, merchant, or transaction-based businesses.
- Strong understanding of cross-border payment flows, payment ecosystem participants, regulatory frameworks, and market expansion considerations.
- Proven ability to advise executive leadership on strategic initiatives, risk management, governance, and transformational change.
- Experience developing executive-level risk reporting, governance materials, and risk insights for senior leadership.
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.
- 12+ years of professional experience within financial services, payments, fintech, banking, consulting, or technology organizations.
- 7+ years supporting enterprise, operational, regulatory, strategic, product, or business risk functions.
- Demonstrated experience in Enterprise Risk Management, Operational Risk, Regulatory Risk, Strategic Risk, Product Risk, or Risk Business Partner roles.
- Strong understanding of payment ecosystems, financial services, fintech, banking, or cross-border payment environments.
- Experience partnering with Product, Client Services, Compliance, Legal, Government Engagement, Technology, and Operations functions.
- Experience leading or supporting enterprise risk programs including: Product Risk Reviews (PRR) Risk & Control Self-Assessments (RCSA) Third-Party Risk Management Operational Risk Management Regulatory Risk Management
- Knowledge of Visa's payments ecosystem, issuer and merchant landscape, cross-border payment capabilities, and regulatory environment preferred.
- MBA, Master's Degree, FRM, CRISC, CRCM, CISA, CFA, or equivalent professional certification preferred.
Ideal Candidate Profile
We are seeking a highly credible risk leader who combines strong enterprise risk expertise with deep business acumen, strategic thinking, and a practical understanding of the global payments ecosystem. This individual will serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership, helping shape the future of Visa's Cross-Border organization by providing independent risk insight, strengthening governance, and enabling sustainable growth.
The ideal candidate is equally comfortable discussing business strategy, regulatory expectations, operational resilience, and emerging payment trends. They possess the ability to navigate complex stakeholder environments, challenge constructively, and translate risk considerations into actionable business decisions. Most importantly, they can balance disciplined risk management with innovation and growth across an evolving cross-border payments landscape.
Information for US Applicants
Work Hours
Varies upon the needs of the department.
Travel Requirements
This position requires travel 5-10% of the time.
Mental/Physical Requirements
This position will be performed in an office setting. The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.
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 protect veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.