Director-Compliance

Global Financial Crimes Compliance

Customer Risk Rating, Director (Band 40): Hybrid

The Role

The American Express Global Financial Crimes Compliance (GFCC) function provides second-line policy, framework, oversight and control solutions to meet the Companys legal, regulatory and risk management mandates in connection with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF), Sanctions, and Anti-Bribery and Corruption. The GFCC portfolio comprises all aspects of the Companys first and second-line financial crime risk management (FCRM) activities, including all lines of businesses in the United States and both proprietary and non-proprietary global markets.

Reporting to the Vice President of Financial Crime Client Risk Management team, this Director role is responsible for executing key components of the enterprise Customer Risk Rating (CRR) framework, including customer risk assessment, reporting, and ongoing configuration updates. The Director plays a critical role in delivering transparent, data-driven insights into inherent and residual risks, strengthening the control environment, and supporting effective governance and decision-making across the enterprise. Through close partnership with stakeholders across lines of defense, technology, product, and business teams, this role enhances risk visibility and supports alignment with evolving regulatory expectations and ongoing transformation initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the end-to-end CRR program, including data collection, identifying effective risk-based customer risk scoring, and maintaining the enterprise and market customer risk assessments.
• Manage engagement with key stakeholders (e.g., MCOs, LOBCOs) to drive review, challenge, approval, and socialization of CRR outputs.
• Analyze CRR results with emerging risks and trends to identify actionable recommendations and methodology enhancements.
• Identify and implement continuous improvements to CRR processes, including enhancing data inputs, improving reporting capabilities, and strengthening governance.
• Support senior management, Board, audit, and regulatory engagements through high-quality, defensible analysis and documentation.
• Drive CRR and broader risk assessment modernization initiatives, including methodology uplift and implementation of Enterprise CRR in alignment with Operational Risk, Enterprise Risk, and Global Compliance frameworks.
• Partner with Technology and Product teams to support delivery of key initiatives (e.g., GCIP, Fusion, GNS) and other enhancements to risk assessment platforms and data infrastructure.
• Collaborate across GFCC, Operational Risk, Compliance, Audit, Technology, and business stakeholders to ensure alignment and effective execution in a global, matrixed environment.
• Provide subject matter expertise on financial crime risk assessment, reporting, and controls, strengthening governance and risk management practices.
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team, fostering accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Minimum Qualifications

• 68+ years of relevant experience in financial crimes compliance, risk management, reporting, or control management within a large financial institution or related environment.
• Demonstrated experience in AML/CTF programs, or broader financial crimes risk management, including execution of enterprise risk assessments.
• Proven ability to analyze large and complex datasets and translate findings into clear, actionable insights to support senior management and governance forums.
• Experience supporting regulatory exams, audits, or internal reviews, including preparation of defensible documentation and responses.
• Experience working across global, matrixed organizations and partnering effectively with Compliance, Risk, Audit, Technology, and business stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex risk and control concepts to a range of audiences.
• Bachelors degree required; advanced degree or relevant certifications preferred.

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