Director - Control Management

Global Merchant & Network Services (GMNS) brings together American Express' merchant-and network related businesses to enable a sharp focus on using the power of our network to provide unique value to all our mutual customers. The organization manages the relationships with the millions of merchants around the world that accepts American Express and runs the company’s payment network and manages bank partnerships globally.

The objective of the GMNS Control Management Change Risk Assessment team is to enable the safe, timely, and well-governed delivery of business change by providing independent operational risk assessment and governance for new products and material business changes. The team ensures changes are appropriately assessed, challenged and governed in line with enterprise policies and standards.

GMNS is looking for a Director, Change Risk Assessment to lead the development and execution of the GMNS Change Risk Assessment framework. This leader will manage a small team of high-performing professionals focused on identifying, assessing, and managing risks associated with new products and services and material business changes, while continuously enhancing related assessment methodologies, governance standards, and reporting capabilities. This role will involve extensive collaboration with partners across Product, Technology, Digital, Operations, Pricing, Enterprise Risk, Control Management, business units, functional areas, and geographies to identify emerging risks, drive appropriate mitigation strategies, and enable informed senior management decision-making.

The Director, GMNS Change Risk Assessment will: 

• Support GMNS to identify new product or service changes, or material business changes that should be subject to adherence to relevant AXP Policies and Standards. 
• Support creation and execution of a GMNS framework that enables identified new product or service changes, or material business changes to categorized and risk assessed within the appropriate policies and standard (e.g. New Product Governance, Model Risk, Third Party Lifecycle Management etc). 
• Where required, develop, implement and scale risk assessment approaches for new product or service changes, or material business changes that appropriately considers Strategic, Operational and Compliance risks from both BAU changes and products as well as new and emerging risks from novel product innovation (e.g. Agentic AI, Digital Transformation Initiatives) in line with policies and standards. 
• Continuously enhance the GMNS Change Risk Assessment frameworks, including assessment methodology, governance standards, risk taxonomy, and decision criteria.
• Partner with Product, Technology, Digital, Operations, Pricing, Enterprise Risk, and other BUs, to identify emerging risks early in the change lifecycle and recommend appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Drive governance forums supporting Change Risk Assessment, including preparation of risk summaries, recommendations, and executive decision materials.
• Track execution of mitigation actions and provide transparent reporting on portfolio health, key risks, and emerging themes to senior leadership.
• Identify cross-program risks and systemic issues across concurrent transformation initiatives.
• Facilitate risk/control monitoring capabilities by developing risk profile reporting and enabling the proactive communication of key OR trends, risk assessment data / themes / activities to senior management, to facilitate informed decision-making. 

Required Qualifications: 

• 8+ Years experience in operational risk management (e.g., within Risk and/or Internal Audit function) Understanding of critical operational risk management lifecycle activities

• Excellent project management, communication, and interpersonal skills, with an ability to interact and obtain buy-in from senior BU/tech counterparts

• Expertise in process governance, with a track record of establishing and overseeing robust decision-making processes that align with policies, regulatory frameworks, and/or operational standards

• Experience within financial services industry

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with an ability to analyze data, identify trends, and evaluate risk scenarios effectively 

• Ability to demonstrate thought leadership and drive initiatives through to implementation 

• Demonstrated history and ability to manage large programs and influence horizontally across teams spread over geographies and with varying backgrounds 

Preferred Qualifications:

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

• Experience in at least one of the following: 

  • Experience assessing risks associated with technology implementations, digital transformation, AI/automation, or business process changes.

  • Experience in New Product Governance (NPG), Change Risk Assessment, or Product Risk Management within a large financial institution.

  • Providing identification of operational risks throughout business processes and systems

  • Facilitating risk assessment performance in addition to further assessments and testing programs to ensure regulatory and internal standards are met

  • Enhancing risk assessments and associated methodologies

  • Leading independent control monitoring, including identification of control improvements

  • Identifying areas of risk for intervention, including conducting independent quality assurance and process testing

  • Compiling thematic risk reporting to provide actionable insights on risk levels, emerging trends and root causes

ORMCM

Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the United States is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.