Manager of Operational Resilience

Operational Resilience is the ability of an organization to withstand, adapt to, and recover from disruptions such as cyber incidents, technology failures, or external events. It extends beyond traditional business continuity by addressing both internal and external risks that may impact the delivery of products and services, ensuring the organization can continue to serve customers through disruption.

The Operational Resilience program sits within the Business Resilience team in Enterprise Shared Services (ESS) at American Express. The team partners across the enterprise to design and oversee resilience, continuity, and crisis response capabilities that protect colleagues, customers, and Critical/Important Business Services. This includes preparing for and managing disruptions, coordinating global and regional crisis response, monitoring emerging risks, and delivering post-event insights to senior leadership.

As a Manager of Operational Resilience you will execute key components of the enterprise Operational Resilience program, supporting the design, implementation, and continuous strengthening of the program in alignment with evolving regulatory expectations. You will work closely with Critical/Important Business Service owners, cross-functional partners, and program leadership to drive resilience outcomes.

Support the execution of the Operational Resilience framework, including:

• Facilitate end-to-end program activities across assigned Critical/Important Business Services, including dependency mapping, impact tolerance assessment, and scenario design 

• Apply and help refine standards, procedures, and training to support consistent enterprise-wide adoption 

• Facilitate end-to-end dependency mapping across processes, technology, third parties, locations, and critical data, along with associated impact tolerances, for assigned CBSs 

• Coordinate and facilitate scenario testing for assigned Critical/Important Business Services in partnership with service owners and interconnected programs (e.g., Information Security, Technology, Operational Risk, Third-Party Risk Management) 

• Prepare clear, actionable resilience reporting and materials for senior management and governance forums to support decision-making and regulatory readiness

• Partner with international legal entity teams to support consistent interpretation and implementation of the framework 

• Document business requirements to support the development of resilience capabilities, tools, and data infrastructure

• Track evolving global regulatory expectations (e.g., SR 20-24, DORA, UK FCA) and help ensure ongoing program alignment 

• Contribute to benchmarking AXP's Operational Resilience program against industry peers to drive continuous improvement

• Help design and operate controls to ensure effectiveness, sustainability, and audit readiness

• Support requests from regulators and audit examinations related to Operational Resilience

Experience and Background:

• 3+ years' experience in Risk Management, with exposure to Operational Resilience, Business Continuity, or a related program 
• Strong understanding of resilience, business continuity, and crisis preparedness concepts 
• Strong problem-solving skills; ability to see the big picture with attention given to critical details
• Demonstrated ability to successfully manage multiple priorities under pressure, including regulatory exams and audits 
• Bachelor's degree required
   

 Leadership Skills:

• Self-starter who can independently drive workstreams to completion with limited supervision 
• Excellent relationship, collaboration, and presentation skills with ability to interact with and influence partners across all levels in a matrixed organization 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with ability to translate complex resilience concepts for business and senior leader audiences 
• Self-confident with a strong sense of integrity and the ability and willingness to challenge and be challenged 
• Ability to communicate key risks clearly to colleagues, business partners, and senior leaders
   

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA or advanced degree preferred 
• Certifications in Business Continuity, Resilience will be a plus 
• Familiarity with Operational Resilience regulatory requirements (e.g., SR 20-24, DORA, UK FCA regulations) 
  
  Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the United States is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.