Director- Regulatory Compliance

About the position

American Express is seeking a skilled Regulatory Compliance Director to lead the global regulatory compliance function within the Global Compliance & Ethics organization. This role will oversee the proactive identification, assessment, and implementation of new and/or changes to laws, rules, and regulations across the organization, ensuring that all business units adhere to evolving regulations. Additionally, this Director will manage the American Express inventory of laws, rules, and regulations applicable to AXP products, services, legal entities, and corporate services, ensuring that all regulatory requirements are systematically tracked, categorized, summarized and integrated into American Express's risk taxonomy framework. The ideal candidate will possess expertise in navigating the complex regulatory environment affecting financial services and will be adept at managing changes that impact our business operations worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Oversee a global Compliance program team responsible for Regulatory Change Management standards and program maintenance to drive compliance with laws, rules and regulations applicable to American Express products, services, and legal entities.
• Define and execute a strategy to review and summarize laws, rules, and regulations into clear, concise bundles with appropriate categorization.
• Oversee risk assessment processes to ensure that regulatory change management activities are integrated into the Enterprise Risk Taxonomy supporting first line of defense risk assessments.
• Execute effective challenge to ensure business units demonstrate how compliance is achieved with all relevant regulatory requirements, supporting the organization's risk posture.
• Provide strategic leadership on maintaining a comprehensive and up-to-date legal inventory that aligns with global regulatory requirements and supports business objectives.
• Design and oversee the management of a global legal inventory system, leveraging generative artificial intelligence tools to create plain English summaries and ensuring a comprehensive, organized repository of regulatory obligations and requirements.
• Collaborate with Legal, Compliance, and third-party vendor teams to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the regulatory inventory scope and content.
• Develop metrics to monitor inventory status, providing reporting on legal requirements, regulatory gaps, and implementation progress.
• Lead and develop a high-performing Regulatory Compliance team, fostering a culture of compliance excellence and continuous improvement.
• Ensure training and development programs are in place to upskill team members in regulatory change management best practices and legal inventory management.
• Act as a primary liaison between regulatory bodies, compliance teams, legal departments, and business units to communicate new and updated regulatory requirements.
• Drive awareness of regulatory change requirements across the organization, ensuring alignment and accountability to include provide updates to relevant committees as appropriate.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in law, Compliance, Business, or a related field required, JD or master's degree preferred.
• 10+ years of overall experience in regulatory compliance risk management with a minimum of 5 years' experience managing Regulatory Change Management.
• Demonstrated understanding of relevant general laws, regulations and standards (e.g., Heightened Standards, FRB LFI, UK SMR) affecting risk management of large banks, so risk practices comply with overall regulatory frameworks and expectations.
• Professional regulatory compliance certification required.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage complex regulatory change projects.

Nice-to-haves

• Displays a mindset of questioning assumptions, critically assessing information and seeking evidence to validate conclusions, so decisions are unbiased and well-founded.
• Proven success at shaping decisions and perspectives by persuading stakeholders, managing relationships and securing buy-in for initiatives.
• Strategic thinking and a proactive approach to regulatory change and legal inventory management.
• Strong project management and organizational skills with a track record of successful regulatory change implementations.
• Proficiency with compliance systems, regulatory change management platforms and tools (e.g., Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence, CUBE, Archer).
• Excellent interpersonal skills to influence and collaborate with stakeholders at all levels.
• Familiarity with regulatory requirements issued by CFPB, Federal Reserve, and OCC.

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