Director – Business Disruption & Operational Resilience Risk Management

At American Express, our culture is built on a 175-year history of innovation, shared valuesand  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.

The Technical Risk Management (TRM) team, within the Global Risk and Compliance organization and led by the Chief Risk Officer, manages operational risks associated with Information & Cyber Security Risk, Business Disruption, Technology Risk, Data Risk, and AI Risk Management. The team also ensures that risk management activities are conducted in alignment with regulatory requirements and industry expectations. In addition, the team aggregates and reports on key risk management and oversight activities to the relevant management and Board risk committees.  

How will you make an impact in this role

The Director, Business Disruption & Operational Resilience Risk Management is a new role dedicated to managing operational resilience risks globally at American Express. Areas of focus include business continuity management across people, processes, technology, third parties, and physical infrastructure. This role sits within the GRC team and reports directly to the Vice President, Firmwide Independent Risk Management Head of Business Disruption & Operational Resilience. The incumbent will be responsible for supporting and executing on the overall operational resilience risk management and governance framework at the Company.

Essential Job Functions:

• Support the implementation of the operational resilience risk governance framework, including building a specialized risk team, establishing risk policies, and enhancing risk management capabilities.
• Conduct independent, proactive risk management and oversight of operational resilience related risks (including people, process, technology, third party, and infrastructure)
• Enhance and maintain the firm’s operational resilience framework, including policies, governance, and minimum standards, to strengthen organizational readiness and responsiveness to business disruption events.
• Provide operational resilience risk oversight through identification, assessment, control, measurement, monitoring, and reporting of risks within the operational resilience program.
• Develop a strong understanding of operational resilience and business continuity management processes, demonstrating curiosity and a willingness to deliver effective and credible challenge.
• Identify risks related to operational resilience, oversee controls in line with American Express’s risk and control framework. Establish guidance and requirements for minimum recommended controls.
• Leverage advanced data analytics to drive insights, proactively identifying opportunities for enhancing the Company’s operational resilience and swiftly adapting to emerging threats.
• Design and implement operational resilience related metrics to identify and report risks.
• Support regulatory exams, to ensure the company is prepared to provide necessary documentation, addressing inquiries from regulators, and demonstrating compliance with legal and regulatory requirements and supervisory expectations.
• Collaborate with senior leadership, across Legal, Technology and Business Unit leaders to support the development of the organization’s risk appetite for operational resilience and monitor adherence to the established thresholds.
• Demonstrate in-depth knowledge in key risk oversight skills, including operational resiliency, business continuity management, disaster recovery, dependency risk management, resiliency monitoring, operational vulnerability management and resiliency compliance management.
• Support compliance with Resilience-related regulations and standards (e.g., OCC Bulletin 2020-94, FFIEC Handbooks, DORA, GLBA, etc.) to meet legal and regulatory obligations.

Minimum qualifications:

• Minimum of seven years’ experience in risk management at a Global Systemically Important Bank (GSIB), with expertise spanning policy and procedure development, risk appetite frameworks, risk and control self-assessments and testing, as well as issue management.
• Deep knowledge of laws, regulations, and industry frameworks (e.g. DORA, FRB SR 2020-24/OCC 2020-94, OCC Heightened Standards, FFIEC IT booklets).
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with an ability to explain complex problems and ideas clearly and succinctly to senior management.
• Understanding of risk assessment methodologies, frameworks and industry standards.
• Deep expertise in key elements of operational resilience framework: risk identification and assessment, business continuity planning, incident response and recovery, crisis management, governance
• Demonstrates ability and aspiration for building and nurturing teams and leading complex and high impact assessments.
• Displays a mindset of questioning assumptions, critically assessing information and seeking evidence to validate conclusions, so decisions are unbiased and well-founded.
• Demonstrates learning agility: Learns from unfamiliar experiences. Perseveres through and learns from setbacks.
• Analytical attitude with consistent track record of using data and business insight to develop winning strategies and drive business decision-making,
• Ability to make decisions quickly and effectively.
• Demonstrates courage and resilience.
• Ability to work in a highly collaborative environment, excellent relationship building skills and ability to influence partners with a firm strategic view.
• Highly motivated self-starter with ability to juggle multiple tasks in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment, with excellent organization skills and careful attention to detail.
• Possess a high degree of technical savvy, with a keen ability to learn new technology quickly and easily.
• Working knowledge of one or more of the data mining tools/technologies (e.g. Microsoft Excel: Pivot Tables SQL, SAS, Python, R)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Industry certifications in Operational Resilience, Business Continuity Management, and Disaster Recovery are preferred.

  Guardian

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

The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we’ll consider your location, experience, and other job-related factors.

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 
• 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

For a full list of Team Amex benefits, visit our Colleague Benefits Site.

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, including, but not limited to, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. For positions covered by federal and/or state banking regulations, American Express will comply with such regulations as it relates to the consideration of applicants with criminal convictions.

We back our colleagues with the support they need to thrive, professionally and personally. That's why we have Amex Flex, our enterprise working model that provides greater flexibility to colleagues while ensuring we preserve the important aspects of our unique in-person culture. Depending on role and business needs, colleagues will either work onsite, in a hybrid model (combination of in-office and virtual days) or fully virtually.

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