Director- Database Engineering – Distributed SQL, MySQL and Graph DB

Visa’s Technology Organization is a community of problem solvers and innovators reshaping the future of commerce. We operate the world’s most sophisticated processing networks capable of handling more than 65k secure transactions a second across 80M merchants, 15k Financial Institutions, and billions of everyday people. While working with us you’ll get to work on complex distributed systems and solve massive scale problems centered on new payment flows, business and data solutions, cyber security, and B2C platforms.

The Opportunity:

As Director in Database Engineering team, you will be leading a highly talented team of Database Engineers specializing in MySQL, Distributed SQL and Graph DB database technologies.
Database Engineering team is part of the Platform as a Service (PaaS) group under Operations and Infrastructure (OI) division, which delivers operationally excellent open system database infrastructure and services both on premise (private cloud) and in public cloud. We design, engineer and build reliable, scalable, secure, highly available and cost-effective database infrastructure solutions for our product development partners. The team also provides Level-3 database support for any operational issues and serves as the next level escalation for Database Reliability Engineering team.

The Work itself:

The work involves leading teams adhering to Visa’s leadership principles of leading courageously, obsessing about our customers, collaborating with other teams, and excelling in execution.
As technology owner of multiple database technologies, you will also be responsible to strategize, advance, and engineer enterprise database platform solutions for automated build and patching and efficient administration that meet security, availability, performance, fast delivery and reporting requirements, and to support projects and products using these technologies.
This role is expected to collaborate closely with Product development and other partners in Operations and Infrastructure like Compute, Storage, Network and Middleware Engineering teams. There will be significant integration with our CyberSecurity services, requiring close partnership with them.

Essential Functions:

• Lead a global team of Database Engineers specializing in MySQL, Distributed SQL (e.g. StarRocks) and Graph DB (e.g. Neo4J) database technologies
• Provides strategic vision for offering cost effective database solutions, optimizing database footprint and enabling product development teams with faster access to database services
• Lead technical discussions and communicate regularly with senior leadership on technical issues, program status, and escalations
• Act as a technical liaison between database vendors and various teams within Visa e.g. product development, database reliability engineering
• Provides framework and expertise for presenting technical solutions, capabilities, and features to stakeholders demonstrating how solutions will support business strategy
• Work closely with cross-functional groups including product development, other Infrastructure engineering teams, Cybersecurity and Operations
• Mentor team members in skill development and career growth. Motivate them to push the boundaries and challenge status quo
• Foster a team culture of trust, collaboration, accountability and integrity
• Lead by example, demonstrating accountability, and by contributing to departmental procedures, best practices, and standards

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

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
10 years of experience in database engineering and architecture with 5 years of experience in leadership roles
Strong understanding of RDBMS, NoSQL and Distributed SQL database concepts and Architecture
Strong understanding of various data models e.g. relational, document, key-value, graph
Strong understanding of database physical and logical replications and various high availability solutions
Experience with public cloud services such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure and Infrastructure as code (IAC)
UNIX-Linux platform skills and understanding of operating system, network, storage and security
Understanding and experience with Virtualization and Containerization technologies and cloud-native Architecture
Exceptional collaboration and partnership skills with the ability to work in a global environment and drive consensus in cross-functional teams
Proven record of defining technology roadmap, executing defined technology strategies, and driving adoption across a large enterprise

The Skills You Bring:
Energy and Experience: A growth mindset that is curious and passionate about technologies and enjoys challenging projects on a global scale
Technical Expertise: Strong technical expertise to drive the architecture and high-level design of different database topologies and services
Builder: Experience building and deploying database services with quality and scalability
Learner: Constant drive to learn new database technologies, automation frameworks and hosting platform
Partnership: Experience collaborating with Database vendors, Project management, Product development, Infra engineering teams, CyberSecurity and Operations teams
Challenge the Status Quo: Comfort in pushing the boundaries, hacking beyond traditional solutions

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 $176,400.00 to $282,500.00 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.

Visa will accept applications for this role until at least January 19th, 2026.