Sr. Director, Marketing Services, KSA, Bahrain & Oman at Visa

Visa; Riyadh; Hybrid; SAR 500,000 - 800,000; Full time

Job summary

Visa in Saudi Arabia seeks a seasoned Senior Director to scale Marketing Services across KSA, Bahrain and Oman. You will translate regional strategy into a sub-regional plan, win new clients and deepen relationships across banks, merchants and fintechs.

You will lead client-facing teams, own the pipeline and P&L, and partner with VCA, Products, Sales and Finance to deliver end-to-end marketing execution and data-driven advisory. Strong leadership and communication are essential.

Qualifications

• Minimum 15 years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree (or 12+ years with an Advanced degree).
• Proven leader with a track record of building and developing diverse, top-performing teams.
• Strong cross-country collaboration and ability to navigate a matrix organization.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills to senior executives.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive KBO Marketing Services pipeline, P&L, and financials.
• Develop senior client relationships across financial institutions, merchants and fintechs.
• Commercialize marketing advisory services aligned with Visa assets and data.
• Partner with VCA, Products, Sales, Finance for a One Visa approach.
• Build and lead a high-performing client-facing Marketing Services team across KSA, Bahrain and Oman.
• Oversee annual planning with pipeline governance, resource prioritization, and delivery oversight.
• Expand capabilities in advisory, digital, martech, and measurement; ensure client satisfaction.
• Provide executive-level communications on performance, risks, and progress.

Skills

Leadership

Client relationships

Marketing strategy

Analytical thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s Degree

Advanced degree (MBA/JD/MD)

Job description

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.

Team Summary

Our marketing services business is a rapidly growing business and part of Visa's overall strategic growth priority to deliver value added services revenue through client engagements.

What a Senior Director, Marketing Services KBO does at Visa:

Visa is looking for a seasoned leader to grow Marketing Services across KSA, Bahrain and Oman. The selected candidate will translate the CEMEA Marketing Services strategy into a KBO sub-regional plan, build senior client relationships and work with country business development teams to win new clients and expand existing relationships across financial institutions, merchants and fintechs.

The role will partner closely with Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA), Products, Sales and Finance to deliver marketing strategy, brand advisory, research and insights, cardholder lifecycle marketing and end-to-end marketing execution. The ideal candidate will combine client leadership, commercial discipline and deep marketing expertise. The individual will set clear priorities for the KBO Marketing Services business, develop a high-performing client-facing team and operate effectively through direct and matrixed relationships in a fast-paced environment. The role requires a consultative, analytical and collaborative approach, with strong digital and marketing technology capability. The selected individual will own the KBO Marketing Services pipeline, P&L and annual plan, while building scalable capabilities that help clients strengthen their brands, acquire and engage consumers and improve omnichannel marketing maturity. This role will dual report to the VP, Marketing Services, CEMEA and the Head of Marketing, GCC.

Essential Functions

• Owning and running the KBO Marketing Services pipeline, P&L and financials to meet agreed short-, medium- and long-term goals and objectives.
• Developing senior relationships with clients across financial institutions, merchants and fintechs, and building a clear understanding of their business objectives, marketing priorities and success measures.
• Developing and commercializing marketing advisory and services that align client needs with Visa's brand positioning, sponsorship assets, data, insights and execution capabilities.
• Partnering with Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA), Products, Sales, Finance and the KBO country leadership to deliver a coordinated 'One Visa' approach for clients.
• Building, leading and continuously developing a high-performing client-facing Marketing Services team across KSA, Bahrain and Oman.
• Managing the annual planning cycle through a strategic, bottom-up approach, including pipeline governance, resource prioritization, delivery oversight and financial rigor.
• Expanding advisory, digital, martech and measurement capabilities; maintaining client satisfaction; and providing clear executive-level communications on performance, risks and progress.
• Leading on overall policy and process governance, quality assurance and delivery excellence in partnership with supporting business functions such as Compliance, Sourcing and Controllership.

Working Conditions

Visa requires at least 3 days in office, expectations of these days will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager.

Qualifications

• Minimum 15 years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 12 years of experience with an Advanced degree (e.g. Masters/MBA/JD/MD)
• Proven leader with a track record of building and developing diverse, top performing and highly engaged teams
• Independent, self-starter with a proven record of driving complex strategies across large teams
• Strong relationship building experience along with the ability to collaborate and work across countries and various business units to execute on a strategy and develop a new business
• Strong influencing skills across a matrix environment
• Ability to structure and manage complex projects and processes with multiple stakeholders at both senior and junior levels
• Able to identify issues, conduct analyses, synthesize findings, and make recommendations
• Personal presence and ability to clearly communicate compelling messages to senior level executives, excellent presentation skills, including strong oral and writing capabilities
• Proven ability to build and develop a goal-oriented culture and continually raise the bar for team achievements
• Executes decisions with the goals and vision of the company in mind, acts as a representative of the company brand both internally and externally
• Client marketing, consulting, sales, or other client-facing experience required
• Ability to quickly understand market/client business strategies and needs, and use that to identify opportunities for joint marketing programmes that deliver growth for the client and Visa
• Prior experience identifying, scoping, pitching, and advising Clients on data-driven marketing strategies preferred, in market or in region experience preferred
• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills, strong analytic skills, ability to translate data and insights into marketing strategies
• Deep understanding of the payments marketing landscape and working knowledge of payment product economics preferred
• Comfortable operating in ‘white space’, proactively pursuing new ideas/capabilities, building out a “playbook” approach enabling scalable/ repeatable solutions
• Strong financial acumen and ability to partner with all divisions of Finance.

EEO Statement

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.