Sales & Business Development Manager - Visa Direct

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.

Visa Direct services encompass a comprehensive suite of modular solutions designed to facilitate end-to-end money movement flows, supported by Visa's robust platform, networks, and product offerings. These services are tailored to meet market and client-specific needs.
The services include capabilities for banks, financial institutions, and fintechs to securely receive, hold, manage and send funds to more than 11 billion end points (cards, accounts and wallets) in 195+ countries and 180+ currencies.
It handles transactions such as B2B payments, remittances, merchant settlements, gig economy payouts, money transfers, collections, FX solutions, multi-currency wallets and more.

Visa Direct Solutions enable over 2,000 programs globally across more than 65 use cases, demonstrating the breadth and versatility of their offerings which includes Visa Direct Account/Card/Wallet, Visa Cross border solution (Currency Cloud) and B2B Connect.

This role will report into the Head of Visa Direct Business Development - Southern Europe. The Visa Direct Business Development Manager will manage commercial deals from origination to closure for any eligible client segment in Cyprus and potentially in some other countries in the region.  

What's it all about? 

This role will be responsible for delivering commercial outcomes, deliver the multi-million sales pipeline for Visa Direct services and ensure consistent growth of existing clients through opening new business with them. For that purpose, she/her will work closely with the local teams to identify targets, define and execute a Go-to-Market plan across the allocated countries.

It is a fast paced, agile environment, so this person must be proactive in ensuring we achieve our goals, and skilled in pivoting and adjusting as new information and opportunities come to light. 
She/he must excel in communicating with internal and external partners and be a highly motivated, energetic individual, natural leader that thrives in a dynamic environment and relishes the opportunity to win new business using a value-based selling approach.

Visa is looking for a banker and/or payments expert with an outstanding sales and team player track record.
In addition to business development experience, outstanding client management and interpersonal skills are critical.

Essential Functions

• Define and execute Go-to-Market plans in agreement with key internal stakeholders
• Support the work of a team of Business development Visa Direct experts in order to build a strong pipeline, transform it into opportunities and revenues aligned with the company’s objectives.
• Create and nurture wide network of stakeholders in Cyprus and other allocated countries‘  payment entities.
• Client interaction with representatives of key targets in your region, from junior to senior profiles.
• Based on the good knowledge of targeted entities’ situation, define best product proposition, while trying to create roadmap for implementation of all services
• Support the team in structuring high value, complex global commercial deal structures
• Support local, in-market sales teams with top priority sales initiatives
• Interact with every area of the organization: Business Development, Customer Support, Visa Consulting Analytics, Legal, Risk & Compliance, Marketing Teams, and C-Level as required.

What we expect of you, day to day. 

• Leads prospecting and new customer acquisition strategies for opportunities related to Money Movements with existing and new clients, builds relationships with new stakeholders 

• Works closely with Account Executives to coordinate opportunities with overall customer account plan 

• Researches customer and market trends to identify potential new clients and opportunities, introduce innovative solutions, and position Visa as a market leader  

• Assesses deal potential after identifying new opportunities based on strong Visa Direct product / solution knowledge, and maintains cross-functional relationships to pull in specialists / engineers where needed to drive deals forward  

• Anticipates and uncovers ‘hidden’ client needs in money movements, giving them confidence that Visa can address their needs and jointly achieve their business objectives 

• Leads with a client-first sales mindset and creates custom, differentiated pitches and solutions that grow Visa and clients’ business 

• Maintains awareness of deal margins and actual revenue generation when negotiating and effectively sells and negotiates based on value to close deals quickly and effectively  
• Leverages internal (e.g., Legal, Finance, Risk & Compliance, Marketing) and external partnerships to bring the best of Visa Direct to clients 

Experience
• Relevant work experience in the banking / payment services industry.
• Experience in selling services to banks, fintech and merchant customers
Knowledge Focus Areas
• Deep knowledge of predominant payment / card ecosystems, ideally with a good network of contacts in Cyprus.
• Deep knowledge of the various sales cycles and stages
Skills/competencies
• The successful candidate will effectively lead new customer acquisition activities and effectively manage them throughout the entire sales cycle. In doing so, the candidate will work collaboratively across internal Visa functions to build a Visa network, solve complex problems, and serve as the face of Visa to external partners.
• The ideal candidate will bring passion for and interest in Payments with client-relationship building skills, presence, knowledge of payment strategies and priorities. This is a proactive candidate that is resilient when faced with challenges and has the ability to execute on ambitious goals/quotas.
• Creative self-starter with a bias toward action and proven track record for successfully selling large contracts
• Constructive team member with good track record to overachieve objectives and constantly grow own skills and knowledge.
• Very good listening and communication skills (both verbal and written). • Ability to explain complex business and technical concepts to audiences in an approachable way to influence and drive adaption
• Ability to conduct business negotiations in Greek and English. Other European language would be a plus

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.