Sr Manager, Global Financial Crimes Compliance – Global Transaction Monitoring

The Global Financial Crimes Compliance (GFCC) Global Transaction Monitoring (GTM) team is responsible for the assessment and oversight of the enterprise-wide anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) transaction monitoring program at American Express, which entails assessing, designing, and implementing AML & CTF detection strategies across American Express’s global products and services. These strategies ultimately generate alerts which are investigated by the GFCC Global Financial Crimes Surveillance Unit (GFCSU) and United States Investigation Unit (USIU) as part of the Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) process.

The GTM’s Scenario Development team is responsible for overseeing the Transaction Monitoring (TM) scenario design and development lifecycle and monitoring solutions. In addition, the team collaborates with the Model Risk Management Group (MRMG) and CoE’s Decision Science team to identify and evaluate appropriate use cases of TM Machine Learning (ML) models and partners closely with Product and Technology teams to ensure TM platforms operate effectively, efficiently and in alignment with organizational objectives. 

• Lead and develop a team of high performing AML analysts responsible for Transaction Monitoring scenario development.
• Design, develop, enhance, and optimize AML transaction monitoring scenarios by leveraging regulatory guidance, industry best practices, historical trends, internal data, and emerging financial crime typologies.
• Manage the end-to-end Transaction Monitoring scenario development lifecycle, including requirements gathering, design, testing, implementation, post-production monitoring, and ongoing optimization.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across GFCC, GFCSU, USIU, Product, Technology, Decision Science, and Model Risk Management to ensure scenarios are implemented efficiently and continue to perform as intended.
• Evaluate and support opportunities to leverage advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities within the Transaction Monitoring program in partnership with Decision Science and Model Risk Management.
• Review, validate, and approve scenario development project requests through the project intake and governance process.
• Develop and maintain reporting on project status, scenario performance, potential roadblocks, and key risk and key performance indicators (KRIs/KPIs).
• Ensure all project documentation is complete, accurate, and maintained in accordance with governance and documentation standards.
• Continuously identify opportunities to improve transaction monitoring effectiveness, operational efficiency, and detection coverage. 

• 4+ years of experience in AML Transaction Monitoring, including one or more of the following:
  • Alert investigations
  • Transaction Monitoring rule tuning
  • Transaction Monitoring rule design
  • Transaction Monitoring scenario development
• Experience leading or mentoring high performing AML analysts or project teams.
• Strong understanding of AML/CTF regulations, transaction monitoring concepts, and financial crime typologies.
• Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional initiatives and collaborating with business, product, technology, and analytics partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present complex concepts to diverse audiences.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem solving skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
• Investigative mindset with intellectual curiosity and a continuous learning orientation.
• ACAMS certification preferred.
• Experience with SQL and/or data analysis tools is a plus.

• Exposure to machine learning-enabled transaction monitoring or model governance processes is a plus.

  Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the United States is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.