Sr. Manager, AI Center of Excellence

Company Description

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.

Job Description

At Visa, AI is central to our vision for the future of payments and commerce. We are committed to building enterprise-scale, responsible AI solutions that deliver measurable value for our clients, partners, and the global economy. The AI Center of Excellence (AI COE), part of the Global Data Office, is at the forefront of this mission—developing reusable AI/ML frameworks, enabling agentic AI workflows, and accelerating innovation across Visa’s data science community.

The AI COE operates as both an enterprise capability builder and an AI SWAT team, tackling high-impact projects that address complex business challenges and create scalable, reusable solutions. From evaluating cutting-edge AI methods to deploying reusable frameworks in production, our mission is to improve efficiency, adoption, and business outcomes across Visa’s global Data & AI ecosystem.

We are seeking a Senior Manager, AI COE to lead strategic, technically complex AI initiatives—from concept through deployment—while shaping the future of AI adoption at Visa.

Responsibilities:

The Senior Manager, AI COE will:

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of advanced AI/ML frameworks and agentic AI workflows to solve high-value challenges across Visa.
• Manage and lead a team of data scientists within the AI COE, including project oversight, performance management, and professional development
• Drive the AI innovation lifecycle: evaluate emerging AI/ML techniques, validate their business impact on real Visa use cases, and operationalize proven methods for enterprise reuse.
• Own end-to-end delivery of high-impact projects:
• Identify and scope opportunities through engagement with senior stakeholders.
• Architect solutions leveraging state-of-the-art AI methods (e.g., deep learning, transformer models, generative AI).
• Guide technical teams in developing prototypes, pipelines, and reusable code assets.
• Ensure integration into Visa’s Internal Open Source and enterprise systems.
• Champion reusable enterprise AI capabilities, curating and maintaining a metadata-rich catalogue of validated methods.
• Oversee technical quality through code reviews, prompt engineering guidance, benchmark definition, and evaluation frameworks.
• Manage project execution—timelines, budgets, deliverables—while engaging with both technical and non-technical stakeholders globally.
• Ensure compliance with governance, security, and Responsible AI standards in all AI COE outputs.
• Measure and communicate impact through KPIs such as innovation delivered, adoption rate, and quantified business value.
• Collaborate with data scientists, ML engineers, product managers, and technology teams worldwide to maximize adoption and business outcomes.

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

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

• 8 or more 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

Preferred Qualifications:

• 9 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor Degree or 7 or more relevant years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 3 or more years of experience with a PhD
• 6+ years of experience in AI/ML, data science, or applied research.
• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Business Analytics or related field.
• Proven track record of delivering scalable AI/ML solutions in production environments.
• Hands-on expertise in deep learning, machine learning, and at least one of: recommendation systems, generative AI, personalization, or agentic AI.
• Experience with modern AI/ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, NVIDIA Merlin).
• Strong background in designing and integrating AI solutions with enterprise data systems and APIs.
• Skilled in translating complex technical concepts into business value for executive stakeholders.
• Experience developing reusable AI frameworks or internal open-source assets for large organizations.
• Familiarity with AI governance and responsible AI practices.
• Global, cross-functional leadership experience in a company of Visa’s scale.
• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or related field.

Additional Information

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 a new hire into this position is 192,100.00 to 278,900.00 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.

Client-provided location(s): Foster City, CA

Job ID: 0ddd5291-2dfb-4d27-bf2f-3f7312ebad83

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2025-12-12T23:20:02