Director - AI Engineering - Agentic AI

American Express•New York, NY

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

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. At American Express, AI is reshaping the future of commerce and redefining the experiences our commercial customers and card members expect. Within Amex Technology, we are building platforms, products, and governance that enable agentic AI systems to operate responsibly and at scale across the enterprise. Our focus is on agentic AI development: designing intelligent, adaptive systems that can plan, reason, and act across complex workflows with appropriate levels of autonomy. These systems power autonomous workflows, decision support, and customer-facing experiences—while meeting the high standards for security, explainability, reliability, and compliance required in financial services. We partner closely with product, design, and business teams to deliver agentic capabilities that reduce operational friction, improve decision-making, and transform how customers interact, transact, and grow. As a Director of Data Engineering – Agentic AI, you will lead the strategy, architecture, and execution of agentic AI systems across Amex Technology. You will be responsible for building and leading high-performing engineering teams that define how agentic AI solutions are designed, built, and operated at scale across the enterprise. This role combines deep technical leadership with people leadership. You will set technical direction, establish architectural standards, and ensure delivery of reliable, scalable agentic AI platforms—while also hiring, developing, and managing engineering talent. Your impact will come from shaping long-term strategy, cultivating strong engineering culture, and enabling teams to turn ambiguity into production-grade systems. You will operate at the intersection of vision and execution: guiding system design, reviewing critical architectures, partnering on complex technical decisions, and ensuring engineering excellence across multiple teams. While you may engage in hands-on technical discussions, your primary focus will be organizational leadership, technical oversight, and execution at scale rather than individual contribution. You will work closely with Product, UX, and enterprise stakeholders to shape the vision and roadmap for agentic AI experiences. Product teams own prioritization, but as a Director you will influence investment strategy, platform direction, and cross-team integration to ensure cohesive, enterprise-ready solutions.

Requirements

Deep technical leadership
People leadership
Experience in setting technical direction
Experience in establishing architectural standards
Experience in ensuring delivery of reliable, scalable agentic AI platforms
Experience in hiring, developing, and managing engineering talent
Experience in shaping long-term strategy
Experience in cultivating strong engineering culture
Experience in enabling teams to turn ambiguity into production-grade systems
Experience in guiding system design
Experience in reviewing critical architectures
Experience in partnering on complex technical decisions
Experience in ensuring engineering excellence across multiple teams
Experience working closely with Product, UX, and enterprise stakeholders

Nice To Haves

While you may engage in hands-on technical discussions, your primary focus will be organizational leadership, technical oversight, and execution at scale rather than individual contribution.

Responsibilities

Lead the strategy, architecture, and execution of agentic AI systems across Amex Technology.
Build and lead high-performing engineering teams that define how agentic AI solutions are designed, built, and operated at scale across the enterprise.
Set technical direction, establish architectural standards, and ensure delivery of reliable, scalable agentic AI platforms.
Hire, develop, and manage engineering talent.
Shape long-term strategy, cultivate strong engineering culture, and enable teams to turn ambiguity into production-grade systems.
Guide system design, review critical architectures, partner on complex technical decisions, and ensure engineering excellence across multiple teams.
Influence investment strategy, platform direction, and cross-team integration to ensure cohesive, enterprise-ready solutions.

Benefits

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