Strategic Payments Consulting & Analytics Leader

Visa; Ashburn (VA); On-site; USD 138,000 - 222,000; Full time

Job summary

Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) partners with Visa’s clients to solve their most important strategic challenges and drive meaningful business results. We bring together strategy consulting, analytics, payments expertise, and deep industry insight to help financial institutions and merchants grow, compete, and innovate in a rapidly evolving payments landscape.

The North America Consulting Practice within VCA works closely with U.S.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor Degree or at least 5 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 2 years of work experience with a PhD.
• 9+ years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor Degree or 7+ years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 3+ years of experience with a PhD.
• Ideal candidate will have 3-5 years of consulting experience and payments background.
• Effectively engage with mid-to-senior level stakeholders at regional banks and credit unions, adapting communication to diverse client sophistication levels.
• Thrive in a lean, fast-paced environment where team members operate with a high degree of ownership, adaptability, and accountability across both sales and delivery responsibilities.
• Demonstrate strong prioritization and operational discipline when balancing multiple clients, engagements, and business development activities.
• Passionate, self-motivated, results-oriented individual with the ability to handle numerous projects concurrently.
• Knowledge and understanding of banking operations and/or payment schemes, including products & services, business systems and processes, and marketing initiatives.
• Excellent client relationship management skills and ability to develop a credible point of view on a variety of industry topics, acting as a trusted advisor.
• Strong analytical skills, with demonstrated intellectual and analytical rigor.
• Executive presence including excellent communication and presentations skills, written and verbal, and ability to communicate at all levels within large organizations.
• Demonstrated leadership, managerial and collaboration capabilities, particularly with those who are not direct reports as may be found in a matrixed organization.
• Experience in several key payments business areas, such as portfolio management, marketing, product management, operations, risk management, for both credit and debit cards.
• Experience using financial indicators to measure business performance with a significant focus on impacting return on investment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a strategic advisor to U.S. financial institutions.
• Lead consulting engagements from strategy definition through recommendations, ensuring insights are clear, actionable, and tailored to executive audiences.
• Develop compelling strategic frameworks and points of view that address clients’ most critical business questions.
• Own client engagements by setting direction, defining scope, managing timelines, and guiding teams to deliver high‑quality outcomes.
• Translate complex data into clear insights and recommendations that inform client decisions and improve portfolio performance.
• Partner closely with analytics, data science, marketing, risk, innovation, and product teams to bring the full power of Visa to each engagement.
• Collaborate with Visa account and regional leaders to identify opportunities where VCA can add strategic value.
• Contribute to client pursuits by shaping strategic narratives, creating executive‑level presentations, and supporting Statements of Work (SOWs).
• Help position Visa as a long‑term, strategic partner—not just a payments provider.
• Develop scalable consulting offerings, toolkits, and best practices that can be reused across clients and segments.
• Share insights and lessons learned to strengthen VCA’s intellectual capital and market relevance.

Skills

Executive presence

Analytical skills

Leadership and collaboration

Client relationship management

Communication skills

Prioritization

Payments knowledge

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor degree or higher

Job description

Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) partners with Visa’s clients to solve their most important strategic challenges and drive meaningful business results. We bring together strategy consulting, analytics, payments expertise, and deep industry insight to help financial institutions and merchants grow, compete, and innovate in a rapidly evolving payments landscape.

The North America Consulting Practice within VCA works closely with U.S.