Sr. Manager, Corporate Communications

Team Summary

The Southeast Asia corporate communications team creates and delivers communications programs that drive Visa’s business growth and advance and protect the company’s reputation across the region. Within this team, the Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand markets are grouped together, with a dedicated team delivering communication programmes across this dynamic cluster. In addition, the team also looks after Global Clients including Citi, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank for Asia Pacific, and Global and Regional acquirers.

We work across external, client and internal communications activities to promote Visa’s ongoing strategy to extend our payments network into new areas of opportunity and position ourselves as the partner of choice for banks, merchants, fintechs, technology companies and governments.

The role has dual reporting to the Head of Corporate Communications for Regional Southeast Asia and Country Manager for Malaysia. He/She will also be part of Visa’s Global Corporate Communications group, which oversees all corporate communications functions at Visa Inc., including media relations, industry analyst relations, public affairs, internal and issues management.

What a Head of Corporate Communications, Malaysia does at Visa

In this role, you will primarily be supporting Malaysia as part of our SMT corporate communications team and deliver on all aspects of our communications programmes across the markets. The successful candidate will

• Develop communications strategies that support Visa’s strategic business objectives and drive growth across the market  

• Develop communications programmes that demonstrate the value of Visa to everyone, everywhere

• Develop thought leadership content that positions Visa as a leader in the payments industry, including creation of whitepapers on consumer and commercial payments

• Lead the development and delivery of informative and engaging internal communications activities supporting the Country Manager for Malaysia. This includes townhalls and employee communications.

• Support the execution of Visa’s media relations programs across the markets including

  • Developing the strategy and managing the execution of media engagements

  • Identifying and maximising opportunities to enhance Visa’s profile in the media 

  • Developing content to promote Visa’s brand, technical and industry leadership, new products and services

  • Establishing and maintaining close relationships with journalists across general, business, lifestyle and technology media 

  • Ensuring spokespeople are well briefed and trained to deliver key messages

  • Ensuring Visa’s senior management are seen as trusted authorities by the local media

  • Partner with our Social Impact team to drive financial literacy programmes for Malaysia

  • Creating opportunities for the Country Manager and other key management to obtain high, positive profiling in top tier broadcast, print and digital media

• Provide executive communication support to the Country Manager across a variety of internal, external, client, and media communications opportunities including speaker engagements for external and internal events

• Work closely with the Marketing team to ensure corporate communications and marketing programmes are aligned and a coordinated approach is being taken to leverage Visa’s assets across the markets 

• Partner with Visa’s in-market PR agency to successfully deliver communications programmes across the region

• Work with the Government Engagement function to support Visa’s public policy position

• Manage budget and partner closely with the Finance team on full-year media related activities planned for Malaysia.

Why this is important to Visa

In this role, you will be a member of a high-performing team charged with all aspects of corporate communications in Southeast Asia – areas that are focused on maintaining Visa’s leadership in an increasingly complex operating environment. As the Visa network evolves beyond plastic cards into a network of networks that can facilitate money movement to anyone, anywhere, it is essential to our long-term success that we communicate this evolution to all our constituents and define Visa as a purpose-driven payments technology company that enables individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive.

Projects you will be a part of

The Southeast Asia corporate communications team delivers some of the most exciting thought leadership content and media engagement in the region. We work across some of the fastest growing, more diverse, and complex markets, which presents the corporate communications team with a unique opportunity to support the business in navigating challenges and maximising opportunities to drive Visa’s reputation and growth.     

You will work on communications programs that incorporate every aspect of the communications discipline, including the development of thought leadership collateral, supporting client product launches, employee communication, public relations and social media.

This is a hybrid position. Hybrid employees can alternate time between both remote and office. Employees in hybrid roles are expected to work from the office 2-3 set days a week (determined by leadership/site), with a general guidepost of being in the office 50% or more of the time based on business needs.

What you will need
To excel in this role, you'll need a mix of professional and technical skills. You'll be a strategic communicator, adept at transforming business and strategic goals into communication strategies, execute with excellence, and able to measure the success of your work with well-defined metrics. Your storytelling skills, keen eye for detail, and project management prowess will be essential.

You should have a keen interest in macroeconomic trends and local payment developments to be able to create insightful thought leadership for senior executives. A hands-on, proactive energetic approach, and a passion to make a difference through communications is key.

The role is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ideal candidates will have

• Minimum 10 years' of experience in communications (agency or in-house)
• Deep understanding of social and digital communications channels
• Demonstrable track record in adapting communications strategies across geographies and understanding the media landscape in Malaysia is crucial. You should have a big-picture mindset about campaign resonance with different audiences and collaborate with colleagues in bringing these stories to life.
• Prior experience working in financial/tech/payments industry is preferred.
• Outstanding written and verbal English and Bahasa Melayu is a must. Proficiency in Mandarin preferred
• Technical expertise in the tools of communications, including all Microsoft Office programmes and social media engagement and amplification.

What will also help

• Intellectual curiosity with excelent creative, solution-oriented problem solving skills
• Adaptability and ability to make decisions based on limited or changing information and be able to adapt plans at the speed of a news cycle
• Strong stakeholder and relationship management skills, with experience influencing across various levels in functions and geographies

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.