Manager - Strategic Planning

The Strategy & Transformation team serves as a critical driver of growth initiatives, business oversight functions, and an incubator for net new business development strategies within the U.S, Small & Medium Enterprises Organization (US SME) in Global Commercial Services (GCS). The Manager – Strategic Planning is responsible for developing and implementing strategies that drive efficiency and effectiveness across the US SME organization, lead enterprise-wide collaboration where necessary, and support our long-term growth plans.

This is a critical role in ensuring the US SME organization is well positioned to deliver for our customers and shareholders, and support colleagues. The Manager will partner closely across Enterprise stakeholders including the SME Executive Office, client-facing teams (e.g., Sales, Account Development), Control Management, and Merchant Services, among others, to ensure clients realize the full potential of American Express Card & Non-Card product offerings.

A successful candidate will be a motivated initiative-taker who is passionate about and has experience bringing others along in a fast-paced environment. This role may be a great fit for talent experienced in driving strategic planning and transformation initiatives which span from concept development to Go-To-Market planning, through to designing Key Performance Indicators for measuring success across large organizations.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience, preferably with exposure to sales organizations, payments, partner management, and/or strategic planning.
• Proven ability to structure ambiguous business problems, lead matrixed initiatives, influence senior stakeholders, and drive alignment with limited direction across cross-functional teams and organizations.
• Strong analytical, financial, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to evaluate strategies across growth, customer experience, operational, and risk dimensions.
• Exceptional project management and process design skills, with experience translating strategy into execution plans and measurable outcomes.
• Intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, and a collaborative leadership style
• Bachelor’s degree required, MBA 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.

Responsibilities

• Drive strategic initiatives that create value, improve operational efficiency, and support US SME growth and risk management priorities.
• Lead cross-functional workstreams across US SME, Sales, Account Development, Control Management, Merchant Services, and other Enterprise partners to align priorities and execute business initiatives while minimizing risk.
• Develop and deliver executive-ready materials, agendas, and internal processes for senior leadership and key stakeholder forums.
• Translate customer and colleague feedback into roadmap priorities, partner plans, and strategic recommendations.
• Build, implement, and monitor plans that deliver measurable outcomes while ensuring adherence to controls, processes, and compliance expectations.