Director, Europe Sales Planning

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 What is it all about? The Director, Europe Sales Planning will lead the regional capability responsible for strengthening sales planning and commercial execution across all European Business Units and Clusters, as part of the Sales and Commercial Operations function in Europe. The role will partner closely with Sales Leaders to improve pipeline management, account planning, segmentation and coverage, ensuring the organisation focuses on the opportunities and actions most important to delivering its commercial goals. This is a senior, business-facing leadership role at the centre of Europe’s sales operating model. The Director will lead a team and work across Sales Performance Management and Business Intelligence (SPM/BI), Sales Process, Sales Enablement, Global Sales & Commercial Operations, Finance, Legal and regional business teams. The role will champion a data-first, AI-native sales mindset, using insight, technology and emerging AI capabilities to improve commercial decision-making and sales execution. Europe is establishing a dedicated Sales Planning capability to bring greater consistency, commercial focus and execution discipline across its sales organisation. The successful candidate will help Sales Leaders understand whether the pipeline is sufficient to deliver targets, align the organisation around priority deals and interventions, and embed effective account-planning and coverage practices across the region. What we expect of you, day by day: Pipeline Management and Commercial Execution: - Lead and embed a consistent pipeline-management discipline across Europe, working through existing Cluster and Business Unit pipeline calls and leadership forums. - Assess whether the pipeline is sufficient to deliver agreed targets, considering its size, health, stage, maturity, conversion, timing and concentration. - Challenge assumptions, identify material risks and opportunities, and work with Sales Leaders to agree the actions required to improve delivery. - Align with Sales Leaders on the priority deals to sign and ensure Sales, Legal, Finance and other supporting teams are focused on the opportunities that matter most. - Track agreed recovery and acceleration actions, maintaining focus and accountability through pipeline calls and Monthly Business Reviews. - Identify recurring barriers to pipeline progression and collaborate with the relevant teams to resolve them and improve commercial execution. - Provide pipeline context and commercial judgement to support forecasting, target delivery and senior leadership discussions. Pipeline Insight and Commercial Decision Support: - Partner with SPM/BI to shape the business questions, priorities and additional analysis required from pipeline reporting and insight. - Use pipeline data and insight to focus leadership attention on the most important risks, opportunities, deals and interventions. - Champion the effective use of data, automation and AI-enabled insight to improve pipeline visibility, identify emerging risks and opportunities, and enable faster, more informed commercial decisions. - Bring field experience and Sales Leader feedback to recommend improvements to pipeline measures, thresholds and analytical approaches. - Jointly develop clear commercial narratives, leadership commentary and recommended actions for Business Reviews and other senior forums. Account Planning and Client Coverage: - Lead the regional implementation of Global account-planning frameworks and establish a consistent cadence across Europe. - Drive the quality and commercial value of account plans through clear expectations, targeted reviews and constructive challenge with Sales Leaders. - Ensure account planning connects client priorities, stakeholder mapping, opportunity development and pipeline actions. - Partner with Sales Enablement to ensure Account Executives have the training, tools and adoption support required to apply the framework effectively. - Promote consistent client stakeholder mapping and stronger visibility of key client relationships and opportunities. Segmentation, Coverage and Sales Operating Model: - Partner with SPM/BI on segmentation, coverage and sales operating-model work, bringing commercial context to the analytical frameworks and modelling. - Embed resulting recommendations across Clusters and Business Units, testing them against market realities and supporting effective implementation. - Challenge the effectiveness and efficiency of account coverage, seller deployment and portfolio design to improve commercial focus and productivity. - Gather feedback from the business and recommend refinements where evidence or implementation experience indicates the model should evolve. - Support consistent use of sales taxonomy and planning standards in alignment with Global guidance. Target Setting and Business Reviews: - Support SPM/BI-led target-setting processes by providing pipeline, market and commercial context and helping Clusters and Business Units understand and apply the methodology. - Recommend target adjustments or alternative allocations where credible pipeline and market evidence supports a different outcome. - Provide commercial and pipeline input into Monthly Business Reviews and other performance forums, including risks, opportunities, priority deals and recommended actions. - Ensure agreed actions are translated into clear ownership and followed through with the relevant Sales Leaders and supporting teams. Leadership and Stakeholder Management: - Lead, coach and develop the Europe Sales Planning team, setting clear priorities and creating a high-performing, collaborative culture. - Act as a trusted commercial partner to Europe, Cluster and Business Unit Sales Leaders, combining constructive challenge with practical support. - Build strong partnerships across SPM/BI, Sales Process, Sales Enablement, Global Sales & Commercial Operations, Finance, Legal and other relevant functions. - Balance regional consistency with the differing commercial realities of Business Units, Clusters and markets. - Represent the Europe Sales Planning perspective in relevant regional and global forums. 
Visa requires at least 3 days in office, expectations of these days will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager. Qualifications What we're after... - Demonstrated expertise in pipeline governance, pipeline sufficiency, account planning, customer segmentation, account coverage and commercial performance management. - Proven experience working across multiple markets, Business Units or geographies in a complex, multinational and matrixed organisation. - Strong track record of partnering with senior Sales Leaders, constructively challenging commercial assumptions and influencing decisions without relying solely on direct authority. - Experience establishing or scaling regional sales-planning capabilities, operating models or significant commercial transformation initiatives. - Strong analytical, executive communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to translate complex sales data into clear recommendations and action. - Deep sales planning and commercial operations expertise, with strong knowledge of pipeline management, pipeline sufficiency, account planning, segmentation, coverage and sales operating models. - Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to assess the credibility of a sales position, identify root causes and recommend practical interventions. - Confidence and credibility to challenge senior Sales Leaders while maintaining trusted, solutions-focused relationships. - A data-first, AI-native mindset, with the ability to use data, analytics, automation and emerging AI capabilities to strengthen commercial judgement, improve decision-making and translate insight into clear priorities and actions. - Proven leadership skills, including the ability to build capability, develop others and deliver through a team and a wider matrix. - Experience embedding new frameworks, disciplines and ways of working across multiple markets or business lines. - Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to create clear and compelling commercial narratives for senior audiences. - Strong organisational and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex workstreams and stakeholders. - Comfort operating in ambiguity, building structure where it does not yet exist and adapting to evolving organisational requirements. - Experience in payments, financial services, technology or another complex enterprise-sales environment. - Experience working in both regional and market or Business Unit roles, balancing global consistency with local commercial realities. - Strong understanding of enterprise sales motions, complex sales cycles and the practical realities of seller execution. - Experience using CRM, sales analytics, forecasting, automation and AI-enabled commercial tools to improve sales planning, productivity and decision-making. 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.