Team Summary

Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA) drives tangible, impactful and financial results for Visa's clients, including card issuers, acquirers, and merchants. Drawing on our expertise in strategy consulting, data analytics, brand management, marketing, operations and macroeconomics, VCA solves the most strategic problems for our clients.

The VCA team within Japan provides a comprehensive range of consulting services and solutions to our clients in Japan, that address unique challenges in areas such as strategic growth, profitability, risk management and digital strategy.

VCA Dedicated Team members play a key role in enhancing the partnership with one of Visa Japan’s largest clients by supporting strategic planning and implementation of their most strategic initiatives.

What a Director, VCA Dedicated Team does at Visa:

We are seeking a Consulting Director to lead strategic engagements for one of Visa’s largest clients in Japan, driving tech innovation and business process reengineering (BPR) as key levers for business improvement and growth. The Consulting Director will manage initiatives that address business issues and unlock opportunities through IT innovation, data utilization and process optimization, with initially prioritized areas such as risk and security management, leveraging AI-driven strategies as a core enabler. This position requires a skilled generalist with strong consulting capabilities who can lead, manage, and deliver impactful solutions aligned with client priorities.

Responsibilities:

On a project-by-project basis:

• Lead strategic discussions with the client to identify critical business challenges and opportunities in tech innovation, process reengineering and data utilization, propose actionable solutions, and define priorities and timelines.
• Apply a holistic consulting approach to improve effectiveness and efficiency of risk and security management, positioning it as a prioritized focus area and leveraging AI-driven strategies and Visa solutions to address challenges and opportunities.
• Drive AI-powered business growth initiatives to ideate, propose, and implement strategies that increment topline performance for the payment business as well as broader group business opportunities.
• Manage client inquiries regarding relevant operation, rules and system, including planning, tracking progress, mitigating risks, and ensuring high-quality outcomes.
• Lead client engagement activities such as proposal development, contracting, stakeholder alignment, and fact-based analysis through interviews and documentation review to support actionable recommendations.
• Collaborate with Visa product teams, global hubs, and functional experts to bring specialized knowledge and Visa capabilities into engagements.
• Design and deliver compelling presentations to executive level client stakeholders to communicate findings, recommendations, and strategic insights.

More generally:

• Identify and surface opportunities for client projects in tech innovation, process optimization, and strategic advisory for inclusion in account plans.
• Manage and coach team members, fostering growth and ensuring high-quality deliverables.
• Contribute to development of analytical models, methodologies, and standardized VCA offerings.
• Produce thought leadership and best practices in tech innovation and AI-driven strategies to strengthen VCA’s consulting capabilities.

Why this is important to Visa

Our purpose is to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

VCA’s services allow our clients to boost their business performance by leveraging Visa’s expansive solution, thought leadership, and market insights and data. This in turn drives Visa’s business, creating a win-win relationship where both client and Visa’s incentives are aligned to grow the business. This dynamic combined with the long-term relationship we have with clients enables a deeper level of engagement and impact compared to traditional consulting firms. VCA projects also help drive Visa Japan’s strategic initiatives and accelerate Japan’s transformation to a cashless society.

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

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
• You will bring a breadth of professional experience and a strong curiosity about the payments industry, eager to deepen your expertise by working alongside an experienced team. You are client-focused and comfortably managing projects end-to-end, enjoy the opportunity to work closely with clients and help shape their future success.

Specific skills and experience required:

• Fluent Japanese and business-level proficiency in English
• 12+ years of high-performance experience in strategy consulting, product management or project management
• Proven track record managing complex, cross-functional, and cross-regional projects
• Superior analytical and problem-solving skills, with demonstrated intellectual rigor
• Strong team orientation with a collaborative, diplomatic, and adaptable style: effective in a matrixed organization
• Exceptional attention to detail, ensuring the highest quality and rigor in reports and data analysis
• Excellent presentation skills, with strong oral and written communication abilities
• Self-motivated and results-driven, adept at managing multiple priorities simultaneously
• Flexible mindset with resilience, able to adjust plans and scope while effectively managing client expectations
• Strong commercial acumen, with experience developing business cases and demonstrating proven ROI
• Passion for analytics and its power to inform strategy and tactics, with a proven ability to generate actionable insights from data
• Demonstrated ability to lead and inspire team members toward high performance
• Experience in the payments, banking, or technology sectors
• Familiarity with statistical analysis, modeling, and scoring schemes
• Demonstrated experience managing and developing teams, including performance management and coaching

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.