Vice President – Decision Science

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. As part of Team Amex, you'll experience this 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.

The Financial Crimes – Centre Of Excellence is dedicated to uplift the Financial Crimes Decision Science and Analytics. The team is responsible for the Enterprise-Wide financial crime risk management related programs across all our products and services globally. The team develops, implements, monitors and optimizes the automated transaction monitoring rules, reports, and other processes designed to identify activity potentially indicative of financial crime behavior that is important from regulator perspective. They are also responsible for Financial Crimes Decision Science and CRR (Customer Risk Rating) logic which is critical input into making risk adjusted AML mitigation strategies across product and portfolios. Given team is newly setup, mandate for the new VP is to crystallize and execute on Decision Science strategy & CRR strategy for the team.

How will you make an impact in this role?

The successful candidate will currently lead 2 directors & teams with responsibility to

•       Develop and execute decision science framework for TM strategy and for Customer Risk Rating(CRR) segmentation.

•       Develop decision science framework (e.g., scorecard-based methods and machine learning) for CRR strategy. Recommend a standard for the CRR scores that can be used across processes like new product launches, onboarding, KYC/Refresh, TM Rules etc. Enable linkage of CRR score with these processes

•       Validate risk factors proposed by the Program Strategy team and identify new ones that contribute to CRR model performance. Evaluate weights for each factor using empirical methods.

•       Monitor performance in close collaboration with the Rule Strategy and Design teams, Monitor CRR score and portfolio, Identify and escalate anomalies, TM alert volumes and Model score performance.

•       Data quality monitoring for TM and CRR models / inputs

This role will require working closely with GFCC, FIU, CFR capabilities teams. A good understanding of AML Investigations, payments industry and decision science frameworks will be a plus in this role.

Responsibilities

• Provide thought leadership, and partner with cross-functional teams including Risk, Compliance and Technologies
• Identify and prioritize opportunities & recommendations
• Communicate and build consensus across multiple stakeholders in creating the best-in-class solution
• Providing conceptual support for the design and implementation of CRR involving all products for US and International
• Single point of contact for all CRR needs and prioritization with risk data and products team
• Identify and Incorporate needs for TM decision science for consumer ,commercial, merchant portfolio by partnering with GFCC, FIU, CFR capabilities teams
• Reviewing output to ensure conformity and accuracy with their intended design

Minimum Qualifications:

Academic Background: Master's degree from a reputed Institute

Past Experience: Minimum 10 years of relevant work experience in credit/fraud/AML risk analytics is a must

Technical and Function Skills/Capabilities:

• A strong balance of technical knowledge and business acumen with a proven track record of driving innovation and business metrics. Decision Science related work experience is highly desired .
• Exceptional drive and commitment; ability to work and thrive in in fast changing, results driven environment; and proven ability in handling competing priorities
• Excellent critical thinking and attention to detail
• Excellent planning and organizations skills including ability to manage inter-dependencies and execute under stringent timelines
• Strong team-building and leadership characteristics will be expected.
• Good communication and persuasion skills with an ability to translate technical analysis into business insights and recommendations, work with diverse teams and individuals, and influence others without direct authority
• Relevant statistical analysis/econometric experience required
• Post-Graduation from a top tier college (either MBA/M tech/MS/Masters in quantitative subjects such as Economics, Statistics or Mathematics)

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

American Express is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability status, age, or any other status protected by law.  

Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.