Director, Software Engineering

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.

The Visa Technology organization builds and operates the world’s most advanced payment platforms - processing over 65,000 transactions per second with unmatched reliability, security, and scale. We are engineers, architects, and problem solvers who drive innovation across new payment flows, business solutions, data intelligence, cybersecurity, and global platforms used by billions of people.

We are looking for a Director, Software Engineering to join our Visa Commercial Payment Platforms (VCS) team to help build the next generation of commercial payment capabilities. This leader will oversee multiple engineering teams responsible for designing, developing, and scaling applications on Visa’s private cloud and commercial platform ecosystem.

If you’re passionate about engineering excellence, building high‑performing teams, and solving complex distributed systems challenges, this is an opportunity to make a meaningful global impact.

What You Will Do:

Lead & Deliver:

• Lead multiple software engineering teams building core components of Visa’s Commercial Card Platform.
• Guide end‑to‑end delivery from feature definition to deployment, ensuring high‑quality, secure, and reliable software.
• Drive engineering excellence through best practices, automation, observability, and cloud‑native development.

Architect & Innovate:

• Provide technical leadership across microservices, APIs, cloud frameworks, and full‑stack web applications.
• Shape platform architecture and collaborate closely with product, cybersecurity, and infrastructure teams.
• Champion modern engineering practices, including the use of generative AI to improve development productivity.

Collaborate & Influence:

• Partner with cross‑functional teams to define product roadmaps, priorities, and release plans.
• Communicate technical decisions, risks, and status updates to stakeholders and senior leadership.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Develop & Grow Talent:

• Recruit, mentor, and develop engineering talent.
• Build strong, engaged teams aligned with Visa’s leadership principles.
• Support the career growth of engineers, tech leads, and emerging leaders

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

Basic Qualifications:
10+ years of relevant work experience and a Bachelors degree, OR 13+ years of relevant work experience

Preferred Qualifications:
12 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or 8-10 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 6+ years of work experience with a PhD
Experience with payments, commercial card platforms, or financial technology solutions.
Knowledge of regulatory, compliance, and security requirements in global payments.
Experience integrating generative AI into engineering workflows (OpenAI APIs, GitHub Copilot, etc.) to improve productivity and code quality.
Champion secure SDLC and quality engineering practices.
Improve engineering efficiency through automation, observability, DevOps tooling, and standardized development frameworks.

Required Experience:
Strong background building and scaling distributed systems or cloud-native platforms.
Hands-on expertise in Java/Spring, microservices, APIs (REST), and modern frontend frameworks (TypeScript, Angular).
Experience with relational and NoSQL databases and messaging technologies such as Kafka or IBM MQ.
Proven track record leading engineering teams and delivering complex software products.
Proficiency with Agile methodologies and modern DevOps practices.
Strong communication skills with the ability to simplify complex technical topics for diverse audiences.

Work Hours: Varies upon the needs of the department.

Travel Requirements: This position requires travel 5-10% of the time.

Mental/Physical Requirements: This position will be performed in an office setting.  The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

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.

Visa will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable local law, including the requirements of Article 49 of the San Francisco Police Code.

U.S. APPLICANTS ONLY:  The estimated salary range for this position is $186,800 to $299,200 USD per year, which may include potential sales incentive payments (if applicable).  Salary may vary depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this position may be eligible for bonus and equity. Visa has a comprehensive benefits package for which this position may be eligible that includes Medical, Dental, Vision, 401 (k), FSA/HSA, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, and Wellness Program.