Sr. Director, AI Security (Cybersecurity)

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

Key responsibilities

• Strategic leadership
  • Define and drive an enterprise AI security strategy aligned to business objectives and risk posture.
  • Translate complex technical risks and opportunities into clear business terms for executive stakeholders.
  • Establish and champion responsible‑AI governance, policies, and controls.
• Architecture and delivery
  • Own the architecture and high‑level design of AI‑enabled security services; standardize cloud architectural patterns for scale, resilience, and cost efficiency.
  • Secure the AI lifecycle (data, models, pipelines, tooling) against adversarial threats such as data poisoning, model theft, prompt/indirect injection, and evasion.
  • Lead integration of AI‑driven automation to enhance Day 0 (design), Day 1 (deployment), and Day 2 (operations) security.
• Cross‑functional influence
  • Serve as the technical liaison across Product, Engineering, Cybersecurity, and Operations; align roadmaps and priorities with measurable outcomes.
  • Lead executive‑level technical discussions; provide status, trade‑offs, and escalation paths for programs and incidents.
• Operational excellence
  • Institutionalize blameless postmortems, design reviews, and engineering best practices.
  • Define security SLOs/SLIs for AI platforms; monitor, report, and drive continuous improvement.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

Experience and leadership requirements

• 15+ years in cybersecurity or adjacent engineering fields, including 5+ years applying AI/ML to security use cases and securing AI systems.
• Proven track record delivering security outcomes (e.g., reduced incident rates/MTTR, improved SLO attainment, risk/cost reductions).
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing controls to protect AI systems and data from adversarial attacks.

Technical knowledge and skills

• Strong software engineering fundamentals and hands‑on familiarity with cloud security architecture, observability, CI/CD, and data privacy.
• AI security lifecycle expertise: model/data protection, pipeline hardening, monitoring/auditing, and responsible‑AI guardrails/filters.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity frameworks and standards (e.g., NIST CSF, ISO/IEC 27001) and AI‑specific guidance (e.g., NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 23894).
• Familiarity with modern security domains and tooling: cloud security, endpoint detection, identity, secrets management, vulnerability management, and emerging AI security technologies.

Business and soft skills

• Strategic planning and portfolio execution in fast‑paced, matrixed environments.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management; able to brief executives and collaborate with Legal, Compliance, and Privacy.
• Talent builder who mentors, recruits, and retains top technical talent; fosters a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Rigorous prioritization and decision‑making under ambiguity and pressure.

Education and certifications

• Basic (choose one pathway):
  • Bachelor’s in computer science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field + 15 years relevant experience;  or Master’s in a related field with 12+ years; or  PhD in a related field with 9+ years.
• Preferred:
  • Advanced degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or related discipline.
  • Certifications: CISSP, CISM, CISA, and GIAC (e.g., GCSA, GDSA, GCIA). AI/security‑specific credentials are a plus.
  • Note: (ISC)² is the certifying body for CISSP.

Preferred qualifications (role‑specific)

• Demonstrated ownership of AI governance, responsible‑AI practices, and compliance with emerging AI regulations.
• Experience managing budgets and vendors; delivering AI initiatives with measurable business impact.

Hybrid work

• This is a hybrid role. Specific in‑office expectations (e.g., 2–3 days per week) will be confirmed by the hiring manager

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.