Senior Manager - Risk Management

American Express connects millions of consumers, merchants, and businesses around the globe through a payments and commerce ecosystem that creates value for all its participants. As part of the Credit & Fraud Risk (CFR) organization, the Global Merchant Network Services (GMNS) Risk Management team protects the integrity of this network while managing the credit and fraud risks arising from American Express’s role as a merchant acquirer.

The Senior Manager will join a team responsible for overseeing a portfolio comprising some of the largest exposures within GMNS, particularly those associated with global and national merchants. As a frontline Risk Officer, you will help protect the merchant business P&L from losses while carefully balancing risk considerations with American Express’s merchant relationships.

The Senior Manager must demonstrate sound judgment, excellent communication skills, strong analytical capabilities, self-motivation, and strategic thinking. The successful candidate must be able to analyze complex financial information while also negotiating effectively with C-suite executives across a variety of industries. Our team members are versatile, self-directed professionals who make decisions involving significant profitability and risk trade-offs.

The team also plays a central role across the GMNS and Risk organizations, collaborating with client managers, credit rating team members, and other business units across the enterprise.

Qualifications

• 5 + years of commercial credit risk management experience.
• Work independently, manage time effectively, and solve problems amid rapidly changing priorities.
• Navigate high-pressure, urgent, complex, and ambiguous situations independently while pursuing solutions that balance stakeholder needs.
• Build strong relationships and communicate effectively, applying analytical, quantitative, and negotiation skills to develop practical business solutions.
• Manage a sizeable client portfolio with organization, discipline, and a strong sense of urgency.
• MBA, relevant certification, or equivalent professional experience preferred.
• Experience in merchant-acquiring risk, client management, or commercial credit underwriting across multiple industries preferred.
• Experience presenting complex credit metrics to C-suite stakeholders preferred.
• Project management experience and a demonstrated ability to collaborate across large business units preferred.
• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including knowledge of credit and/or accounting and proficiency in interpreting financial statements, required.
• Strong analytical and technical capabilities, including SQL proficiency or a willingness to learn, preferred.
• 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

• This highly visible role within Global Merchant & Network Services (GMNS) Risk Management is responsible for assessing merchant exposures through financial and business model reviews, discussions with merchants and Client Managers, and analysis of relevant external information.
• Independently manage a sizeable portfolio of large merchant clients, identifying exposures and implementing appropriate risk mitigation strategies.
• Prioritize higher-risk merchants representing billions of dollars in credit exposure and establish clear timelines for action.
• Collaborate with internal partners to obtain financial information, prepare review cases, support escalations, and make risk mitigation decisions.
• Lead complex negotiations with merchant CEOs, CFOs, and other C-suite executives while building alignment among internal stakeholders.
• Partner with Client Management, GCO, and other internal stakeholders to negotiate card acceptance agreements.
• Advise internal stakeholders on best practices and key portfolio risks.
• Demonstrate strong influencing and negotiation skills when engaging American Express leadership and merchant C-suite executives.
• Transform large, complex data sets into meaningful reports and executive-ready presentations.
• Complete ad hoc assignments focused on mitigating risk across the GMNS portfolio.
• Work independently or collaborate with GMNS Risk colleagues on projects designed to enhance risk management processes and controls.