Director – Acceptance – Global Clients, Merchant, Tech Partners, and Acquirers (GCMTA)

About the Company

Visa is a global payments technology company that enables transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government bodies in more than 200 countries and territories. Its purpose is to help people everywhere pay and get paid in the most effective way possible.

At Visa, you get the chance to make a large-scale impact, take on meaningful challenges, strengthen your capabilities, and see your work influence communities around the world.

This role is part of a team that focuses on growth, innovation, and commercial outcomes across the payments ecosystem.

Role Overview

The Director of Acceptance will be accountable for shaping and executing the strategy for merchant acceptance and acquiring partnerships in the UAE. The position is centered on expanding payment acceptance, building deeper relationships with acquirers, and driving both transaction volume and revenue across key merchant segments.

The role carries end-to-end ownership of commercial results, portfolio performance, and P&L delivery. Working at a senior level, the incumbent will influence regional direction, handle senior client relationships, and deliver measurable results across the acceptance and acquiring landscape.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and execute plans to expand card and digital payment acceptance across priority merchant categories.
• Spot untapped revenue opportunities in e-commerce, digital acceptance, and new payment flows such as AFT/OCT, tokenization, and emerging commerce models.
• Identify market gaps in acceptance and create opportunities to grow merchant coverage.
• Lead adoption of acceptance tools including digital invoicing, Pay-by-Link, and e-commerce enablement solutions.
• Work with sales and product teams to remove adoption barriers and improve merchant uptake.
• Develop and manage strategic partnerships with acquirers, PSPs, PayFacs, and broader ecosystem partners in the UAE.
• Create and scale opportunities by increasing integrations across acquirers and digital partners.
• Drive joint business plans and growth strategies with acquiring partners.
• Shape the evolution of the acquiring ecosystem, including pricing approaches, localization, and regulatory fit.
• Own commercial performance across revenue, transaction volume, and portfolio profitability.
• Manage full P&L responsibility and optimize return on investment across initiatives.
• Set pricing strategy, incentive structures, and deal terms to improve revenue outcomes.
• Use an enterprise-level perspective to grow the overall acceptance and acquiring portfolio.
• Engage directly with senior executives at acquirers and other key partners.
• Position acceptance and acquiring offerings as drivers of growth, efficiency, and digital transformation.
• Lead executive-level negotiations, commercial discussions, and large partnership deals.
• Maintain a regular cadence of client reviews, including quarterly business reviews, pipeline sessions, and executive check-ins.
• Partner with product and technology teams to create and commercialize new acceptance and acquiring solutions.
• Scale newer capabilities such as tokenization, digital commerce, and alternative payment flows.
• Ensure solutions are adapted to the needs of the UAE market.
• Drive initiatives from planning through execution and ensure they produce measurable revenue impact.
• Turn strategy into action plans with clear milestones, ownership, and KPIs.
• Deliver key initiatives such as acceptance expansion, tokenization adoption, and new use-case rollout.
• Coordinate internal stakeholders such as product, risk, legal, and pricing teams to reduce delays and accelerate revenue generation.
• Maintain disciplined forecasting with visibility into pipeline, risks, and upside potential.
• Influence cross-functional teams across sales, product, risk, and marketing to achieve integrated outcomes.
• Represent the function in leadership meetings and strategic planning forums.

Qualifications

Basic qualification: 10 or more years of experience with a Bachelor’s degree, or at least 8 years with an advanced degree such as a Master’s, MBA, JD, or MD, or at least 3 years with a PhD.

Preferred qualification: 12 or more years of experience with a Bachelor’s degree, 8–10 years with an advanced degree, or 6+ years with a PhD.

Preferred background includes 10+ years in payments, fintech, digital commerce, or payment consulting.

What Success Looks Like

• Meeting revenue targets through pipeline creation, conversion, and performance tracking.
• Managing deal execution from opportunity sizing to commercial structuring and contract finalization.
• Setting pricing governance and incentive frameworks that support growth and profitability.
• Monitoring account performance across volume, revenue, share, and product adoption, then acting on the findings.
• Maintaining strong commercial engagement with clients through reviews, pipeline discussions, and growth planning.
• Converting strategy into practical plans with measurable milestones and timelines.
• Delivering initiatives that create visible revenue impact.
• Removing blockers internally to speed up commercialization.
• Ensuring forecasting, reporting, and pipeline visibility remain accurate and current.

Core Strengths and Experience

• Deep knowledge of the acquiring ecosystem, including financial institution acquirers, PSPs, and PayFacs.
• Strong understanding of merchant acceptance economics and the drivers of revenue.
• Proven success in growing revenue and scaling strategic accounts.
• Experience handling large, complex commercial partnerships.
• Background in pricing strategy, deal structuring, and P&L ownership.
• Strong commercial judgment and end-to-end ownership of financial outcomes.
• Ability to identify and scale strategic growth opportunities.
• Capability to connect market trends with commercial opportunities.
• Executive presence and credibility with senior stakeholders.
• Comfort working in cross-functional, matrixed environments.
• Analytical thinking and data-led decision-making.
• MBA or similar advanced degree is preferred.

Performance Measures

• Revenue growth and new sales.
• Expansion of acceptance coverage and merchant reach.
• Growth in acquiring partner volume and engagement.
• Pipeline generation and conversion rates.
• Adoption of new payment capabilities such as tokenization and new flows.

Equal Opportunity Notice

Visa is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status. Applicants with criminal histories may also be considered in line with applicable guidelines and local law.

Work Arrangement

This position follows a hybrid work model. The number of office days will be confirmed by the hiring manager.