Senior Manager, Financial Crimes Risk Assessment and Control Effectiveness

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.

How will you make an impact in this role?

The newly created first line of defense Financial Crimes Risk & Controls center of excellence provides a holistic, enterprise-wide approach to our financial crimes risk management (FCRM) activities and resides within Global Servicing. 

This team is responsible for establishing a robust control foundation for first line of defense FCRM activities across the company globally, including anti-money laundering, sanctions, payments controls, and anti-corruption.

Reporting to the Vice President, Financial Crimes Risk Governance and Issue Management, the Senior Manager of Financial Crimes Risk Assessment & Control Effectiveness is accountable for first-line ownership of the enterprise financial crimes risk profile, including risk assessment and control effectiveness evaluation. This role serves as the primary interface between the first line and key stakeholders, including business leaders, 2LOD partners, and senior management. The role is responsible for articulating the enterprise financial crimes risk profile, explaining control effectiveness insights, and translating complex risk information into clear, decision-ready narratives that inform governance, prioritization, and remediation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary first-line point of contact for financial crimes risk assessment and control effectiveness topics.
• Engage with business leaders, 2LOD, and governance forums to, articulate inherent and residual financial crimes risks, explain control effectiveness results and implications, discuss emerging threats and risk trends
• Support first-line execution of financial crimes risk assessments (e.g., RCSA/RAU), ensuring consistent risk articulation, classification, and rating, clear differentiation between inherent and residual risk, alignment with regulatory expectations
• Create, where applicable, procedures for assessments of control design and operating effectiveness across key financial crimes controls.
• Identify high-risk control weaknesses and gaps, including those spanning multiple businesses or functions.
• Provide clear, defensible explanations of control outcomes to stakeholders.
• Incorporate regulatory feedback, exam themes, and audit observations into risk and control assessments.
• Support regulatory exams and audits through stakeholder engagement and clear risk narratives.

Qualifications:

• 3+ years of experience in financial crimes risk management, operational risk, or control effectiveness, preferably within a large, complex financial institution.
• Bachelor Degree
• Deep expertise in all aspects of the risk management lifecycle, risk assessment methodologies (RCSA/RAU) and control effectiveness evaluation.
• Demonstrated experience managing enterprise-wide risk views and cross-business issue coordination.
• Strong understanding of AML, sanctions, payments controls, anti-corruption, and internal fraud risks.
• Proven ability to synthesize complex risk information into clear executive-level insights.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills in a matrixed environment.
• Strong understanding of financial crimes regulatory frameworks (e.g., BSA/AML, sanctions, payments con