Company Description

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.

Job Description

Team Summary

The Government Engagement (GE) team aims to create broad alignment between Visa’s business objectives and public policies that affect the payments industry.  Externally, the GE team engages a wide range of stakeholders to raise awareness of and build support for policies that expand access to and usage of digital payments in Korean and Mongolia.  Internally, GE works closely with colleagues across the company including Communications, Global Policy, Compliance, Visa University, Social Impact, Risk, Legal, Product, and Sales.

What a Director, Head of Government Engagement does at Visa:

Based in Seoul, the Director, Head of Government Engagement is responsible for setting strategic direction and coordinating all aspects of Visa’s public sector relationships and policy thought leadership focusing on the future of digital payments in Korea and Mongolia (KRM). 

Reporting to the SVP, Asia Pacific Regional Head of Government Engagement, and the Country Manager for KRM, the successful candidate (they) will lead Visa’s external engagement with regulatory and policy making bodies such as the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), as well as other national government agencies such as the Ministry of Finance (MOF), Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE), and the Bank of Korea (BOK).  They will also lead outreach and engagement to state and local authorities such as Seoul and Busan City Governments as well as public private entities such as the Korea Fintech Center (KFC) and Korea Culture and Tourism Institute (KCTI).  Internally, the Director, Head of GE KRM will partner closely with the Country Manager and Visa colleagues in market, regional hub, and global headquarters to help develop and implement Visa’s business strategy to grow digital commerce and the future of payments in Korea.

Responsibilities range from daily communications and engagement to long-term business strategy, including but not limited to:

Responsibilities

• Developing and implementing an overall government engagement strategy for KRM in close coordination with the Country Manager and Asia Pacific Regional Head of Government Engagement, along with other Visa peers and colleagues in the market and across the wider organization.
• Monitoring the regulatory and political landscape throughout KRM for threats and opportunities to Visa’s business and communicating this intelligence to locally based business leaders, functional colleagues and global management.
• Managing Visa’s relationships with officials at key government in KRM, and working with the Country Manager to ensure all public sector engagements across the business are compliant with Visa’s Political Participation, Lobbying, and Contributions (PPLC) policy. 
• Educating public sector stakeholders about the value of Visa, including through regular policy discussions and technical briefings with Visa subject matter experts presenting to regulators and government officials.
• Recommending, engaging, and managing Visa’s relationships with necessary third party intermediaries including consultants, industry associations, diplomatic missions and civil society organizations.
• Establishing and maintaining appropriate contact with counterparts at other industry participants, including client banks.

Why this is important to Visa

We believe that inclusive economies uplift everyone, everywhere, which drives our mission to connect the world and enables individuals, businesses and economies to thrive.  As an officially-recognized ‘Inclusive Company’, Visa is working with all of our partners in Korea to expand access to the most innovative payment technology powering global commerce. The Head of GE role is essential to growing our public sector relationships and displaying Visa’s thought leadership work in emerging technology. Through these efforts, we will meaningfully deepen our partnership with policy makers who are shaping the regulatory and operating environment for digital payments.

Qualifications

What you will need:
We are looking for an individual who brings strong leadership skills, exceptional maturity and attention to detail, along with the ability to effectively manage several urgent business priorities and significant regulatory developments simultaneously. As a candidate, you should have:

• 12+ years of government engagement experience and achievement
• Thorough knowledge of the Korean Government and how it operates strong understanding of core political and public policy motivators for Korean officials and other stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain strong business relationships with internal and external stakeholders at senior and executive management levels
• The highest standards for ethical conduct, confidentiality and integrity, with a strong professional reputation in the industry
• Good judgment and experience handling confidential and material, non public information
• Ability to operate effectively in a challenging, fast paced environment with limited supervision
• Experience setting priorities and interacting with internal and external stakeholders
• Strong ability to work collaboratively with others across geographic boundaries
• Proactive and solution oriented mindset, always looking for ways to add value and assist the team
• Excellent presentation skills, including strong oral and written communication
• Languages: fluent Korean and English
• Willingness to travel as required, where, when appropriate

What will also help:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required, graduate degree preferred
• Combination of corporate and central as well as provincial government experience
• Working knowledge of payments industry in Korea
• Knowledge and experience working with government in Mongolia  
• Influencing and negotiation skills
• Complex analytical abilities
• Executive presence

Additional Information

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.