Director - Audit, Financial Crimes

Our Internal Audit Group is a worldwide function with 400+ team members and offices across nine countries within American Express. Our mission is to protect and enhance organizational value by providing independent, objective, risk-based assurance, advisory services and to influence the way the company manages risk.

We are committed to growing our audit staff significantly as we continue to expand and enhance the Internal Audit Group. Our assurance and risk professionals have diverse backgrounds including internal controls, consumer compliance, technology, operational risk, financial accounting, data analytics, and banking operations. Our audit teams align to key risk areas and business units to ensure IAG can provide comprehensive and risk-based audit coverage.

In addition, IAG has a Professional Practices group responsible for managing audit operations, quality, and standards; regulatory relations; reporting; training and professional development; and key internal capabilities and technologies.

This role is based in New York and will be supporting the Vice President of Global Financial Crime. This role will lead a dedicated team of financial crime auditors covering key pillars of the compliance program and collaborate with integrated audit teams covering financial crime risks associated with their respective portfolios. The ideal candidate will have strong problem-solving skills, excellent attention to detail, and the ability to communicate audit results effectively.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years of audit experience
• Experience auditing Financial Crime Compliance Programs in the financial services and/or directly managing Financial Crime risks
• Has strong written and verbal communication skills that deliver high quality, actionable and value-added feedback to management on potential issues and potential solutions to close gaps
• Effectively oversees multiple audits, projects and portfolio, setting direction, and developing team capabilities
• Guides the team in applying critical thinking to evaluate potential risks and how to translate these considerations into evidence and risk-based insights
• Guides team in applying control theory and professional auditing practices across the full audit lifecycle, including design and evaluation of control frameworks
• Stays abreast and cascades in-depth knowledge of current trends, new developments, regulations, technologies, and best practices in the auditing profession, banking industry, and area of specialization to teams, peers, and leaders

Preferred Qualifications

• CAMS Certified
• Experience with data analytic tools, data visualization, key risk indicators (KRIs), key performance indicators (KPIs), information systems / technology, and scorecards / dashboards, etc.
• Interest in working with data, interpreting results, analytic best practices and experience with data analytics tools and data visualization
• 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

• Oversee audit professionals across multiple simultaneous audit projects of all sizes and complexity across multiple business areas within and outside of local region, in unfamiliar areas, and for different audit leaders, ensuring audits are completed timely and with high quality; conduct L2 reviews
• Specialize in one or more specific lines of business; own portfolio with accountability, ownership and horizontal risk view of entire portfolio
• Collaborate with Audit Leaders to develop the annual Audit Plan, leveraging knowledge of the portfolio, banking, and industry trends to establish a risk-based Audit Plan with adequate coverage
• Support and/or lead regulatory activities and attend regulatory meetings as appropriate
• Lead delivery and execution of the annual Audit Plan for assigned audit portfolio using an integrated auditing approach that considers financial, operational, compliance, and technology risks
• Review management’s corrective action plans to address business-identified issues, audit findings and regulatory remediations
• Lead Chief Audit Executive (CAE) audit report reviews and share insights / observations
• Develop relationships with Senior Business Leaders across all business units, proactively identify changes in business environment, emerging risks, and control priorities that may impact Audit Plans, conducts effective business monitoring and guides team to adjust the audit approach accordingly; demonstrate effective challenge by providing deep subject matter knowledge industry related knowledge to support business partnership efforts
• Collaborate with Senior Managers / Managers to conduct post-audit feedback discussions with audit team members to provide actionable feedback, support development, and recognize accomplishments
• Support Audit Leader with special projects across multiple business units and geographic regions, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives and risk frameworks, helps prepare for regulator responses and attend meetings as needed
• Serve as a People Leader, providing mentorship, coaching, and career development support for direct reports
• Recruit, supervise, coach, mentor, and develop audit staff to build high-performing teams, fostering continuous learning and professional growth
• Develop the training plan to upskill colleagues to ensure audit teams have the skills necessary to effectively deliver the Audit Plan
• Champion continuous improvement by monitoring industry trends, regulatory developments, and best practices in auditing and banking, and incorporate these insights into audit methodologies and team ways of working
• Coach team on applying rules, requirements, and regulations (e.g., Bank secrecy act, USA PATRIOT Act, OFAC and other global sanctions regimes) to audit execution and analysis.