Head of KSA Innovation Centre

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.

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• The Head of Riyadh Innovation will be responsible for the end-to-end operations, strategy and execution of Product Innovation and Strategic Commercialization activities in Saudi Arabia.
• Reporting to the Vice President, CEMEA Innovation, the Head of Riyadh Innovation will collaborate closely with the Dubai Innovation Center teams of Product Innovation, Insights, Experiences, Design and Engineering, to progress on strategic initiatives that deliver value to the Visa network and ecosystem.
• In this role, the HO Riyadh Innovation, will collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, including business units, clients, partners, and regulators, to identify and prioritize opportunities for innovation and transformation.
• The HO Riyadh Innovation will foster a culture of creativity, experimentation, and learning within the innovation center and across the Global Innovation network.
• The HO Riyadh Innovation will gather insights from the market and feed research and learnings back into the hub team for strategic consideration and product innovation opportunities.

Responsibilities
Riyadh Center Innovation Strategy and Delivery

• 
  Define and execute the vision, strategy, and roadmap for the innovation center, aligned with Visas global innovation agenda and business objectives.
• Lead, mentor, and provide direction to a cross-functional team with the right resources, tools, and guidance they need to succeed.
• Manage the innovation portfolio, ensuring a balance of short-term and long-term initiatives, and a focus on customer needs, market trends, and business value.
• Oversee the end-to-end innovation process, including discovery, ideation, prototyping, testing, and delivery, applying agile and human-centered design methodologies.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including business units, clients, partners, and regulators, and solicit their feedback and input.
• Communicate and showcase the innovation centers achievements, learnings, and best practices to internal and external audiences, and inspire them to embrace innovation and change.
• Attend key regional events (e.g. conferences) to represent Visa and discuss innovation priorities and opportunities for partnership.
• Monitor and evaluate the performance and impact of the innovation centers solutions and identify opportunities for improvement and iteration.
• Actively research the latest developments and trends in the payments industry, technology, and innovation, and identify and explore new and emerging opportunities for Visa.
• Facilitate and Run sessions with partners and clients to explore opportunities and progress on initiatives aligned with innovation strategy.

• Lead all innovation activities and projects within the center
• Partner with regional and global leadership to capture and prioritize Innovation opportunities.
• Partner with Digital Partnership and Ventures to identify fin-tech partners that can support and partner in the development of new payment experiences.
• Collaborate with CEMEA operations to ensure accurate reporting for key OKRs, budgeting and reporting.
• Implement feedback loop for client engagement and thought leadership content delivery.
• Maintain relationship with sales team for engagement follow up on outcomes and potential future engagement opportunities.
• Convert feedback into tangible and executional tasks to ensure constant improvement and enhancements.

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.

• Bilingual - Being able to speak in both Arabic and English is a must.
• Bachelors degree or equivalent in a relevant field, such as business, engineering, or design.
• At least 12 years of experience in leading innovation teams and projects in a large and complex organization, preferably in the payments, financial services, or technology sector.
• Highly competent and influential in communication, liaising with various stakeholders both internally and externally.
• Strategic thinker with an ability to forecast, plan and execute on various initiatives across different time horizons.
• Strong leadership, management, and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated ability to define and execute a compelling vision and strategy for innovation, and to deliver impactful and scalable solutions that meet customer needs and business goals.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and storytelling skills, with the ability to articulate complex and technical concepts to a variety of audiences, and to influence and persuade senior stakeholders.
• Expertise in applying agile and human-centered design methodologies, and in using various tools and techniques for ideation, prototyping, testing, and launching solutions.
• Deep knowledge and understanding of the payments industry, technology, and innovation landscape, and the ability to identify and anticipate trends and opportunities.

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.