Sr. Director, Innovation Portfolio Management

Job Description
The Innovation and Global Digital Partnerships organization defines the next phase of Innovation for Visa through our global network of Innovation Centers and leads the development and commercialization of Visa products and solutions for Big Tech, Fintech and Platform partnerships.
As a Senior Director, Innovation Portfolio Management, you will be responsible for driving industry best practices to manage operational excellence for 5 regions – AP, CEMEA, EU&
UKI, LAC, NA across Design, Research, Product, and Executive Briefing functions. In this role you will have exposure to executive leadership across Visa Innovation and you will be responsible for driving end-to-end portfolio strategy, planning, execution metrics and reporting on all initiatives across the organization. This global portfolio includes a diverse array of initiatives, from the full development lifecycle of global and regional innovation product roadmaps to the end-to-end concept, design, and build of executive briefing experiences across Visa's network of global Innovation Centers.
The Senior Director, Innovation Portfolio Manager will partner with leaders and teams across Innovation to drive a high performing organization by fostering transparency, data-driven decision-making, and an accountability matrix. This role will require the individual to build strong relationships with leaders within and across the organization to ensure all projects meet the expectations of our stakeholders and customers. A successful candidate in this role would need to be highly resourceful, self-driven with strong communication and presentation skills, with an ability to partner, and lead through influence and collaboration to creatively solve problems and generate results.
This role is based in San Francisco and reports to the SVP, Head of Innovation at Visa.
Responsibilities
Develop and maintain the Innovation Portfolio Management practice to support all large and complex projects that are directly tied to the organization’s strategic goals.
Take ownership of driving SMART Objectives and Key Results (OKR) for the organization and become the subject matter expert (SME) to drive full adoption, education, tracking and utilization of OKRs across Innovation teams and functions.
Assess the existing project management processes, tools, techniques, and templates and create a strategic roadmap to advance the program.
Partner with leadership to ensure initiatives are in line with the organization’s strategic goals, prioritized and resourced appropriately.
Work closely with cross functional departments to understand project requirements, align on the strategy, and formalize a project delivery schedule that includes regular check-ins on success/blockers to team collaboration.
Allocate project management resources effectively, ensuring the right skills and expertise are applied to each project.
Oversee the end-to-end project lifecycle, across all projects, from initiation to close, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and meet business expectations.
Proactively identify potential risks and develop mitigation strategies to minimize impact on project timelines and budget.
Provide oversight and understanding of business process redesign and drive change to improve business outcomes.
Establish and rollout a formal program management steering committee which will be used to keep all members informed and aligned on the overall progress of the program, communicate critical updates to key milestones, and address any open decisions, risks, or issues.
Create and rollout program dashboards and other tools that demonstrate performance of all projects managed by the team, including OKR and KPI tracking.
Provide on-going visibility to program status (key decisions, dependencies, issues, risks, metrics, etc.) to all stakeholders.
Anticipate and aggressively remove obstacles that slow down or prevent program teams from delivering on program outcomes.
Lead senior committee meetings with key stakeholders to help make key decisions, remove obstacles, and address key program issues.
Professional Competencies
Integrity and Trust
Customer Focus
Functional/Technical skills
Written/Oral Communication
Strong leadership skills with a focus on collaboration and buy-in from key stakeholders.
Ability to assume a consulting role with executive management and external executives.
Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities concurrently.
Strong problem-solving skills and a proactive approach to identifying and resolving a challenge.
Ability to effectively communicate with technical and non-technical stakeholders, translating between business needs and technical solutions.
This is a hybrid position. Hybrid employees can alternate time between both remote and office. Employees in hybrid roles are expected to work from the office 2-3 set days a week (determined by leadership/site), with a general guidepost of being in the office 50% or more of the time based on business needs.