Sr. Director - job 18 of 20

The Sr. Director at Visa is tasked with leading multiple technical teams, overseeing the overall development life cycle, and nurturing a culture of engineering excellence. Key responsibilities include delivering complex products, managing technical debt, collaboration across different teams, and ensuring a strong client focus. The role also entails hiring and developing high-performing diverse engineering teams, prioritizing enhancements, and driving the modernization roadmap.

To excel as a Sr. Director at Visa, candidates should possess significant experience in agile delivery and have a strong background in leading diverse technical teams. Experience in payments, particularly in high-volume transaction processing, is preferred. Successful candidates should also have expertise in implementing best engineering practices, a commitment to mentorship, and a knack for fostering innovation within cross-functional environments.

The Sr. Director plays a critical role in shaping product strategy by partnering with product owners to develop a clear and aligned roadmap that meets business goals. By collaborating with various departments such as Cybersecurity and Client Support, the Sr. Director ensures that products and services meet high standards of quality, performance, and security, ultimately driving Visa’s vision forward.

Visa seeks a Sr. Director who exhibits a strong client-focused mindset and excels in leading through influence. The expected leadership style involves hands-on guidance, a commitment to mentorship, and the ability to foster a collaborative culture within technical teams. It’s essential to balance innovation with operational excellence while also championing diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

As a Sr. Director at Visa, you have unique opportunities to advance both your career and the company’s innovation agenda. You will have a direct impact on the growth of Visa's Issuing Solutions, exploring new technologies such as Gen AI, and helping to shape the future of payments. Your involvement in building modular, open solutions presents an exciting path to assess and seize new revenue opportunities for Visa.

It's beneficial to emphasize a collaborative and inclusive leadership style that prioritizes mentorship and empowering team members. Share examples from your previous roles where you successfully led diverse teams to achieve common goals, demonstrating your ability to influence while fostering a strong culture of excellence.

Discuss your approach to prioritization by mentioning methods like Agile methodologies, regular team meetings, and transparent communication. Highlight how you iterate and adapt priorities based on business needs, always striving to align with stakeholder expectations.

Be prepared to give detailed examples of products you've managed through their entire life cycle. Highlight your role in coordinating with cross-functional teams and ensuring alignment across various stakeholders, including challenges you faced and how you overcame them.

Talk about specific initiatives you’ve implemented to champion engineering best practices, such as code reviews, continuous integration, training programs, and diversity initiatives. Provide examples where these practices have led to improved team performance and project outcomes.

Explain how you’ve created an environment that encourages creativity by providing resources, time for experimentation, and recognizing innovative ideas. Share concrete instances where team members proposed successful projects or initiatives that positively impacted the organization.

Describe your methodology for identifying and addressing technical debt, such as incorporating it into the regular project review process. It's important to discuss how you balance quality improvements with ongoing feature delivery, ensuring that technical debt is managed without stalling development.

Outline your commitment to mentorship and professional development, discussing programs or practices like regular feedback sessions, career path planning, and skills training. Demonstrating an understanding of how to both recruit top talent and retain it is vital.

Illustrate your experiences with facilitating collaboration, perhaps through joint workshops or team-building exercises that enhance understanding between different disciplines. Highlight the importance of mutual respect and open communication as key components to successful collaboration.

Mention specific cultural or communication challenges you've encountered while leading global teams, discussing how you adapted your management style or initiatives you implemented to enhance team cohesion, such as adjusting meeting times for different time zones.

Illustrate your proactive approach toward continuous learning, mentioning sources such as industry conferences, online courses, webinars, and networking with professionals in the technology space. Share how you integrate new knowledge into your teams and projects.