Sr Manager, Program Mgmt - Financial Crimes Technology

Joining Amex Tech means discovering and shaping your contribution to something big. Here, you can work alongside talented tech teams and build a unique career with the Powerful Backing of American Express. With a range of opportunities to work with the latest technologies, and a commitment to back the broader engineering community through open source, our mission is to power your success. Because Amex Tech is powered by our technology, our culture, and our colleagues.

The Technology organization enables and accelerates the company’s growth strategies, delivering global capabilities and services in support of Amex’s customers and colleagues, while maintaining 24/7 servicing and availability to ensure an uninterrupted, high-quality customer experience. Technology provides the foundation for everything we do in the company while driving differentiation through building and leveraging innovative technology and data insights.

The Financial Crime and Risk Management (FCRM) team within Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) at American Express is building the next generation of AI-enabled, world-class capabilities to support second-line risk and compliance functions and financial crime investigation teams.

We are looking for a highly motivated and experienced Senior Manager to help drive technology strategy, transformation, portfolio management, and execution excellence across our Financial Crime technology organization. This role will support a broad portfolio of capabilities spanning Transaction Monitoring, Investigations, Sanctions, Customer Risk Rating, Anti-Bribery and Corruption, and other financial crime prevention and compliance functions.

The ideal candidate will bring strong strategic thinking, portfolio management, governance, and cross-functional leadership capabilities, with experience navigating complex technology organizations and highly regulated environments. This position will play a critical role in translating organizational priorities into actionable strategies, strengthening portfolio visibility and accountability, and driving improvements in how Financial Crime Technology plans, governs, and delivers strategic initiatives.

• Technology Strategy and Transformation: Lead strategic planning and execution frameworks across Financial Crime Technology, translating organizational priorities into clear strategies, actionable roadmaps, and structured approaches for execution and delivery.
• Portfolio and Value Management: Drive portfolio management practices that provide visibility into portfolio health, strategic alignment, delivery performance, investment priorities, intended outcomes, and benefits realization.
• Cross-Functional Stakeholder Alignment: Partner with Product, Technology, Business, Risk, Compliance, Finance, and other stakeholder teams to align shared priorities, connect business objectives with technology capabilities, and facilitate coordinated execution across organizational boundaries.
• Governance and Controls Oversight: Establish and coordinate governance frameworks, management routines, and controls that support effective decision-making, accountability, risk management, and regulatory expectations within a highly regulated environment.
• Strategic Initiative Coordination: Lead and coordinate cross-functional initiatives and workstreams, creating clarity around priorities, dependencies, ownership, milestones, and desired outcomes while enabling accountable teams to drive execution.
• Operating Model and Process Improvement: Identify and drive opportunities to improve processes, governance practices, and operating models, bringing greater structure, consistency, transparency, and efficiency to how Financial Crime Technology plans and delivers strategic priorities.
• Support annual and multi-year strategic planning activities, including technology investment prioritization, portfolio roadmaps, and alignment of resources to organizational objectives.
• Develop portfolio-level reporting, performance metrics, dashboards, and executive communications to provide actionable insights into strategic progress, delivery risks, dependencies, and investment outcomes.
• Proactively identify portfolio-level risks, issues, and interdependencies, facilitating timely escalation, decision-making, and resolution across stakeholder groups.
• Prepare executive-level presentations, strategic recommendations, and decision materials to support leadership discussions, investment decisions, and governance forums.
• Drive continuous improvement in portfolio management practices, strategic planning processes, and cross-functional ways of working.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
• 6+ years of experience in technology strategy, portfolio management, program management, business transformation, or related roles within complex enterprise organizations.
• Demonstrated experience translating organizational strategies and business objectives into actionable plans, execution frameworks, and measurable outcomes.
• Strong understanding of technology portfolio management, including strategic prioritization, roadmap planning, investment management, delivery oversight, and benefits realization.
• Experience establishing or managing governance frameworks, operating routines, management reporting, and performance measurement processes.
• Proven ability to lead and coordinate cross-functional initiatives involving multiple teams, stakeholders, and competing organizational priorities.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to build alignment and drive outcomes without direct reporting authority.
• Experience identifying and managing portfolio-level risks, dependencies, issues, and execution challenges.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, including the ability to synthesize complex information, identify trends, and develop actionable recommendations.
• Experience developing executive-level presentations, strategic communications, portfolio reporting, and management dashboards.
• Strong organizational, communication, and facilitation skills, with demonstrated ability to operate effectively in ambiguous and evolving environments.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with practical execution, bringing structure and clarity to complex organizational challenges.

Preferred:

• Experience in financial services, financial crime technology, risk management, compliance technology, or other highly regulated industries.
• Familiarity with Financial Crime domains,and/or other financial services Risk Management domains
• Experience supporting enterprise technology transformation, modernization initiatives, or large-scale strategic programs.
• Experience in delivering large scale Risk program transformation within the Financial Services industry
• Knowledge of technology investment planning, financial management, resource allocation, and portfolio value measurement.
• Experience designing or improving technology operating models, governance frameworks, and portfolio management processes.
• Familiarity with regulatory governance, technology risk management, internal controls, and audit or compliance expectations.
• Experience working with Agile delivery organizations and understanding of product-centric technology operating models.
• Proficiency with portfolio management, reporting, and collaboration tools such as Jira, Confluence, Power BI, Tableau, or similar platforms.
• Experience developing executive dashboards, KPIs, OKRs, and benefits realization frameworks to measure portfolio performance and strategic outcomes.
• Ability to influence senior leaders, facilitate complex discussions, and drive alignment across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Experience supporting AI-enabled transformation, emerging technology adoption, or data-driven decision-making initiatives.
• Demonstrated passion for operational excellence, continuous improvement, and delivering measurable business value through technology.

Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the United States is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.