As the world’s leader in digital payments technology, Visa’s mission is to connect the world through the most creative, reliable and secure payment network – enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s dedication to innovation drives the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and fuels the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce.

The global Product Organization delivers the holistic product strategy for Visa and accelerates the seamless delivery of our products into markets. We are at the core of Visa’s overall vision to be the best way to pay and be paid for everyone, everywhere. We are fueled by a diverse team of talented team-members who continuously raise the bar on delivering best-in-class products and services to people all over the world.

Our business in Sub-Saharan Africa includes more than 45 markets of the most exciting economies in Africa, and include our offices in Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos, Abidjan, Accra and Kigali. As part of the Product team in SSA, you will assist in designing and implementing the go-to-market strategy for product sales and deployment at Visa. Your role may include aspects of consultative client engagement, product strategy, execution, and analytics to craft solutions to meet customer needs. You will also be working with a team that supports technical conversations and deployment with external partners, including advising on how they can work with Visa to build custom solutions that utilize their strengths to enhance Visa’s solution bundles.

 As a Product Analyst, you will be part of the Proximity Payments team in the Visa Product organization in Johannesburg. The scope of the role spans Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and requires a high level of interaction and collaboration with business and technical resources across the company, including digital development platform, network processing, client support services, risk, legal, and operations.

The Proximity Payments function works with a diverse set of Visa issuers, merchants, and mobile ecosystem partners to deliver face-to-face payment solutions successfully across SSA markets.  This particular role will focus on supporting Visa clients in the SSA region to integrate to Visa Token Service and new merchant solutions, thereby supporting new use cases and payment experiences. This position would be ideal for a candidate with an engineering or pre-sales consultant background looking to build upon that experience in the product side of a global payments technology company.

•       Market Knowledge

–      Responsible to advise and guide clients (issuers, merchants, and 3rd party wallet providers) on VTS integration options and act as a technical SME for VTS integrations by being able to understand the platform in its entirety, from overall architecture to the nuances of individual messaging protocols

–      Generate thought leadership around market trends and Visa capabilities to deliver new payment experiences in retail environments across multiple segments

•       Product Development, Sales and Delivery

–      Drive the strategic tokenization and merchant solution roadmap, defining product and market requirements

–      Be the product management subject matter expert (SME) for Visa Token Services (VTS) and Merchant Solutions

–      Provide pre-sales technical integration support for the Visa Digital Solutions SDK and VTS token requestor and Issuer APIs through the Visa Developer Center

–      Engage with Visa clients and partners, in conjunction with Product colleagues or other cross-functional teams, to enable token and other payment solutions across SSA

–      Create and/or support new use cases, concepts, and product design requirements for Visa face-to-face payment capabilities, including but not limited to Visa’s tokenization and other payment solutions

–      Provide first-line technology support to local and regional teams to support this complex and evolving platform, and work across other functions as needed

–      Prioritize project activities as they relate to client projects, and coordinate resources to achieve project goals

–      Proactively identify potential opportunities and risks for payment solutions, especially with clients and partners

–      Support key business development opportunities, provide input and expertise to pitches, RFPs, and new or existing client opportunities

•       Product Performance Management

–      Track the performance and delivery of client solutions and subsequent launches, whilst providing regular reporting and updates

•       Bachelor degree in computer science, engineering, technology or equivalent, Masters degree advantageous

•       4+ years (with Bachelors degree) or 2+ years (with Masters degree) of work experience, spanning retail banking, payments, digital/technology, or consulting

•       Requires a minimum of 1 years’ experience in product development in mobile payments and/or mobile application platforms or in payments systems integration (experience of EMV, NFC advantageous)

•       Ability to communicate technical concepts in a clear and articulate fashion to both technical and non-technical audiences, in a sales-oriented manner

•       Complex and varied workload, required to support multiple ongoing implementations and sales processes

•       Digitally curious, with exposure to digital product management and API technologies, with coding experience advantageous

•       Proven track record of successful planning and execution in a fast-paced environment

•       Proven ability to execute independently and operate successfully within a matrix/team environment

•       Good verbal and written communication skills, thought leader

•       Solid interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively within a matrix organization, as well as vendors and clients

Self-directed and motivated, with an entrepreneurial spirit