VP, Head of Data Science, Europe

Company Description

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.

Make an impact with a purpose-driven industry leader. Join us today and experience Life at Visa.

Job Description

·       Provide thought leadership in data science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, techniques, and business applications to unlock the value of Visa’s unique data set

·       Evangelize the creative use of data, analytics and AI to solve business problems internally and externally

·       Help set and deliver Visa’s Data and AI vision and roadmap, with focus in Europe

·       Continually look at the environment to challenge our assumptions around new sources of data, potential analytics partners, tools, talent etc.

·       Contribute to VCA strategy and execution of the VCA vision

Client Leadership

·       Work with the European VCA Leadership Team to define how Visa’s data assets and analytical capabilities can best help our clients grow and reinforce the value of Visa

·       Identify trends in our client work to inform our data product development path

·       Engage with internal clients to improve delivery of analytic projects

People Leadership

·       Recruit, develop, and retain a world class team of employees that support a diverse group of internal and external clients

·       Help develop and execute our data science and AI talent stratagy

Engage with the Business Intelligence / Data Platforms team to inform that team’s development of self-service tools to enabling and supporting the VCA Data Science function

Personal Characteristics

• An intellectually curious and humble leader with a high degree of compassion, able to engage, enable and inspire others
• A hands-on approach to all activities with real passion and high levels of energy.  Agile and comfortable adapting to different environments.
• Courageous innovator: creative and resourceful in overcoming barriers and unexpected roadblocks 
• An authentic leader who intuitively engenders an inclusive environment, enabling the business to reach its ambitious goals
• Diversity of thought and experience, continually seeks new perspectives and feedback, takes an inclusive approach
• High personal standards of ethics and integrity towards employees, stakeholders, and customers
• High levels of learning-agility with a real interest in developing relationships with progressive businesses, combining a ‘technology / digital-first’ approach
• Entrepreneurial and comfortable with ambiguous and change-led environments, self-confident with an authentic style that gravitates to championing change.
• Eager to seek a challenge and expand frontiers, brings a visionary approach.  Sets and meets a high bar of goals and principles
• Servant leadership mentality: deeply committed to serving and listening to others.  Natural ability to build strong relationships and enable collaboration through empathy and authenticity.
• Passionate about the payments industry.
• Committed to building a community through Visa Leadership Principles:

•  We Lead by Example
•  We Communicate Openly
•  We Enable and Inspire
•  We Excel with Partners
•  We Act Decisively
•  We Collaborate

Qualifications

Ideal Background and Qualifications:
• 15+ years of work experience, ideally, within the financial services or payments industry and/or strategy consulting, at least 7 of which in progressive senior leadership roles
• Subject matter expertise in data science, analytics, and artificial intelligence, deep understanding of advanced and emerging forms of data-science techniques
• Strategic and commercially astute leader with experience of monetizing data (products and services) in fast-paced industries where data is the core business driver

Stakeholder Management
• Strong consultative skills to establish relationships across the broader organization
• Ability communicate at all levels with both business and technology leaders, with a strong understand of business data requirements and technology capabilities
• Ability to build consensus and influence a broad set of constituencies
People and Functional Leadership
• Proven experience building, leading, and inspiring a high-performing team of data scientists to support growth objectives. Operate as a thought leader and visionary, with the ability to guide, influence and inspire peak performance across the function
• Experience leading a large data science function in fast-paced environment
International experience and Education
• International experience and understanding of Emerging Markets dynamic is a plus
• An advanced degree in a quantitative field (such as statistics, mathematics, engineering, or economics) would be preferred

Additional Information

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.