Director, Government Solutions, UAE

About the role

Visa is looking for an experienced payments and public sector business development leader to join the CEMEA Visa Government Solutions team as Director, Government Solutions for the UAE. The role reports to the Head of Visa Government Solutions for GCC and drives growth of Visa Government Solutions across the UAE, builds trusted relationships with government stakeholders and partners, and turns public sector priorities into scalable commercial opportunities. At least 3 days per week must be spent in the office.

Key responsibilities

• Expand and deepen the public sector strategy and commercial pipeline, maintaining a prioritized portfolio of clients, use cases and opportunities.
• Build strategic relationships with federal and local government entities and position Visa as a trusted partner in payments and digital transformation.
• Engage issuers, program managers, processors, fintechs and FI partners to deliver Visa Government Solutions to government clients.
• Develop and run market strategies and account plans to grow revenue, payment volume and market share.
• Work with regional and global solutions teams to shape product roadmaps based on client needs and emerging use cases.
• Own the scorecard metrics and commercial objectives, including pipeline, execution and risk management.
• Stay aligned with the UAE Country Manager and report clearly on pipeline and performance against KPIs.
• Collaborate with Product, Legal, Solutioning and Government Engagement, and with Marketing and Communications, to strengthen engagement with government decision makers.
• Lead input into RFPs, proposals and complex commercial opportunities.
• Monitor the market and competition, and proactively resolve complex commercial and delivery challenges.

Required profile

• 10+ years in government, state-owned enterprise or public sector sales and business development, ideally in payments or financial services, with a track record of complex commercial engagements.
• Strong understanding of how government entities operate in the UAE, including procurement and stakeholder dynamics; a strong public sector network is highly desirable.
• Proven ability to engage senior public sector stakeholders and build long-term relationships.
• Strong negotiation, leadership of cross-functional initiatives and commercial acumen focused on measurable outcomes.

Required skills

• Consultative sales and business case building.
• Negotiation of complex commercial agreements.
• Influencing and collaboration across functions.
• Knowledge of public sector payments infrastructure and payment flows is an advantage.