Director, Financial Crimes - Veterans Staffing : Job Details

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.

US Consumer Services is seeking an experienced and strategic Director Financial Crimes to lead a diverse team of high-performing professionals focused on ensuring risk and control management is embedded in the day-to-day operations of our organization. This first-line role will involve extensive collaboration with partners across business units, functional areas, and geographies. This role will lead the execution of financial crime risk management within the business unit and is accountable for ensuring the business maintains a strong control environment to prevent, detect, and respond to financial crimesincluding anti-money laundering (AML), sanctions, fraud, and anti-bribery and corruption (ABC). The ideal candidate brings deep subject matter expertise and a pragmatic, partnership-driven approach to risk management.

This role is part of a team that executes a variety of 1LOD Financial Crimes activities including:

• Program Governance:
• Develop and maintain business processes, business data, and reporting channels to support GFCC policies and governance functions
• Ensure appropriate 2LOD Global Financial Crimes Compliance (GFCC) participation in 1LOD committees
• Provide complete, accurate, and timely information to GFCC
• Controls & Issue Management:
• Design and implementation of testable controls to mitigate risks for the BU
• Maintain processes to remediate issues impacting GFCC control operations, including issues on data sourcing, data quality, KYC recordkeeping and business risk management
• Advisory:
• Provide consultation on new product initiatives and business projects
• Provide GFCC program with business details required to support execution of GFCC risk assessments
• Collect and maintain partner bank and customer KYC/CDD/EDD periodic activity review information, accepting financial crimes risks associated with those relationships for the BU and escalating promptly to senior management as needed

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary financial crime risk leader within the business, ensuring compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and internal policies.
• Design and implement financial crime risk frameworks, processes, and controls across the business unit.
• Partner with front-office and operational leaders to integrate financial crime prevention into customer lifecycle processes (onboarding, monitoring, escalation, exit).
• Conduct ongoing risk assessments and oversee issue management, including control testing and remediation of identified gaps.
• Lead business readiness for regulatory examinations, audits, and independent reviews focused on financial crimes.
• Consult with second line Global Financial Crimes Compliance (GFCC) teams to interpret regulatory guidance and ensure business alignment with enterprise standards.
• Monitor key risk indicators (KRIs) and report financial crime risk trends and metrics to senior leadership.
• Champion a strong risk culture by delivering targeted training and awareness initiatives across the business.
• Lead or participate in investigations or events involving suspicious activity, sanctions exposure, or internal fraud.
• Manage and mentor a small team (as applicable), driving accountability and performance excellence.

Qualifications:

• 710 years of experience in financial crimes compliance, risk management, or business control roles within the financial services industry.
• In-depth knowledge of BSA/AML, sanctions (OFAC), FCPA, and anti-fraud regulations and best practices.
• Demonstrated experience working in a first line of defense or business-aligned control function.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with a hands-on, solutions-oriented mindset.

Key Competencies:

• Leadership
• Risk assessment and control design expertise
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills
• Strategic thinking with strong execution capabilities
• Proven ability to operate in a matrixed, fast-paced environment

Salary Range: $130,000.00 to $205,000.00 annually bonus equity (if applicable) benefits

American Express is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability status, age, or any other status protected by law. American Express will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with arrest or conviction records, in accordance with the requirements of applicable state and local laws.