Head of Risk, Eastern Africa

About Us
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

Purpose:

The Risk Management Director serves as Head of Risk for the Eastern Africa cluster, with primary accountability for protecting and strengthening the payments ecosystem while enabling responsible business growth across a diverse set of markets, clients, regulators and payment use cases.

The role holder leads end-to-end risk engagement across Eastern Africa with Visa clients, partners, merchants, fintechs, regulators and internal stakeholders. The role covers all relevant risk dimensions, including fraud, scams, cybersecurity, data security, ecosystem integrity, credit and settlement risk, third-party risk, regulatory risk, AML/sanctions considerations, emerging technologies, cross-border flows, mobile-first digital payments and new money movement models.

Externally, the Risk Director ensures Visa’s interactions with clients, merchants, regulators, law enforcement, government agencies, mobile money operators, fintechs and other ecosystem participants across Eastern Africa are well informed, constructive and focused on building digital trust, strengthening resilience, advancing financial inclusion and supporting secure growth.

Internally, the Risk Director translates market intelligence into actionable insights that influence Visa’s strategy, products, policies, controls and client solutions. The role partners across business, product, legal, compliance, government engagement, technology, operations and regional risk teams to ensure risk management is embedded early in commercial and innovation decisions.

The role combines traditional risk management disciplines with the capabilities required of a modern payments risk leader: ecosystem intelligence, data-driven decision-making, AI and fraud analytics fluency, regulatory credibility, commercial judgment, crisis leadership and the ability to influence outcomes without direct authority.

Success in the role is measured by the ability to reduce risk, build trust, enable growth, strengthen client and regulatory relationships, enhance Visa’s reputation, and improve ecosystem outcomes through proactive prevention, effective response and sustained stakeholder engagement.

The Risk Director will also help strengthen Visa shareholder value by improving information flow around strategic, regulatory, operational and emerging risks; supporting disciplined execution of risk programs; and minimizing audit, compliance, operational and reputational concerns.

Principle Responsibilities/Key Results Area:

Six core principles provide the foundation for modern risk management at Visa:

- Market and ecosystem intelligence: Maintain a deep understanding of the business environment, regulatory expectations, client capabilities, payment flows, fraud typologies, cyber and scam trends, third-party dependencies and emerging risks across each market.
- Growth with control: Align risk priorities with Visa’s commercial strategy by helping clients, partners and internal teams grow responsibly, launch safely and make risk-informed decisions early.
- Digital trust and resilience: Strengthen ecosystem confidence through prevention, monitoring, response, recovery and control maturity across fraud, scams, data security, cybersecurity, credit settlement and operational risk.
- Stakeholder influence: Engage clients, merchants, fintechs, regulators, law enforcement, government and internal partners to secure alignment, shape outcomes and address identified risks.
- Thought leadership: Differentiate Visa by translating local, regional and global intelligence into practical insights, risk strategies, client advisory, industry education and policy engagement.
- Clear communication and accountability: Provide timely marketplace feedback, executive-level updates, risk reporting, escalation and transparent communication on programs, policies, incidents and outcomes.
- Eastern Africa Risk Intelligence and Strategy: Maintain an informed view of Eastern Africa market dynamics, regulatory expectations, client capabilities, mobile-first payment flows, cross-border corridors, fraud typologies, cyber and scam trends, third-party dependencies and emerging risks. Translate this intelligence into cluster-level priorities that protect Visa and enable secure growth.
- Business Enablement and Risk-Based Growth: Partner with business, product and client teams to embed risk assessment early in market expansion, product launches, new partnerships, fintech engagement, merchant acquiring, digital acceptance, Visa Pay, mobile money-linked use cases, remittances, commercial payments and emerging money movement flows. Support growth by identifying practical controls, governance expectations and remediation pathways.
- Fraud, Scam and Digital Trust Leadership: Lead Eastern Africa engagement on fraud prevention, scam disruption, authentication, tokenization, dispute and chargeback trends, account-to-account risks, AI-enabled threats and customer protection. Use data, analytics and Visa risk capabilities to identify opportunities that improve authorization performance, reduce losses and strengthen trust.
- Regulatory, Government and Industry Engagement : Serve as a credible risk point of contact for central banks, regulators, government agencies, law enforcement and industry bodies across the cluster. Provide input on policy developments, regulatory inquiries, supervisory engagements and market initiatives affecting payment security, consumer protection, AML expectations, data integrity, cyber resilience and financial inclusion.
- Client, Fintech and Partner Advisory : Be the primary Visa risk advisor to key issuers, acquirers, fintechs, mobile money operators, merchants and payment ecosystem stakeholders. Develop and execute structured engagement plans, executive risk reviews, risk councils, training sessions and targeted remediation support to strengthen client controls and performance.
- Credit, Settlement and Financial Risk Oversight: Support in-market credit and settlement risk management by monitoring client financial health, settlement exposure, collateral requirements, risk triggers and escalation needs. Partner with regional and global teams on high-risk clients, below-investment-grade exposure, remediation, approvals and governance.
- Incident, Crisis and Issue Management: Coordinate timely response to significant fraud events, data compromise incidents, ecosystem integrity matters, regulatory escalations and client control failures across the cluster. Ensure clear ownership, escalation, communication, lessons learned and sustainable remediation.
- Governance, Reporting and Communication : Provide concise executive updates, risk dashboards, marketplace feedback and issue reporting to internal stakeholders. Ensure cluster priorities align with Visa policies, programs, audit expectations, enterprise risk management frameworks and regional objectives for Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Financial and Organizational Scope: The Head of Risk may lead directly or through influence depending on market structure. The role will manage assigned budgets, resources and stakeholder commitments under the guidance of the Head of Risk for Sub-Saharan Africa, with a matrix relationship to the relevant Eastern Africa Cluster or Country Manager.

