Director & Counsel – GMNS Global Acquiring Partners & Programs (OptBlue)

American Express•New York, NY

3d•Hybrid

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. The General Counsel’s Organization (GCO) at American Express is seeking a Director & Counsel to support the Global Acquiring Partners & Programs (GAPP) team within the Global Merchant & Network Services (GMNS) business. GMNS is a core business of American Express and fundamental to the operation of the American Express global payments network. GMNS builds and maintains relationships with merchants that choose to accept the American Express Card and financial services companies who enable merchants to accept the Card, simultaneously delivering differentiated products and services and driving revenue growth for both merchants and American Express. The successful candidate will provide legal support and advice to the team managing our global third-party acquiring relationships, including Payment Facilitators and participants in American Express’s OptBlue Program. These innovative tech-driven merchant-acquirers, payment processors, fin-techs and platforms represent an expanding and evolving segment for American Express. This role will serve as the primary GCO support for the American Express OptBlue Program, negotiate complex commercial agreements, advise on strategic matters, and support other global program management activities.

Requirements

J.D. with admission to New York Bar or eligibility to do so
6+ years of relevant work experience in a law firm and/or in-house corporate legal environment
Specific experience and knowledge in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating complex commercial agreements and providing thoughtful and practice advice on complex business issues

Nice To Haves

Experience with payments, e-commerce, or merchant acquiring businesses
Strong analytical, problem-solving and project management skills
Ability to build strong client relationships and bring to light areas of legal and compliance risk, and other issues requiring legal-influenced problem solving
Ability to generate creative and innovative solutions to novel issues
Ability to communicate complex issues clearly and persuasively, in both written and oral format
Excellent collaboration, interpersonal and teamwork skills and work well in cross-functional team settings and partner with others to drive results
Ability to manage and prioritize competing demands while maintaining close attention to details and meeting deadlines
Appetite to develop in-depth knowledge of business operations and apply that understanding in furnishing legal advice
Self-motivated, high level of personal energy and commitment
Strong leadership skills, growth mindset and customer focus

Responsibilities

Provide legal support for the GAPP team by working on a wide variety of matters including commercial contracting, OptBlue Program management, risk identification and mitigation, operational capabilities, and data strategy and security, all within a dynamic business and regulatory and legal environment.
Provide guidance on the evolution of the OptBlue Program and Amex third party acquiring ecosystem generally while coordinating with other facets of the Amex business, including other legal, operational and policy teams.
Drive global consistency across a range of payment models from a legal, contractual, and operational standpoint.
Partner with legal colleagues and other business and stakeholder groups worldwide (including international GCO, compliance, risk, and business development leads) to ensure the most effective support and relevant expertise is applied across all matters.
Support the identification and implementation of process improvements.
Participate in a team of seasoned attorneys, offering thought leadership for cross-cutting issues and strategic projects.
Support effective, cost-conscious targeted engagements of outside counsel where necessary, with a disciplined approach to budget management.

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