Cybersecurity Director

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 Visa’s Cyber Security organization is expanding its Global Application Access Governance (AAG) program and is seeking an accomplished Director of IAM to join the elite team and lead its Warsaw-based Center of Excellence. In this role, the Director will serve as the regional leader for all application-access governance engineering and operations, working closely with the Senior Director of Application Access Governance to define strategy, deliver the roadmap, and operationalize AI-driven automation across Cybersecurity’s IAM application-access governance and related processes worldwide. Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership & Alignment Serve as the primary liaison between the Warsaw hub and the global Application Access Governance (AAG) program, ensuring local execution aligns with the strategic vision established by the Senior Director. Play a critical role in shaping multi-year roadmaps that seamlessly integrate Zero-Trust principles, evolving regulatory mandates, and cutting-edge AI/ML innovations. Application Access Governance – Execution & Oversight Spearhead the seamless execution of the end-to-end onboarding and full-lifecycle access governance of applications, components, and appliances, maintaining alignment with global AAG objectives. Establish, monitor, and report actionable KPIs/KRIs, SLAs, and OKRs, delivering clear, data-driven insights to the Senior Director and VP of IAM. Leverage advanced analytics tools (e.g., Excel, Power BI, Tableau, Python) to mine application access data, identify access-risk patterns, and generate predictive insights that drive risk reduction and control enhancements. Lead the Application Access Governance team, enforcing policy compliance, resolving exceptions quickly, and driving continuous improvement. AI & Automation Oversee the integration of AI/ML and GenAI across IAM processes, transforming manual tasks into intelligent, automated workflows. Mentor and guide junior IAM engineers as they build, train, and maintain models that strengthen application-access governance, detect control violations, and recommend corrective actions while minimizing false positives. Collaborate with the IAM technology group to design and launch rapid proofs of concept that accelerate the adoption of advanced automation. Engineering, Operational Excellence & Customer Support Inspire and lead a cross-functional team of IAM engineers and analysts, cultivating a results-oriented culture dedicated to continual enhancement of Application Access Governance process and controls. Drive large-scale automation of IAM control validation, self-attestation evidence collection, and compliance reporting, eliminating manual effort and ensuring perpetual audit readiness. Provide executive-level oversight of IAM customer support, ensuring fast, AI-driven resolution of access issues while continuously optimizing IAM control performance. Stakeholder & Change Management Partner with Application Development, Cloud, People, and Legal teams to embed identity security into new initiatives. Lead change-management efforts to maximize adoption of new IAM capabilities with minimal business disruption. Manual IAM Security Configuration Validation Provide executive oversight for the manual review and validation of IAM security configurations for all Critical, High, and Medium applications that cannot be auto-validated, ensuring an enterprise-wide, best-in-class security posture and full regulatory compliance. Risk, Compliance & Audit Own and maintain the IAM risk register, engineering and continuously monitoring controls aligned with SOX, GDPR, PCI DSS, and other regulatory requirements. Serve as the senior liaison for internal and external auditors, overseeing end-to-end audit cycles, ensuring the provision of accurate and timely evidence, and driving rapid, sustainable remediation in collaboration with the Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) team. Talent & Team Leadership Build and scale a high-performing IAM organization by recruiting top talent, defining clear roles, and securing the resources needed for success. Set ambitious yet attainable performance goals, deliver ongoing coaching and feedback, and conduct regular career-development planning for each team member. Foster an inclusive, psychologically safe environment that encourages innovation, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration. Promote continuous learning through training, certifications, and hands-on experimentation with emerging IAM, AI/ML, and cloud-security technologies. Establish robust succession and workforce-planning practices to ensure long-term organizational resilience and knowledge continuity. This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager. Qualifications Basic Qualifications: 10+ years of relevant work experience and a Bachelors degree, OR 13+ years of relevant work experience 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 7+ years of direct people-management experience, including 5+ years in a senior leadership role directing global or regional IAM teams with full responsibility for hiring, coaching, performance management, and career development. Proven ability to build, motivate, and retain high-performing, geographically dispersed teams while fostering an inclusive, results-driven culture. Demonstrated track record of deploying AI/ML or GenAI solutions in security or enterprise-technology contexts. Expert knowledge of IAM frameworks (NIST, ISO 27001, Zero-Trust) and leading platforms (SailPoint, Okta, CyberArk, Azure AD). Strong background in authentication/authorization architectures, cloud IAM, and API security. Advanced scripting/programming skills (Python, PowerShell, Java, etc.) and data-analytics fluency. Executive-level communication skills in English, Polish language proficiency is a plus. Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, Master’s degree or MBA preferred. Relevant certifications (CISSP, CISM, CISA, CCSP). 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. #J-18808-Ljbffr