Senior Vice President, Artificial Intelligence and Research (Visa AI Studio)

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

The Opportunity

Visa is building the next generation of its technology platform, one where AI is foundational to how we process transactions, power products, and operate at global scale.

Visa AI Studio is the strategic engine behind Visa's AI transformation. Bringing together AI research, platform development, applied AI solutions, and next-generation technologies, Visa AI Studio is responsible for accelerating the journey from innovation to enterprise scale impact. The organization defines how AI is built, governed, and deployed across Visa, creating the platforms, capabilities, and standards that enable teams globally to harness AI securely, responsibly, and at scale. By connecting long term research with real world execution, Visa AI Studio drives the adoption of AI across Visa's products, platforms, operations, and customer experiences, helping shape the future of intelligent commerce.

We are looking for a senior leader to lead Visa AI Studio and shape AI across the company. This role brings together:

• AI platform engineering
• Generative AI and next generation capabilities
• Applied AI across critical business domains
• Visa Research and emerging technologies

This is not a traditional research role or a platform only role. It is an opportunity to define how AI is built, scaled, and applied across one of the largest, most critical technology platforms in the world.

What You'll Do

Lead Visa AI Studio

• Define the vision, strategy, operating model, and roadmap for Visa AI Studio
• Bring together AI platform engineering, applied AI, generative AI, and research into a cohesive enterprise capability
• Serve as a thought leader and executive advocate for AI innovation and adoption across Visa
• Establish a repeatable system for turning emerging AI technologies into scalable business value

Define Visa's Enterprise AI Strategy

• Set the vision for enterprise AI platforms and services
• Shape how AI is applied across transaction processing, risk and fraud management, client-facing products, operations, and internal productivity
• Partner with senior leaders across Technology and the broader business to embed AI into core strategy and execution

Build and Scale AI Platforms

• Lead the teams that build the foundational AI platform used across the company
• Develop scalable AI/ML platforms spanning training, inference, experimentation, and lifecycle management
• Advance Generative AI, large language model, and agentic AI capabilities
• Establish enterprise MLOps, AI engineering, and model governance practices
• Deliver reusable AI services and capabilities that can be adopted across Visa

Accelerate Enterprise AI Adoption

• Enable product and platform teams to adopt AI quickly, securely, and responsibly
• Deliver reusable capabilities rather than isolated use cases
• Improve consistency, scalability, quality, and reliability of AI solutions across the enterprise
• Drive measurable business outcomes through AI-enabled products and platforms

Drive AI Innovation and Incubation

• Establish mechanisms for identifying, incubating, and scaling emerging AI technologies
• Create structured pathways for experimentation, validation, and commercialization
• Partner closely with engineering and product teams to accelerate adoption of innovations
• Lead the transition from research and prototypes into production-grade capabilities

Lead Visa Research

• Set the strategy and direction for AI research and emerging technologies
• Advance innovation in generative AI, agentic systems, advanced machine learning, and future technologies
• Build a clear pipeline from research → incubation → prototype → platform capability → production deployment
• Ensure research investments align to long-term business and technology priorities

Establish Enterprise Standards and Governance

• Define standards for model development, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring
• Establish best practices for GenAI architectures, agentic systems, and responsible AI
• Ensure alignment with enterprise security, privacy, risk, compliance, and regulatory expectations
• Promote responsible innovation while maintaining speed and agility

Build and Lead a World-Class Organization

• Attract, develop, and retain top talent across AI/ML engineering, platform engineering, applied AI, data science, and research
• Build strong leadership across a global, distributed organization
• Foster a culture of innovation, technical excellence, accountability, and customer impact
• Create an environment where long-term innovation and operational execution coexist successfully

What Makes This Role Unique

• Enterprise-wide impact: Lead Visa AI Studio and shape how AI is built, governed, and deployed across Visa
• Innovation to production: Own the full lifecycle from research and incubation through enterprise adoption and business value realization
• Massive scale: Build AI capabilities for one of the world's largest payment and commerce networks
• Unique breadth: Combine AI research, platform engineering, applied AI, generative AI, and enterprise transformation under a single leadership mandate
• Strategic importance: Help define how Visa competes, innovates, and grows in an AI-driven future
  

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• 15 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 12 years of work experience with an Advanced degree (e.g. Masters/MBA/ JD/MD) or a minimum of 10 years of work experience with a PhD
• 15+ years of relevant experience in software engineering, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data platforms, or related technology disciplines
• 10+ years of people leadership experience managing large-scale engineering, AI/ML, research, or platform organizations
• Proven experience building and scaling AI/ML systems in production environments
• Demonstrated success leading global, geographically distributed organizations
• Experience operating as a senior technology leader in a complex enterprise environment
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related discipline
• Deep expertise in AI/ML platforms, distributed systems, and model lifecycle management
• Experience leading Generative AI, LLM, agentic AI, or advanced machine learning initiatives at scale
• Proven track record of translating research and emerging technologies into commercial products or enterprise capabilities
• Experience leading both research and engineering organizations
• Strong understanding of responsible AI, governance, security, privacy, and regulatory considerations
• Demonstrated ability to influence executive stakeholders and drive enterprise-wide transformation
• Experience operating within highly regulated, large-scale technology environments
• Strong business acumen and ability to translate complex technical concepts into measurable business outcomes
• Track record of attracting, mentoring, and developing world-class AI and engineering talent

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

Why work here?

If you thrive on rapid growth and enjoy working alongside positive, driven teammates, you’ll feel right at home here.

Help us to uplift everyone, everywhere. Whether you’re starting your career, pushing your capabilities or are a seasoned professional, learn how we can partner to reimagine the world.

About Us

At Visa, we are driven by a common purpose – to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid. Our evolving technology keeps us at the heart of the digital economy, connecting people to 80+ million businesses worldwide. Backed by a resilient, proven model, our expanding network fuels growth—for Visa and for your career.

Learn our recruiting process

Your journey starts here — discover how we hire

Ready to take the next step? Learn more about life at Visa, explore our hiring process and get first-hand insights by hearing directly from our recruiters about what to expect. Apply with confidence today!

Learn our recruiting process