Enterprise Risk Management & Operational Risk Senior Director

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.

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As the world’s leader in digital payments technology, Visa’s mission is to connect the world through the most creative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce.

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What’s it all about?

The Senior Director of ERM and Operational Risk will lead the Enterprise Risk Management and Operational Risk and resilience teams for the European region – reporting directly to the CRO of Visa Europe.

This is a senior leadership role that will involve frequent collaboration with the European executive team on high impact initiatives and efforts. The role holder will establish the Enterprise Risk Management architecture for VEL, you will oversee all Operational Risk Management activities for the organisation, monitor and analyse risks within the VEL business units and report on these risks to the VEL Board. You will have responsibility for ensuring Visa Europe has a sound risk-management framework for comprehensively managing it’s risks and credible second line oversight across all risks and responsibility for developing and maintaining Visa Europe’s Operational Resilience framework.

The successful candidate will be a strategic thinker, ideally with a background in Enterprise Risk Management and Operational Risk, with significant problem-solving experience and proven ability in quickly grasping and communicating complex topics in a fast paced work environment for a systemically important payment provider.

This Europe based position is a regional role with dual reporting to the Europe Chief Risk Officer and the SVP Global Head of Corporate and Ecosystem Risk. As part of the Risk Europe leadership team, the Senior Director will be responsible for the maintenance, review and revision of the ERM Frameworks, KRIs and Operational Risk Management Policy and Framework, While Risk Management is carried out by the First-Line, the Operational Risk function is accountable for monitoring and ensuring that Operational Risk is appropriately identified, assessed, understood/calibrated, controlled and managed, with Risk Appetite clearly articulated and supported by appropriate stress testing. OR is also responsible for ensuring appropriate escalation, follow-up and learning from Operational Risk Events / Incidents. The role-holder is expected to deliver the required expertise to facilitate delivery of these OR accountabilities by the managers within the function and others. Creation of new policies within the Operations Risk area, Defining Operations Risk Monitoring methodologies, Implementing a system for measuring / monitoring Operations Risk. This will involve assessing available packages or initiating development of a bespoke system with the vendors, Owning the Operational Risk (OR) processes and responsible for ensuring compliance with any regulatory OR requirements, Overseeing the Operational Resilience of important businesses and functions of the firm.
Specific responsibilities include:

• Lead the ERM and Operational Risk team in Europe, aligning closely with the global teams wherever possible
• Lead the SLOD oversight of the Operational Risk management and operational resilience across Europe.
• Lead the required enhancements to Enterprise Risk for Europe, including designing the plan to achieve a holistic risk view and engagement.
• Create a holistic strategy for ERM and Operational Risk, to ensure that interlinkages and dependencies are clear and drive continuous improvement in these areas.
• Engage closely with the global risk team to reflect the global approach and share the European specificities for inclusion
• Build strong relationships with the European senior leadership team to deliver successful risk outcomes for them
• Ensure the strategic macro-level risk themes and barriers to success are identified through the work of the team and hold others accountable for overcoming those barriers
• Create and design the approach to ensure the top down risks are identified and analysed
• Creates clear strategic priorities for the business and aligns resources accordingly. Ensures that decisions are made in a timely manner without overanalyzing data, holds others accountable for meeting goals.
• Develop clear and concise executive level communications. Communicate recommendations to senior management, other executive, functional, or regional staff and management in a clear, concise and impactful way.
• Lead efforts in second line risk partnership with the business for the European region, to ensure stronger Operational Risk outcomes
• Create the engagement strategy to oversee operational resilience oversight across Europe, which will be delivered through the team, by others across Risk and in the wider business.
• Enhance the assurance strategy for Operational Risk and resilience
• Drive new regional initiatives to achieve strategic risk outcomes. Apply a variety of frameworks and strategies to solve business problems and opportunities.
• Design and implement a strategy to ensure Operational Risk events and near misses are tracked. Through the team, ensure the changes needed to address these issues are implemented.
• Provide local oversight of the Operational resilience programme in order to ensure that Visa Europe has the controls and oversight approach to oversee operational resilience and is able to meet local regulatory requirements
• KRI development for VEL Board, VEL management team
• Lead and coach a high performing team, empowering employees to be accountable in delivering on key results and upholding our leadership principles.

This is a hybrid position. Hybrid employees can alternate time between both remote and office. Employees in hybrid roles are expected to work from the office 2-3 set days a week (determined by leadership/site), with a general guidepost of being in the office 50% or more of the time based on business needs.

• Extensive senior leadership experience, with a combination of Enterprise risk and Operating experience required.
• Strong Operational Risk experience with a proven track record in implementing change and assurance programmes.
• Extensive Operational Risk expertise, data and analytical skills.
• Flexible, intellectually curious, creative thinker with the ability to define business trade-offs, generate out-of-the-box solutions and manage uncertainty.
• Ability to lead and influence decisions of others, including European executive team and other partners.
• Excellent people management skills with experience managing and building a high performing team, including recruiting and retaining talent, and developing team members.
• Proven interpersonal and leadership skills with ability to successfully promote collaboration across different teams, cultures, and interface with people at all levels of the organisation including senior executives at clients across the Europe region.
• An intellectually curious but humble leader with a high degree of compassion, able to engage, enable and inspire others and intuitively engenders an inclusive environment.
• Strong knowledge on utilising AI and GenAI to reduce risks
• Ability to structure and manage complex cross-enterprise projects and processes with multiple stakeholders.
• Superior analytical and problem solving skills, with demonstrated intellectual and analytical rigor.
• Experienced in leading and executing complex, cross-functional strategic projects.
• Strong interpersonal skills with presence and the ability to clearly communicate compelling messages to senior and executive management, clients, peers, and team members.
• Ability to work with limited direction, usually within a complex and often ambiguous environment, to drive rigorous, fact-based recommendations to senior and executive management, while supporting syndication with stakeholders across the organisation.

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.