Senior Manager, Business Operations

Job Description

At American Express, our culture is built on a 175-year history of innovation, shared 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 Senior Manager, Business Operations plays a critical role in ensuring day-to-day operational risks are identified, assessed, and managed in line with enterprise Operational Risk Management programs. This role is focused on embedding control management into daily operations and driving continuous improvement of business processes to reduce operational risk and protect customer outcomes.

This individual will work cross-functionally with partners across GCG and the enterprise-including Control Management Governance, Compliance, and GCO-to ensure risks are well understood, controls are effective, and issues are addressed with discipline and urgency.

This role plays a critical role in strengthening how GCG manages risk, controls, and core operations every day. It offers meaningful visibility, close partnership with senior leaders and Client Managers, and the opportunity to make tangible improvements to how the business operates.

The right candidate will take real ownership-bringing strong risk judgment, disciplined execution, and the ability to influence across teams to drive change. This is a role for someone who wants to be at the center of important work, solve complex problems, and see their impact reflected in better outcomes for the business and our customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Own operational risk and issue management for assigned areas, including end-to-end management of Operational Risk Events (OREs), findings, and related issues.
• Conduct independent root cause analyses to identify underlying process vulnerabilities, with a focus on high-risk or recurring issues, informing risk reduction actions and control enhancements.
• Project manage work from end to end, creating and maintaining clear execution plans, milestones, owners, and timelines to ensure initiatives are delivered with discipline and follow-through.
• Develop well-formed recommendations on process risk and mitigation strategies, partnering with the Director to provide clear options and trade-offs for senior leadership.
• Design, enhance, and implement processes and controls to strengthen proactive risk mitigation, working closely with Client Managers to ensure solutions meet business and customer needs.
• Partner closely with Client Managers as a day-to-day liaison, translating business and customer insights into practical operational and control improvements and supporting implementation through the organization.
• Enable and monitor the integration of changes to the Operational Risk framework, translating requirements into business execution and tracking adoption.
• Support governance forums and Guardian initiatives by preparing materials, surfacing key risks and themes, tracking actions, and driving follow-through to closure.
• Analyze risk performance and issue data to identify trends, surface emerging risks, and share insights and better practices across GCG to promote consistency and continuous improvement.

Minimum Qualifications

• Qualification 5-7 years of experience with operational risk management, control management, audit, or related fields.

• Proven experience project managing work end to end, including building execution plans, managing dependencies, and driving delivery against timelines.

• Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous requirements into clear operational plans and move work forward with urgency.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience conducting root cause analyses

• Ability to influence and partner effectively across business, technology, and risk teams.

• Superior communicator, able to clearly explain complex concepts, develop and defend recommendations, influence outcomes, and tailor messages to a wide range of stakeholders.

• and internal partner management ability

• High level of ownership, attention to detail, and follow-through in fast-paced environments. Ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously.

• Comfortable operating in ambiguity with a bias toward action and results.

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
• 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

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.

Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.