American Express
Website:
americanexpress.com
Job details:
Job Description
American Express is looking for a hands-on Director Software Engineering in the
Risk Decision Technologies (RDT) organization to lead a Data Engineering team.
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 core of our company is not just the products we offer, but the personal connections our customers have with our brand. You can create digital experiences - from payments to rewards to servicing - that keep us connected to our customers and serve them at every touchpoint. From digital servicing and lifestyle features to secure, frictionless payment options, you can make a meaningful difference in our customers’ lives and help set us apart in the industry.
Risk Decision Technologies team is responsible for building cross-domain, configurable platforms that enable best-in-class risk management while supporting American Express growth with strong governance.
The Data Engineering team is on a journey to build next-generation data movement, metadata, and lineage platforms that support critical risk business functions such as payments authorization, new account fulfillment, credit collections, and underwriting risk.
The
Risk Data Management (RDM) batch platform is a critical component of the Authorization Modernization Program (AMP), powering the risk assessment engine with large volumes of data. The platform also includes cloud-native applications designed for low latency, scalability, and modular architecture.
We’re looking for a
Director – Software Engineering to lead high-performing engineering teams, influence the evolution of our data and platform capabilities, and deliver impactful, data-driven solutions at scale. This leader will bring an exceptional blend of strong people leadership, data engineering expertise, and hands-on technical depth.
You will lead teams responsible for building scalable, reliable, and high-performance data platforms while partnering closely with Product, Risk, and Business stakeholders to deliver meaningful outcomes. You will operate in a fast-paced environment while leveraging the stability and global scale of a Fortune 100 company.
Responsibilities
- Lead, mentor, and grow multiple engineering teams (both co-located and remote), fostering a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement
- Drive design and delivery of scalable, high-quality data platforms and pipelines aligned with business and risk strategies
- Collaborate with Product, Risk, and Business stakeholders to define and execute data platform roadmaps
- Establish strong partnerships across engineering and architecture teams to ensure alignment on standards, tools, and delivery practices
- Hire, retain, and develop top engineering talent while promoting a strong engineering culture and best practices
- Provide ongoing coaching, feedback, and performance management for engineering teams
- Communicate complex data and technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Drive engineering excellence through metrics, improving quality, data reliability, and delivery efficiency
- Lead the design and implementation of data movement, metadata, lineage, and governance solutions
- Act as a change agent to continuously evolve data engineering practices, platforms, and capabilities
- Lead adoption of GenAI technologies to enhance developer productivity, accelerate delivery, and drive innovation across engineering teams
- Provide thought leadership on modern data engineering practices and emerging technologies
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science , Engineering, or related technical field (or equivalent experience)
- 10+ years of experience building and delivering scalable data or software platforms
- 5+ years of experience leading and managing engineering teams
- Proven success delivering large-scale data platforms in an agile development environment
Technical Expertise
- Strong proficiency in Java and Python
- Experience building and leading large-scale data engineering platforms and pipelines
- Experience leveraging GenAI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Devin, Codex etc.) to improve engineering efficiency, code quality, and developer experience
- Hands-on experience with:
- GCP (Google Cloud Platform)
- Oracle and Cassandra databases
- Event-driven architectures (Kafka, Pub/Sub)
- Distributed data processing and batch/streaming systems
- Data modeling, data governance, metadata, and lineage systems
- Experience designing and implementing scalable APIs and services
- Experience with data quality and controls
- Experience with data management and governance
- Deep understanding of high-availability, high-performance, and scalable distributed systems
- Experience with:
- Microservices and API-driven architectures
- CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins, CircleCI )
- Observability, monitoring, and performance optimization
- Automated testing strategies (unit, integration, end-to-end)
- Ability to evaluate trade-offs and guide architectural decisions
Leadership Skills
- Strong communication and storytelling skills across technical and non-technical audiences
- Proven ability to influence stakeholders and drive alignment across teams
- Experience collaborating across product, engineering, risk, and business organizations
- Ability to lead global, distributed engineering teams across multiple regions and time zones
- Experience working with stakeholders across different geographies, navigating cultural and operational differences effectively
- Demonstrated success in coaching, mentoring, and developing engineering talent
- Ability to lead through complexity and drive outcomes across organizational boundaries
- Track record of inspiring and motivating teams at all levels
- Ability to quickly learn, adopt, and champion new technologies
About Us
At American Express, our culture is built on a 175-year history of innovation, shared values and Leadership Behaviors, and an unwavering commitment to back our customers, communities, and colleagues. From delivering differentiated products to providing world-class customer service, we operate with a strong risk mindset, ensuring we continue to uphold our brand promise of trust, security, and service.
As part of Team Amex, you’ll experience our powerful backing with comprehensive support for your holistic well-being and many opportunities to learn new skills, develop as a leader, and grow your career. Here, your voice and ideas matter, your work makes an impact, and together, you will help us define the future of American Express.
About The Team
We back you with benefits that support your holistic well-being so you can be and deliver your best. This means caring for you and your loved ones' physical, financial, and mental health, as well as providing the flexibility you need to thrive personally and professionally:
- Competitive base salaries
- Bonus incentives
- Support for financial-well-being and retirement
- Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability benefits (depending on location)
- Flexible working model with hybrid, onsite or virtual arrangements depending on role and business need
- Generous paid parental leave policies (depending on your location)
- Free access to global on-site wellness centers staffed with nurses and doctors (depending on location)
- Free and confidential counseling support through our Healthy Minds program
- Career development and training opportunities
American Express is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability status, age, or any other status protected by law.
Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.
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