Richa Sharma

At Visa, I lead data protection architecture and engineering across 400+ applications, shaping secure-by-design standards for cloud, hybrid, M&A, and third-party environments. I manage a cross-regional team across North America and APAC, own security strategy and vendor decisions, and lead enterprise risk, audit, and remediation discussions.

I've built and scaled programs that improve security outcomes: a 300-application data protection attestation program, AI-enabled architecture reviews that reduced manual effort from 7–8 hours to 10–15 minutes, and a RAG-based agent that generates data security requirement responses in seconds. I also manage multimillion-dollar vendor budgets and have driven build-versus-buy decisions that saved up to $1 million year over year.

My work spans encryption, HSM and key management, PKI, IAM, cryptographic agility, post-quantum readiness, and resilient crypto infrastructure. I bring hands-on experience aligning security architecture to PCI DSS, NIST, ISO 27001, GDPR, and data-localization requirements.