Director-Digital Product Operations

American Express•Phoenix, AZ

2d•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. From delivering differentiated products to providing world-class customer service, we operate with a strong risk mindset, ensuring we continue to uphold our brand promise of trust, security, and service. 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. Enterprise Data Management & Products (EDMP), a key part of our Technology organization, focuses on delivering data products that fuel business growth and unlock value, while also shaping robust data management strategies and governance solutions. Our aim is to propel growth, unlock potential, enhance efficiency, manage risk, and foster talent. By prioritizing enterprise growth across all sectors, we create solutions that enhance satisfaction and value, streamline operations for scalability, and maintain trust and security. Role Description: At Enterprise Data Products (EDP), we aim to deliver exceptional customer experience every day, empowering the enterprise to use trusted data and insights enabled through a best-in-class suite of products. As Director, you will architect and lead the Platform Strategy & Operations (PSO) team for Lumi, our next-generation Big Data platform, establishing the operating model that drives strategic alignment, execution discipline, and portfolio visibility across the platform. This role sits at the intersection of product strategy, execution, and stakeholder engagement and is responsible for transforming the platform’s operating model to drive strategic clarity, execution discipline, and portfolio cohesion. The PSO will serve as the connective tissue across Lumi’s product portfolio, ensuring clarity of priorities, transparency of dependencies, and alignment to enterprise objectives. This role requires a leader who will take full ownership of the platform operating model and act as a strategic thought partner to senior leadership. The Director will be empowered to challenge existing norms, introduce disciplined execution frameworks, and drive measurable transformation across Lumi’s portfolio. You will lead a team of professionals with whom you will build and evolve a function that integrates portfolio management, cross-product coordination, stakeholder engagement, and strategic planning into a cohesive operating framework.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience leading portfolio or platform-level transformation in complex technology environments.
Strong systems thinker with the ability to diagnose structural inefficiencies and design scalable solutions.
Demonstrated ability to lead organizational change and influence without direct authority.
Experience operating within a technology- and data-intensive function, with the ability to engage and influence multi-functional enterprise stakeholders on key data management, data governance, and platform architecture concepts.
Proven ability to translate ambiguity into structured operating models.
Strong executive communication skills with the ability to frame trade-offs, risks, and strategic decisions clearly.
Experience building and leading high-performing teams.
This leader must be equally comfortable in strategic product discussions and technical engineering debates, serving as a trusted thought partner in shaping Lumi’s long-term platform vision.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with data platforms, data warehousing, cloud architectures, or large-scale distributed systems preferred.

Responsibilities

Architect and Implement the Platform Operating Model
Design and institutionalize scalable intake, prioritization, and roadmap governance processes.
Introduce structured portfolio decision frameworks grounded in impact, capacity, and risk.
Simplify existing processes while increasing execution discipline.
Drive Strategic Portfolio Cohesion
Consolidate Lumi’s product roadmap into a cohesive, enterprise-aligned portfolio view.
Identify gaps, redundancies, and sequencing risks across products.
Surface portfolio trade-offs and recommendations to senior leadership.
Enable Execution Excellence
Establish clear dependency management and cross-product coordination mechanisms.
Ensure initiatives progress with transparency into risk, impact, and value realization.
Embed Governance Without Creating Drag
Integrate risk, compliance, and control considerations into portfolio design.
Partner with Architecture, Engineering, and Platform Governance leaders to ensure alignment on major platform investments.
Lead and Develop a High-Impact Team
Build a team that blends strategic thinking with operational rigor.
Set high standards for clarity, accountability, and cross-functional partnership.
Foster a culture that balances innovation with disciplined execution.

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