U.S. Merchant Growth & Partnerships Lead

VISA; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 154,000 - 246,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

401(k)

FSA/HSA

Life Insurance

Paid Time Off

Wellness Program

Job summary

Visa is seeking a Senior Manager, U.S. Merchant Business Development in San Francisco to manage a portfolio of 20–25 strategic merchant relationships.

You will drive revenue growth, expand executive engagement, and align client priorities with Visa’s product portfolio. You will pursue high-potential opportunities across industries, collaborate with internal stakeholders, and lead account strategies with a focus on payments, co-brand programs, and value-in-kind engagements.

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
• Experience in strategic sales, business development, account management, relationship development, payments, or related client-facing commercial roles.
• Strong understanding of the U.S. payments ecosystem, including merchants, issuers, acquirers, debit routing strategies, and co-brand programs.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary Account Executive and relationship owner for a portfolio of approximately 20-25 strategic merchant clients.
• Maintain and actively pursue a prioritized list of high-potential prospects outside the assigned portfolio, qualifying and advancing opportunities based on revenue potential, strategic value, and likelihood of execution.
• Develop and execute account plans that strengthen client relationships, expand executive engagement, and drive revenue growth.
• Prioritize client opportunities and allocate time and resources based on revenue potential, strategic value, and likelihood of execution.
• Build relationships across client organizations, including payments, finance, treasury, loyalty, digital commerce, and technology teams.
• Lead or support the negotiation, execution, and ongoing management of commercial agreements, including Debit Routing Agreements and other strategic revenue-generating partnerships.
• Own the end-to-end management of Value-in-Kind (VIK) across applicable accounts, including opportunity identification, client engagement, execution, activation, and measurement of business outcomes.
• Prospect, qualify, and advance co-brand credit and debit opportunities in partnership with issuer and internal Visa stakeholders.
• Drive sales of Visa products, value-added services, consulting, data, risk, acceptance, and emerging commerce solutions, including agentic commerce.
• Build and maintain a robust pipeline of opportunities while meeting revenue, product adoption, and portfolio growth objectives.
• Maintain high-quality account, contact, pipeline, forecasting, and opportunity records within Microsoft Dynamics (MSD) and other sales management tools, ensuring strong data integrity and reporting accuracy.
• Utilize AI-enabled sales tools, automation, and data insights to improve prospecting, client engagement, portfolio coverage, pipeline management, and scalable programs such as VIK.
• Coordinate cross-functional account teams to deliver a seamless client experience and maximize the value of Visa's relationship with assigned accounts.
• Provide strategic client, industry, and competitive insights to Visa leadership and product teams.
• Travel up to 20% of the time, generally averaging approximately one client-facing trip per month.

Skills

Strategic sales

Account management

Relationship development

Payments ecosystem

CRM proficiency

AI-enabled productivity

Communication skills

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree (MBA, JD, MD)

Tools

Microsoft Dynamics

Excel

PowerPoint

CRM tools

Job description

Visa is seeking a Senior Manager, U.S. Merchant Business Development in San Francisco to manage a portfolio of 20–25 strategic merchant relationships.

You will drive revenue growth, expand executive engagement, and align client priorities with Visa’s product portfolio. You will pursue high-potential opportunities across industries, collaborate with internal stakeholders, and lead account strategies with a focus on payments, co-brand programs, and value-in-kind engagements.