Senior Manager, Solutions Management

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

What a Sales Planning and Operations Lead of VAS does at Visa:
The primary objective for this role is to ensure that the Japan VAS, Value Added Service, team is able to deliver highest value to both client/partners and Visa.  This will center on the team understanding clients/partners’ objectives, business challenges and opportunities and collaborating with internal stakeholders to bring the best of Visa’s capabilities to help grow their businesses. 

This role reports to the Head of Japan VAS and comes with people leadership responsibilities. As there is a need to actively collaborate with other functional teams within Japan, it is also a highly visible role.

The ideal candidate must have the ability to gain deep subject matter depth on a multitude of topics on short notice and be skilled at the synthesis of multiple sources of information (qualitative and quantitative) to create real and actionable insight for leadership.  He or she must stay in front of innovation trends in the payments industry and be able to develop an independent point of view on topics in the face of uncertainty and imperfect information.

Best-suited candidates will be a persuasive, inspiring, and clear communicator with high emotional intelligence as well as being analytical, self-motivated, and able to collaborate well with others from a diversity of backgrounds.

What a Senior Business Development Manager of VAS does at Visa:
The primary objective for this role is to develop relationships and execute partnership opportunities strategically with payment industry leaders.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

• Mediating between clients and internal stakeholders to deepen mutual understanding and elevate their importance, striving to be chosen as the best partner by our strategically important clients.
• Working with client manager level to ensure their priorities and operational capabilities are clearly understood and our work plans are clearly aligned with them.
• Strong analytical skills and comfortable with quantitative analysis, financial modelling, and finding ways to add quantitative rigor to qualitative analysis
• Act as the orchestrator of how our clients consistently experience the best of Visa’s global expertise.
• Achieving optimal balance of client and Visa’s interests
• Driving delivery of a quality sales pipeline for VAS, value added services.
• Take clear ownership and accountability of the risks of the business and ensure that as a team, we effectively manage risk through consistent application of all of Visa’s relevant Key Controls.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

• Sales Planning - to ensure that the team is focused on opportunities of highest value, and that reasonable stretch targets are assigned. This includes a key role during the annual budgeting process to coordinate within the Japan VAS team to develop bottoms-up targets for revenue drivers. It is very critical to work closely with CRM and CMS to get alignment in Japan and then co-work with AP VAS hub team.
• Sales Management - to drive discipline across the team to ensure that sales team members are sufficiently identifying and pursuing sales opportunities whilst adhering to procedure to maintain our control environment. A key part of this is enforcing to support the sales operating model, which includes target clients/partners segmentation, client coverage model, account planning and sales pipeline management.
• Sales Enablement - to enhance the effectiveness of the team through tools and knowledge management. This includes:
  • Driving continuous improvement on internal account review and VAS QBR (quarterly business review) templates.
  • Managing procedures and documents repository
  • Coordinating analysis to identify opportunities and risks (e.g. competitor analysis, deal renewal pipeline)
• Sales Operation - to drive operational efficiencies to maximize the time that sales can spend focusing on sales.
• Developing a high performing team. This includes ensuring the team has the right mix of capabilities and is highly motivated. It also entails managing team performance including recognizing and encouraging high performance, and skillfully and respectfully addressing underperformance.
• Being a role model for Visa’s Leadership Principles: lead courageously, obsess about customers, collaborate as one Visa and execute with excellence.
• Taking clear ownership and accountability of the risks of the business and ensuring the team are well equipped to effectively manage risk through consistent application of all of Visa’s relevant Key Controls.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager.

Qualifications

What you will need:

• Experience & Education: 10+ years’ relevant work experience with a Bachelor’s degree, 8+ years with an advanced degree (e.g. MBA, Master’s, JD, MD), or 3+ years with a PhD.
• Industry & Functional Expertise: Minimum 3 years in sales strategy, business planning, or management consulting — ideally in a multinational or top-tier consulting firm.
• Market Knowledge: Solid understanding of the Japanese payments industry, including trends, key players, and market dynamics.
• Language Skills: Full professional fluency in Japanese and business-level English.
• Commercial Acumen: Strong ability to analyze opportunities, build sound business cases, manage budgets, and evaluate risks to ensure sustainable growth.
• Strategic Mindset: Able to define a clear vision, translate it into actionable plans, and prioritize effectively between immediate needs and long-term goals.
• Leadership Style: Inspires trust, leads by example, and creates an inclusive, high-performing environment. Skilled at motivating teams, holding self and others accountable, and fostering wellbeing.
• Personal Attributes: Curious, adaptable, and courageous in challenging the status quo. Maintains the highest ethical standards and professional humility, actively seeking and using feedback.
• Execution Excellence: Highly organized and disciplined, with a track record of delivering results consistently while managing unexpected challenges.
• Global Perspective: Comfortable working across cultures and geographies, with strong networking, communication, and presentation skills.
• Self-Starter: Proactive and resourceful, able to thrive in fast-changing, complex, and sometimes ambiguous situations.

What may also help:

• A proven track record of planning, managing and closing complex and competitive sales efforts, capable of using a clear and systematic approach to execution.
• A demonstrated ability to implement strategic initiatives, policies and operational decisions for clients of all size and act as a trusted advisor by developing significant long-term, trust based relationships with demanding, senior-level executives at large, complex organizations.

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.