Director - External Fraud Risk Oversight

American Express • New York, NY

16h • Hybrid

About The Position

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. From delivering differentiated products to providing world-class customer service, we operate with a strong risk mindset, ensuring we continue to uphold our brand promise of trust, security, and service.
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.
How will you make an impact in this role?
The Global Risk & Compliance Organization (“GRC”) independently oversees the company’s risk-taking and risk management activities, including the comprehensive identification, management, and mitigation of risks within the Company’s risk appetite.
GRC ensures the company operates in a safe, sound and fully compliant manner within all applicable regulatory expectations. We create and maintain the overall risk management framework while ensuring legal and regulatory compliance.
We are passionate about our commitment to drive the company’s goals of growth and progress by creating a culture of awareness and proactivity around regulatory matters, and by partnering closely with business units across the enterprise to ensure we deliver maximum value to our shareholders and our customers efficiently and effectively.
The Financial Risk Management within Global Risk and Compliance (GRC) is responsible for identifying and managing Credit Risk, Model Risk, Market & Liquidity Risk, External Fraud risk and Financial Crimes, Decision Science & Analytics CoE, across all business units, functions, processes and geographies at American Express.
We are seeking Director, External Fraud Risk Oversight (2nd LOD), to join our Financial Risk Management (FRM) function within GRC. The successful candidate will be part of the External Fraud Risk management 2LOD team, and will understand Fraud, Operational & Compliance risks within the Banking and payment industry, have strong analytical skills, and the ability to influence and collaborate with stakeholders across the organization. Responsibilities include building and leading a world class team of fraud risk oversight professionals to support and analyze different facets of fraud risk to AXP, and assist in the identification, measurement, monitoring, and management of fraud risk, ensuring compliance with regulations and internal policies, and oversight of controls and processes in managing External Fraud Risk. The incumbent will lead a team of risk professionals in the US who will be responsible for identifying, measuring, monitoring, and reporting on External Fraud Risk.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in fraud or operational risk management in the Banking or Payments industry,
• Established Fraud subject matter expertise with a robust understanding of fraud risk, industry standards, regulatory requirements, risk mitigation practices, and the ability to collaborate with other financial crime disciplines.
• Ability to think strategically and align fraud risk management with organizational goals and regulatory obligations.
• Effective leadership ability to credibly challenge and influence stakeholders.
• Strong technical and analytical skills with the ability to apply both quantitative methods and business skills to create insights and drive results.
• Robust analytical skills, including a proven ability to translate complex and disparate information to develop a comprehensive and cohesive conclusion for colleagues, business partners, and senior leaders.
• Strong regulatory engagement and communication skills.
• Ability to guide & develop a team of risk professionals and work independently across a matrix organization partnering with business partners, functional owners, capabilities, technology teams and external vendors.
• Rigorous and analytical approach to problem-solving, decision-making, prioritization and collaboration across teams/geographies.
• Degree in a quantitative field (e.g., Business, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering or Mathematics) is highly preferred.
• This role is required to be on-site 3 days a week.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience in fraud risk management oversight functions (2nd LOD).
• Specialized training in operational risk management and / or payments.

Responsibilities

• Manage the policies and standards for the External Fraud Risk Function for American Express.
• Lead independent oversight on first and third-party fraud risks across business processes and products, including independent oversight on non-model tools used in fraud risk management.
• Direct independent risk assessments and reviews to identify, assess and monitor External Fraud Risk.
• Support the next-gen and transformation of control testing and monitoring for External Fraud Risk, ensuring that the level of exposure to potential fraud risks remains within an acceptable risk appetite.
• Identify key / leading risk indicators and guardrails that help inform and define the risk appetite for external fraud risk
• Review and challenge the effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies and control measures implemented by the First line of defense (1LOD).
• Lead an analytical team, providing guidance to design and build comprehensive and complete control testing for fraud risk.
• Perform advanced data analytics to identify trends, composition, leading indicators, and outlook across external fraud risk.
• Support the creation of dashboards and other reporting, and provide regular updates to Senior Management, the Board and the Regulators on an ongoing basis.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with the Business, Control & Risk partners, providing strategic fraud risk advisory and support their strategic priorities.
• Foster a culture of fraud risk management awareness and accountability across the organization.
• Collaborate effectively with key stakeholders and partners to ensure regulatory compliance and manage regulatory relationships and exams for safety & soundness related regulations.

Benefits

• Competitive base salaries
• Bonus incentives
• 6%25 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

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director