VCA AI Agent Development Director

Company Description

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

The Director, AI Agent Development leads the strategic design and development of AI agents to support key business functions such as market analysis, proposal generation, and risk assessment. This role is responsible for prompt engineering, architectural decisions, and rigorous testing to ensure agent accuracy and reliability. The Director develops modular frameworks to enable scalable workflows and collaborates across teams to deliver innovative, high-impact Gen AI solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership: Define and drive the vision, strategy, and roadmap for Gen AI agent development, aligning with organizational goals and priorities.
• Agent Design & Development: Lead the design and development of AI agents for diverse use cases, including market analysis, proposal generation, and risk assessment.
• Prompt Engineering: Develop and refine prompt engineering techniques to optimize agent performance and output quality.
• Architecture Decisions: Make high-level architectural decisions to ensure agents are robust, scalable, and easily integrated into enterprise workflows.
• Testing & Reliability: Oversee testing protocols to validate agent accuracy, reliability, and compliance with business requirements.
• Modular Frameworks: Build modular frameworks that support scalable and flexible agent development and deployment.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product, engineering, and business teams to deliver innovative AI solutions.
• Continuous Improvement: Monitor agent performance, gather user feedback, and drive ongoing enhancements to agent capabilities.
• Documentation & Standards: Establish and maintain documentation, coding standards, and best practices for agent development.
• Talent Development: Mentor and develop a high-performing team, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.

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

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

• 10 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 8 years of work experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters/ MBA/JD/MD) or at least 3 years of work experience with a PhD
• Proven ability to design, build, and deploy Gen AI agents for complex business use cases.
• Demonstrated expertise in testing, validation, and ensuring reliability of Gen AI systems.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 12 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or 8-10 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 6+ years of work experience with a PhD
• Extensive experience in AI agent development, prompt engineering, and enterprise technology environments.
• Strong background in architecture, modular frameworks, and scalable technology solutions.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and strategic thinking skills.
• Outstanding communication, storytelling, and presentation abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple projects concurrently and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
• Deep understanding of digital trends, AI/ML technologies, and enterprise platforms.
• Team player with a collaborative approach and commitment to developing talent.

Additional Information

Work Hours: Varies upon the needs of the department.

Travel Requirements: This position requires travel 5-10% of the time.

Mental/Physical Requirements: This position will be performed in an office setting.  The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

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.

Visa will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable local law, including the requirements of Article 49 of the San Francisco Police Code.

U.S. APPLICANTS ONLY: The estimated salary range for this position is 163,500.00 to 261,500.00 USD per year, which may include potential sales incentive payments (if applicable). Salary may vary depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this position may be eligible for bonus and equity. Visa has a comprehensive benefits package for which this position may be eligible that includes Medical, Dental, Vision, 401 (k), FSA/HSA, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, and Wellness Program.