Director - Tech Operations

The Opportunity

Joining Amex Tech means helping build and operate technology that supports critical business capabilities at enterprise scale. We are seeking an experienced Director of Engineering to lead a portfolio within the Operations Data and Analytics organization spanning ServiceNow and IT Service Management (ITSM), Strategy platform engineering, and observability and operational analytics for the Customer Journey availability program .

A significant area of focus will be the continued development and modernization of Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, and the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) capabilities that support these processes. This leader will help ensure these capabilities operate as integrated enterprise technology products, with strong engineering practices, reliable data, appropriate governance, and roadmaps aligned to the needs of the broader technology organization.

This leader will be responsible for bringing together platforms, engineering practices, operational processes, and data to improve availability, resiliency, efficiency, and measurable business outcomes across mission-critical technology services.

The role requires an experienced engineering leader who can operate at both the strategic and execution levels—setting direction and developing technical talent while maintaining sufficient depth to challenge architecture, engineering, reliability, platform, and service-management decisions.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading enterprise engineering, platform engineering, SRE, production management, data, or technology operations organizations.
• Demonstrated experience providing leadership to senior engineers and technical leaders.
• Strong experience with ServiceNow and enterprise ITSM/ITIL processes , particularly Incident, Problem, Change, and Configuration Management.
• Strong understanding of industry standards and established ITIL practices associated with Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, and Configuration Management.
• Experience developing or overseeing CMDB capabilities that directly support Incident, Problem, and Change processes .
• Demonstrated experience participating in and influencing ServiceNow platform roadmaps through established governance, planning, and prioritization forums in a complex enterprise environment.
• Ability to influence platform direction across organizations where roadmap ownership, process ownership, engineering execution, and business priorities may reside with different teams.
• Experience with enterprise observability platforms such as Dynatrace and Splunk , including modern telemetry and monitoring practices.
• Strong background in application development, data platforms, analytics ecosystems, and production engineering.
• Experience defining and executing large-scale technology and platform strategies.
• Experience operating business-critical systems in highly available and regulated environments.
• Strong understanding of modern software engineering, APIs, DevOps, CI/CD, cloud, automation, and reliability engineering.
• Demonstrated ability to influence peers and leaders and align teams across complex global organizations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) or comparable enterprise BI platforms.
• Experience with Apache Airflow or comparable data orchestration technologies.
• Experience with Site Reliability and Operations Engineering in a large-scale application support organization.
• Experience establishing enterprise observability strategies.

Leadership Qualities

Successful Directors in this role will demonstrate the ability to:

• Set a clear technology vision and convert strategy into executable roadmaps.
• Develop senior engineers and technical leaders.
• Create clear ownership and accountability while empowering individuals to make decisions.
• Balance delivery speed with reliability, security, technical debt, regulatory requirements, and long-term maintainability.
• Communicate complex technical issues and tradeoffs effectively with both engineers and executives.
• Influence enterprise platform and process direction when decision-making is distributed across multiple organizations.
• Build consensus through established governance while being willing to constructively challenge priorities and approaches.
• Make sound decisions in ambiguous situations.
• Create an engineering culture centered on technical excellence, automation, continuous improvement, and learning.
• Maintain sufficient technical depth to challenge teams without becoming the team's de facto principal engineer.

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 our 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.

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