Director - Compliance Director of Scenario Development

American Express•Phoenix, AZ

15d

About The Position

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. How will you make an impact in this role? The American Express Global Financial Crimes Compliance (GFCC) function provides second-line policy, framework, oversight and control solutions to meet the Company’s 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 Company’s first and second-line financial crime risk management (FCRM) activities, including all lines of businesses in the United States and both proprietary non-proprietary global markets. Reporting to the Head of Transaction Monitoring (TM) Design, the Director of Scenario Development will oversee the end-to-end development, enhancement, and design strategy for TM rules, detection scenarios and related models and tools to ensure they align with GFCC risk coverage requirements. This individual will be responsible for translating emerging and known money laundering and terrorist financing typologies into technical monitoring logic and mitigation approaches across all applicable American Express (AXP) products, services, business segments and markets. This role will include management of a dedicated development team with regular interaction with internal technology, data science, and investigations teams to ensure sound program oversight and coordination. This is a critical leadership role within GFCC, requiring strong domain expertise in AML TM systems, advanced understanding of AML risk typologies, data, model risk management and a track record of operational execution within the financial services industry.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in Financial Crimes Compliance and AML TM, specifically related to rule development, logic design, and financial crime analytics.
Proven expertise in AML TM systems, coverage assessments, typology translation, alert evaluation, and model risk management.
Strong knowledge and understanding of global regulatory expectations.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-regional and cross-functional teams.
Strong communication and influencing skills; ability to interact with senior executives and regulators.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience is required; advanced degree in a related field (e.g., Law, Business, Data Science) is preferred.

Responsibilities

End-to-End Scenario Design: Lead the design and development of new detection scenarios, ensuring logic is mapped to specific risk elements.
Typology Integration: Establish a process to identify and monitor known and emerging financial crime and terrorism financing typologies and translate these patterns into technical monitoring coverage across all AXP products and services.
Control Implementation: Design and implement controls to ensure that all rule design input and requirements are coded and deployed as intended.
Pre and Post Implementation Rule Oversight: Drive the overall “book of work” for rule development, managing the lifecycle from initial requirements gathering through post implementation validation.
Vendor and Technology Selection: Provide recommendations on technology solutions (internal and third-party) and evaluate impact on the TM program as well as adherence to business and operational needs.
Threshold Strategy: Oversee the design methodology for initial threshold setting for new scenarios, ensuring qualitative and quantitative approaches are leveraged to drive rule effectiveness.
Strategic Leadership: Manage a team of rule developers, analysts and subject matter experts, fostering a culture of diligence, accountability and technical excellence.
Model Risk Management Support: Oversee the creation and maintenance of technical rule documentation, including design rationale, critical data elements, and business requirements for the TM Rule program.
Regulatory and Audit Engagement: Prepare technical materials and present during regulatory exams and internal audit meetings regarding the design and governance of the TM program.

Benefits

Competitive base salaries
Bonus incentives
6%25 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