Sr Director, Head of Benefits Center of Excellence in London

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.

Job Description

Visa's Benefits Centre of Excellence (CoE) aims to centralise the sourcing, negotiation, onboarding and lifecycle management of premium benefits, giving issuers a turnkey solution that elevates Visa’s consumer propositions and directly advances our Consumer Solutions Strategy for Affluent in Europe. Its scope spans Europe-wide supplier identification, commercial and operating model for faster time to market, higher cost efficiencies in benefits sourcing, and optimal partner integration with ongoing performance optimisation across Travel, Peace of Mind, Lifestyle & Entertainment, and other benefit areas - driving affluent acquisition, activation and spend, fuelling sustainable revenue growth for our clients.

This role will be responsible for establishing and leading the Insurance benefits vertical, best practices, sales and operational excellence, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and delivering measurable impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Sourcing and Commercial Leadership
  • Develop and execute a sourcing strategy for insurance benefits that prioritizes innovation, differentiation, and commercial viability.
  • Lead negotiations with insurance benefit providers, securing favorable commercial terms, managing cost structures, and maximizing margins.
  • Own the contracting process, ensuring compliance, risk mitigation, and alignment with Visa’s strategic goals.
  • Design and implement scalable insurance benefits with clear pricing models and profitability targets.
• Product Ownership & Innovation
  • Define and evolve the strategic roadmap for benefits with propositions team, ensuring differentiation, customer relevance, and alignment with strategy.
  • Own the full product lifecycle—from ideation and design to launch and post-launch optimization.
  • Continuously gather user and client feedback to identify pain points and drive enhancements.
• Profitability and Performance Management
  • Establish and manage benefit‑level dashboards to track key metrics including engagement, cost, margin, NPS, and ROI.
  • Monitor and optimize program economics, identifying levers to improve profitability and reduce operational inefficiencies.
  • Collaborate with Finance and Operations to align on financial targets, forecasting, and performance reviews.
• Partner Onboarding & Relationship Management
  • Oversee onboarding of benefit providers, ensuring seamless integration, operational readiness, and brand alignment.
  • Manage ongoing relationships with global and regional partners, driving joint roadmaps and mutual value creation.
  • Ensure structured performance reviews and feedback loops with providers.
• Operational Excellence & Program Delivery
  • Ensure flawless execution of benefits across markets, maintaining high standards of quality, service, and client customization.
  • Implement best practices in program management, including lifecycle oversight, issue resolution, and post‑event reporting.
  • Drive continuous improvement in delivery processes, leveraging data and feedback to refine operations.
• Market Activation and Sales Enablement
  • Support client engagements with compelling benefit narratives and segment‑specific content.
  • Collaborate with sub‑regional teams to tailor benefit offerings to local market needs and drive adoption.
  • Lead go‑to‑market strategies for benefit packages, enabling deployment at issuer or market level.
• Team Leadership & Capability Building
  • Build and lead a world‑class benefits team with expertise in sourcing, contracting, partner management, and operations.
  • Foster a culture of excellence, innovation, and accountability, ensuring continuous development and high performance.
  • Define clear roles, responsibilities, and success metrics across the team to drive execution and impact.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager. Visa requires at least 3 days in office, expectations of these days will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager.

Qualifications

• Experience: Consumer banking, payments, engagement/ loyalty management, CVP building experience, credit card proposition design desirable.
• Partnership Skills: Proven track record in negotiating and securing high‑value partnerships globally and within Europe.
• Product Expertise: Experience designing, building, and launching consumer benefits with issuers and FinTech’s.
• Strategic & Analytical: Ability to interpret market trends and client needs into innovative solutions.
• Technical Aptitude: Comfortable with functional specifications and diverse partner ecosystem integrations.
• Execution Focus: Results‑driven, able to deliver in fast‑paced environments with cross‑functional engagement.
• Soft Skills: Strong negotiation, problem‑solving, communication, collaborative team player.
• Mindset: Strategic thinker with ability to connect vision to execution.

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.