Engineering Director

UK & Asia responsible for the engineering functions for Modern AR applications on Cloud. 

These Modern AR platforms will constitute the growth engine for GAR and will be critical to the day-to-day processing of all Card Member transactions worldwide.

Primary objectives include building key relationships at a global and regional level, both within your immediate teams and across the wider organization. Investing time to gain a rapid understanding of the current technical status of the software products/platforms under your leadership, and the key business outcomes those products need to drive. You will focus on building trust with your team, including demonstrating an ability to go deep into the code with engineers to help the organization overcome technical challenges that meet those key business outcomes.

Over the medium term you will continue to focus on excellence in software engineering delivery, ensuring we continue to service our business partners and stakeholders as a gold standard in reliable, scalable and value-additive financial services technology. You will focus on how we continue to increase velocity in our software delivery. Finally, and most importantly, you will also focus on giving your team the opportunities to develop their own careers through effective mentoring and development.

How will you make an impact in this role?

• Lead Modern AR Platform agile software product development teams that realize GAR business and technology strategies in a scalable, iterative environment.
• Motivate and empower technical and diverse talent in Engineering & Architecture.
• Cultivate and drive innovation and experimentation across GAR and Technology, delivering outstanding customer experiences.
• Focus on continuous improvement in Engineering & Architectural practices, leading changes that drive efficiency and increased velocity of software delivery.
• Overall accountability for all quality aspects/metrics for software products/platforms including platform availability and resilience, risk management, information security, data management and cost-effectiveness.
• Work with key Product partners to drive software solutions that align to GAR strategic priorities.
• Work with Engineering peers, Principal Engineers and Principal Architects to assimilate new Technology and deliver methods into scalable solutions, using and contributing to Engineering & Architectural Best practices across the company.
• Owns all technical aspects of software development for assigned applications; Performs hands-on Architecture, design, and development of systems
• Requirements gathering, analysis, design and development of integration solutions and APIs.
• Communicating to stakeholders and business partners on the solution and the implementation aspects at the technical and/or functional level appropriate for the situation
• Ability to work closely with Technical Architects and Architecture governance technical team for solution development and design reviews.
• Manages and mentor teams of Junior and Senior Engineers & Architects through ongoing sprints
• Functions as a senior member of an agile team and helps drive consistent development practices – tools and common components
• Develops deep understanding of tie-ins with other systems and platforms within the supported domains
• Works closely with product owners on blueprints and annual planning of feature sets that impact multiple platforms and products
• Typically spends 25% of time writing code and testing, and remainder of time Architecting solutions, Managing team and stakeholders through ongoing product/platform release sprints
• Identifies opportunities to adopt innovative technologies
• This “rebel with a cause” looks beyond the obvious for continuous improvement opportunities.

  Minimum Qualifications: 

• Well-respected technology leader with extensive previous experience building complex Mainframe systems and implementing processes throughout large technology organizations.
• Large scale software product engineering experience with modern tools and delivery methods (CI/CD, Agile) across a complex environment.
• Specific experience in the development of data solutions, storage and management.
• Highly proficient in Design and Architectural patterns for platforms in scaled out and  Distributed Architectures, ability to integrate platforms, and working knowledge of service-based architecture, containers, etc.
• Highly technical, capable of writing proof of concept code.
• Embodies an innovative approach to problem-solving and encourages non-traditional thinking in his/her team.
• Organized leader with the ability to build and lead world-class teams, striking a balance between strategic thinking and tactical execution.
• Proven ability to work easily with executives, diverse business functions, and R&D/Product Management. Able to discuss sophisticated technical subjects and with a non-technical audience.
• Desire to go to work every day knowing that your solutions will impact millions of people all over the world.
• Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, computer science engineering, or related field required; advanced degree preferred. 
• Software development experience in a professional environment and/or comparable experience.
• Familiar with Agile or other rapid application development methods.
• Experience with design and coding across one or more object-oriented platforms and languages.
• Knowledge of Spring including MVC, Spring Boot, REST, Microservice architecture, JUnit, Mocking, JSP, Cassandra and PostgreSQL, MapR Database.
• Desirable to have experience with performance and monitoring tools e.g. Splunk, Dynatrace.
• Hands-on experience with application design, software development and automated testing Exposure to distributed (multi-tiered) systems, algorithms, and relational databases.
• Current knowledge of Account Receiveables industry desirable.
• Manages seamlessly across time zones, cultures, and band levels.
• Communicates effectively with Technical, Operational, and Business stakeholders.
• Must be willing and able to express new ideas, concerns and opinions directly to wider team in team meetings via teleconference.
• Attention to detail and accuracy are essential.
• Must be proactive, enthusiastic, flexible, and results driven.
• Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, computer engineering, or related field required.
• Understanding of Account Receivable platform is a must.
• Experience with the Mainframe Technologies, COBOL, DB2, CICS, IMS, VSAM, JCL, Control/M, and ISPW is a plus.

We back our colleagues and their loved ones with benefits and programs that support their holistic well-being. That means we prioritize their physical, financial, and mental health through each stage of life. Benefits include:

• 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

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