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

Qualifications

Professional Experience:

- At least 10 years of relevant experience in international payments, financial services, technology, risk management, fraud, compliance, regulation, cybersecurity, operations, product risk, client advisory or ecosystem risk roles, with demonstrated ability to operate across complex, multi-country markets and stakeholder groups.
- The candidate should have practical and strategic exposure to the evolution of digital payments, including issuing, acquiring, fintech, mobile money, cross-border flows, commercial payments, SME acceptance, transaction monitoring and emerging payment technologies.
- Eastern Africa market experience, emerging-market payments exposure or experience working with mobile-first digital payment ecosystems is strongly preferred.
- Strong payments experience and critical understanding of how digital payments are evolving, including digital acceptance, mobile-first ecosystems, tokenization, new payment technologies, cross-border solutions, money movement, commercial payments and value-added services.
- Experience in banking, fintech, mobile money, acquiring, issuing, digital commerce, remittances, commercial payments, merchant risk, operations, technology or regulatory environments.
- Demonstrated ability to identify, evaluate and mitigate significant payment risks at strategic and operational levels, including fraud, scams, cyber-enabled crime, data compromise, authentication, dispute management, transaction monitoring, AML/sanctions considerations and ecosystem integrity controls.
- Hands-on or oversight experience improving the risk posture of issuing, acquiring, merchant, fintech or third-party entities through control assessment, remediation planning, risk reporting and sustained stakeholder follow-through.
- Experience with underwriting, client due diligence, merchant or SME onboarding, portfolio risk management, credit lifecycle risk, commercial lending or acquiring risk preferred.
- Good understanding of financial institution structures, local payment ecosystems, the roles of issuers, acquirers, processors, fintechs, third-party agents, merchants, regulators and other ecosystem participants.
- Experience assessing the impact of regulation on business or operations, responding to regulatory inquiries, supporting supervisory engagements and influencing practical risk-based outcomes.
- Experience evaluating third-party risk controls, reviewing control reporting, identifying weaknesses in risk control environments and supporting sustainable remediation.
- Ability to use data, analytics, market intelligence and client performance indicators to identify risk patterns, prioritize interventions, monitor outcomes and communicate actionable insights.
- Experience advising senior stakeholders, managing difficult executive-level conversations, presenting complex information to non-technical audiences, leading cross-functional initiatives and influencing results across matrixed organizations and multi-market teams.

Education:

- Degree qualified from recognized university; post-graduate qualifications preferred.

Leadership:

- Strategic and commercially minded, with the ability to balance growth, innovation, control and reputation.

- Critical thinker with strong risk management judgment, capable of making decisions under pressure and translating complex risk issues into practical business actions.

- Strong executive communication skills, including concise written updates, persuasive presentations and clear risk narratives for senior, technical and non-technical audiences.

- Ability to drive results with multiple stakeholders, secure buy-in, manage competing priorities and sustain momentum across clients, internal teams, partners and regulators.

- High judgment, resilience and accountability in ambiguous, fast-moving or sensitive situations.

- Analytical and data-driven, with curiosity about emerging technologies, AI-enabled fraud, new payment rails and evolving client needs.

- Ability to cultivate strong, trusted and long-term relationships with internal stakeholders, clients, partners, regulators, law enforcement and industry bodies.

- Collaborative leadership style with the ability to influence without authority, motivate teams, mobilize cross-functional groups and drive disciplined execution.

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.