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. As part of Team Amex, you'll experience this 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.

Position Overview:

The newly created first line of defense Financial Crimes Risk & Controls center of excellence provides a holistic, enterprise-wide approach to our financial crimes risk management (FCRM) activities and resides within Global Servicing.

This team is responsible for establishing a robust control foundation for first line of defense FCRM activities across the company globally, including anti-money laundering, sanctions, payments controls, and anti-corruption.

Reporting to the Vice President, Financial Crimes Risk and Control Governance and Issue Management, the Director of Financial Crimes Governance and Exam Management is accountable for first-line governance execution, operating model enablement, change management, and exam readiness in support of the firm’s Financial Crime Risk Management (FCRM) Policy and Standards.

This role supports the council secretary and serves as the orchestration point for 1LOD financial crimes governance, ensuring effective council and working group operations, disciplined escalation of risks, strong adoption of change, and sustained exam readiness. The Director acts as the primary 1LOD coordinator for regulatory and internal exams, partnering with GFCC and other control functions while maintaining clear first-line ownership and accountability.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the Corporate Secretary for 1LOD financial crimes governance, including councils, steering committees, and working groups.

• Own governance charters, agendas, materials, decision logs, and action tracking, and ensure governance forums are decision-oriented, with clear accountability, escalation, and follow-through.

• Manage formal escalation pathways for 1LOD financial crimes risks to senior management and enterprise governance forums.

• Own the 1LOD change management framework for financial crimes, including intake, triage, prioritization, and implementation of changes driven by regulatory expectations, exams, risk assessments, or operating model updates.

• Ensure changes are clearly communicated, adopted, and embedded across the first line.

• Track change adoption and effectiveness, escalating adoption risks through governance forums.

• Own the 1LOD intake framework for financial crimes risks, findings, and control gaps entering governance channels.

• Ensure consistent triage, prioritization, and routing of risks to the appropriate execution or delivery owners

• Establish and maintain exam readiness standards, including Evidence and documentation expectations, Governance artifacts, Senior-leader preparedness and briefing standards

• Maintain transparency and traceability from intake through governance decisioning.

• Serve as the 1LOD coordinator for regulatory and internal exams, partnering with internal audit and regulatory exam lifecycle management. Coordinate exam logistics, information requests, walkthroughs, and governance engagement

• Prepare senior management and governance forums for regulator interactions through concise, risk-focused materials and talking points.

• Own the framework and execution of staffing, skill assessment, and training enablement for 1LOD financial crimes governance and execution roles.

• Partner with COEs and business leaders to assess training needs and ensure training and skill development align to evolving regulatory expectations and risk profiles. Track completion and effectiveness of training programs relevant to financial crimes governance.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in financial crimes governance, risk, compliance, or operating model enablement, preferably within a large, complex financial institution.

• Bachelors Degree

• Strong understanding of financial crimes regulatory frameworks (e.g., BSA/AML, sanctions, payments controls).

• Demonstrated experience operating senior-level governance forums and managing regulatory exam readiness, supporting regulatory exams or supervisory interactions in a 1LOD role

• Strong people leadership experience, building and coaching high performing teams

• Proven ability to lead change management and operating model adoption.

• Strong executive communication and stakeholder-influencing skills.

• High judgment, attention to detail, and ability to operate in ambiguity.

Preferred:

• Professional certifications (e.g., CAMS, CFE)

• MBA Preferred

Salary Range: $123,000.00 to $215,250.00 annually + bonus + equity (if applicable) + benefits

The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we’ll consider your location, experience, and other job-related factors.

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
• 6% Company Match on retirement savings plan
• Free financial coaching and financial well-being support
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability benefits
• Flexible working model with hybrid, onsite or virtual arrangements depending on role and business need
• 20+ weeks paid parental leave for all parents, regardless of gender, offered for pregnancy, adoption or surrogacy
• 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

For a full list of Team Amex benefits, visit our Colleague Benefits Site .

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. American Express will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with arrest or conviction records, in accordance with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including, but not limited to, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. For positions covered by federal and/or state banking regulations, American Express will comply with such regulations as it relates to the consideration of applicants with criminal convictions.

We back our colleagues with the support they need to thrive, professionally and personally. That's why we have Amex Flex, our enterprise working model that provides greater flexibility to colleagues while ensuring we preserve the important aspects of our unique in-person culture. Depending on role and business needs, colleagues will either work onsite, in a hybrid model (combination of in-office and virtual days) or fully virtually.

US Job Seekers - Click to view the “ Know Your Rights ” poster. If the link does not work, you may access the poster by copying and pasting the following URL in a new browser window: https://www.eeoc.gov/poster

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