Senior Manager - Risk Management (Merchant Operations)
American Express · Posted Oct 21
Banking, credit card, payment network, and travel services
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About the role
Merchant Account Operations & Resilience at American Express supports critical merchant-data, operational-risk, remediation, and transformation activities, with accurate merchant data underpinning pricing, servicing, risk management, and reporting. The Senior Manager, Risk Management leads a team focused on Merchant Hierarchy process transformation, enterprise remediation, and strategic program delivery. The role identifies opportunities to simplify hierarchy review processes using AI, automation, analytics, and workflow solutions, and leads complex cross-functional remediation programs with strong governance and change management.
What you will do
- Develop and execute a prioritized roadmap to simplify, standardize, automate, and modernize Merchant Hierarchy review processes in partnership with the teams responsible for governance and operational delivery.
- Translate operational pain points into structured improvement opportunities that reduce manual effort, improve turnaround times and data quality, strengthen controls, and create scalable capabilities.
- Coordinate cross-functional partners, dependencies, decisions, operating-model changes, and adoption activities required to deliver sustainable enterprise-wide process uplift.
- Identify and prioritize opportunities to use AI, automation, analytics, workflow tools, external data, and emerging technologies to improve operational processes and outcomes.
- Partner with Product, Technology, Analytics, and Operations teams to evaluate solutions and progress them from problem definition through implementation, adoption, and benefits measurement.
- Ensure new capabilities address clear business needs and are supported by appropriate data, controls, ownership, governance, and performance monitoring.
- Lead or provide PMO support for complex remediation, operational-risk, control-enhancement, and strategic-change initiatives across functions and markets.
- Establish effective program governance, including clear scope, milestones, ownership, decision rights, dependencies, risks, escalation paths, and success measures.
- Drive change management, operational readiness, and executive reporting while maintaining accountability through implementation, stabilization, and benefits realization.
- Serve as a trusted stakeholder anchor across business, Operations, Servicing, Pricing, Client Management, Product, Technology, Analytics, Risk, Compliance, Policy, and Control Management.
- Demonstrate executive presence and influence senior leaders and cross-functional partners without direct authority through structured thinking, sound judgement, constructive challenge, and clear communication.
- Lead and develop a high-performing team with strong capabilities across program governance, remediation, operational transformation, analytics, automation, and stakeholder management.
Skills used in this role
What the employer is looking for
- Experience leading complex, cross-functional programs in a global or highly matrixed organization.
- Strong program-governance capability across planning, ownership, dependencies, risk management, escalation, and outcome measurement.
- Experience within operations, servicing, risk, controls, remediation, transformation, or another operationally intensive environment.
- Demonstrated ability to identify and shape process improvements involving AI, automation, analytics, workflow redesign, simplification, or operational efficiencies.
- Strong analytical fluency and the ability to translate complex or ambiguous challenges into structured recommendations and executable plans.
- Strong executive presence, credibility, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate and influence senior partners without direct authority.
- Proven people-leadership experience, including setting direction, coaching talent, and building team capability.
- Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience within merchant operations, onboarding, account maintenance, servicing, pricing, payments, or a related function.
- Knowledge of merchant account structures, hierarchy processes, data enrichment, or Know Your Customer processes.
- Experience delivering operational transformation, AI, automation, workflow, analytics, or technology-enabled process improvements.
- Experience supporting operational-risk events, corrective-action plans, remediation, or control-enhancement programs.
- Familiarity with analytical and visualization tools such as SQL, Python, Tableau, Power BI, or comparable platforms.
- Experience working across multiple markets or global teams.
Benefits and support
- 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
About American Express
American Express Company is a globally recognized multinational financial services corporation specializing in payment cards, travel-related services, and network banking. Founded in 1850, the company provides charge and credit cards, expense management products, and merchant services to consumers, small businesses, and large corporations worldwide. It operates a proprietary payments network known for its premium customer engagement and lifestyle rewards programs.
- Industry
- Banking
- Company size
- 76800 employees
- Founded
- 1850-03-18
- Location
- New York City, New York, USA
- Funding stage
- Public Company
Leadership
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President
Chief Colleague Experience Officer
Chief Marketing Officer
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