Vice President Strategy and Professional Excellence

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.

American Express’s Global Financial Crimes Surveillance Unit (GFCSU) is part of the broader Global Risk & Compliance organization, operating within Global Financial Crimes Compliance (GFCC), provides end-to-end oversight and support of global financial crimes investigations. In partnership with broader GFCC teams, GFCSU supports the development, testing, implementation and adjudication of transaction monitoring rules, reports, and other tools to detect potential criminal activity. GFCSU plays a vital role in ensuring compliance with key regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), USA PATRIOT Act, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. They also support law enforcement by providing critical information to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, credit card fraud, identity theft, and other financial crimes.

How will you make an impact in this role?

Lead GFCSU’s strategic planning and high-impact special projects to help deliver upon regulatory commitments across the GFCSU organization. Partner with head of GFCSU to implement special projects that support the strategic goals in alignment with company objectives.
Examples of these projects for 2025 and beyond include, but are not limited to, the following:

•Expansion into new GFCSU hub location(s) to create a 24-hour unit: Coordinate the rollout with various stakeholders including the Investigation Directors and the Training, Operations and Inventory teams. Ensure efficient project execution and produce KPIs and metrics to track performance.
•Coordinate the expansion of an AML team in Mexico, the Screening team in Spain and the EDD team in Malaysia to achieve the everyone doing everything all the time vision.
•Lead the creation of a project plan for the Onboarding of 600 contractors and 100 colleagues in India: end-to-end planning and execution. From TLM/SOW to onboarding, capabilities, inventory assignment, certification process, and performance metrics analysis and reporting.
•Creation of Quality Case Review (QCR) team to provide real time non-peer-to-peer feedback, aligned with ILQ methodology, to enhance the quality of investigations and ensure a smooth onboarding process for new hires.
•Establish a Special Investigations team for international markets, capable of detecting and reporting suspicious activity (e.g., organized crime) outside the scope of transaction monitoring rules, scheduled reports, and referrals, and conducting ad hoc assessments on emerging risks not yet covered by the TM program, applying Amex threat assessment and industry best practices.

Drive GFCSU transformation initiatives aimed at improving operational efficiency, enhancing capabilities, and fostering culture of innovation.
For example, the following:

•Challenging 1st Line of Defense on controls/data quality which impacts GFCSU’s efficiency and effectiveness.
•Support the implementation of the new training program, focused on developing well-rounded profiles of analysts competent to apply a holistic approach to financial crime investigations and able to pivot between different work streams. Support would also include ensuring that the training includes a standard process applicable globally, but also local requirements where necessary and challenging those requests that fall outside the scope of the GFCSU remit.

•Align the end-to-end investigation process with markets to pursue synergies and efficiencies, including escalations (e.g., adjusting the detailed narrative when not used by MCOs).
•Assist in improving the quality assurance program to simplify it, expand it and further enhance its effectiveness, accuracy, and relevance, supporting the creation of effective action plans to address any potential non-compliance with quality thresholds (e.g. identifying targeted training actions).
•Provide strategic insights and recommendations based on industry trends & outlook, and internal reviews
•Conduct typology-specific investigations based on industry and SAR filing trends (TikTok case, Trade-based money laundering examples).
•Assist in the planning of training sessions on new industry trends and updates on financial crime regulations.
•Identify and execute data-driven organizational decisions
•Engage with FC COE team to deliver effective optimization to rules in line with GFCSU input from testing and case management.
•Engage and collaborate with key stakeholders to negotiate and execute strategic partnerships and manage potential regulatory interactions.
•Improve coordination between internal stakeholders, notably the various Operations functions and Investigations team.

Collaborate in the management of external stakeholders, such as MLROs/MCOs, 1st Line of Defense, Internal Audit Group and FC COE

Minimum Qualifications

• Extensive experience in financial crime compliance , AML , fraud prevention or a regulatory field.


• Deep understanding of financial crime risks, AML typologies, and regulatory expectations


• Demonstrated success leading strategic planning and transformation projects


• Proven ability to drive operational efficiency and quality improvements


• Strong project management and change management expertise , with ability to deliver complex, multi-region initiatives


• Fluency in English – excellent communication skills written and spoken

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Finance, Business, Risk Mgmt., or related field; advanced degrees (e.g., MBA, MSc) or certifications are advantageous


• Strong understanding of financial crime technology, case management tools, and data analysis platforms


• Experience working across multiple regions


• Experience working with 1st Line of Defense , MLRO’s or other control functions in a complex organization.

We back you with benefits that support your holistic well-being so you can be and deliver your best. This means caring for you and your loved ones' physical, financial, and mental health, as well as providing the flexibility you need to thrive personally and professionally:

• Competitive base salaries 
• Bonus incentives 
• Support for financial-well-being and retirement 
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability benefits (depending on location) 
• Flexible working model with hybrid, onsite or virtual arrangements depending on role and business need 
• Generous paid parental leave policies (depending on your location) 
• 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

Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.