Senior Manager - Data Governance & Management

Senior Manager - Data Governance & Management

You Lead the Way. We’ve Got Your Back.

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.

Team Description:

The Global Merchant & Network Services (GMNS) organization is responsible for managing relationships with millions of Merchants and Partners around the world that facilitate American Express acceptance and enabling the day-to-day operations of our company’s payment network. The people, processes, and technology that support this vital function are evolving to improve the merchant experience and economics. Within GMNS, the Global Strategy, Operations & Performance (GSOP) team’s mission is to deliver a best-in-class premium merchant member experience that will get merchant to not only accept American Express but openly welcome and recommend us to their customers.

The GMNS Data Office is responsible for bringing GMNS critical data elements and applications under the Enterprise Data Management Operating Policy (AEMP70) and Enterprise Data Risk Management Policy (AEMP79) compliance. Our team is dedicated to helping American Express leverage the true value of data through application of Data Management and Governance principles.

Role Description:

As a Data Steward Senior Manager, within Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS), you are a key member in activating and stewarding Merchant and Network data to be a more strategic enterprise asset. The GMNS Data office is part of the data governance /data management framework lead by Enterprise Data Office (EDO). You will be closely working with EDO, and you will partner with product and technology subject matter experts (SMEs), and our Data Custodian team to mature our enterprise data management capabilities and execute the data governance strategy within the scope of the GMNS Data Office.

You will be responsible for project managing, leading, owning, and documenting as the authority on metadata management. You will summarize, create and/or enhance the business metadata associated with our prioritized critical data elements including their definitions, classifications, risk assessments, and relationships to other business, other systems, and other data assets. For your assigned scope of critical data elements, you are expected to become the SME, supported by the Data Custodian team. This work is foundational for unlocking valuable business insights, improving overall data quality and usability, and establishing and then maintaining compliance with the AEMP70, the Enterprise Data Management Operating Policy and AEMP79, the Enterprise Data Risk Management Policy.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Manage and advance data governance principles, policies, and programs for stewardship, advocacy and custodianship of data.

• Lead and own working groups with relevant GMNS Business and Tech teams, and the Data Custodian team to
  - Define and document Business Metadata for the critical data. Classify the level of sensitivity for restricted metadata and communicate any access requirements to Enterprise Data Governance, when applicable.
  - Define and document Data Quality rules for the critical data.
  - Understand and document Data Lineage for the critical data.

• For critical data elements that are already compliant with AEMP70 reliably and independently carry out BAU Data Steward responsibilities that include tasks such as relationship management with Product owners and Data custodians, change management, Data Quality Issue Management (DQIM), annual review, responding to audits, to just name a few.

• Support function for creation of controls to mitigate Data Quality risk, Fit for Purpose risk and Data Steward risk as part of RCSA assessments.

• Support enhancing the existing GMNS frameworks, operating model, and change management considerations for data governance and management in support of new and existing data capabilities.

• Collaborate with data owners and users to modify or implement new, repeatable, and reliable business processes to implement truly effective data management.

• If needed, partner with legal, compliance, and control management to account for and uphold diverse privacy and compliance requirements across geographies. Ensure appropriate protections for data integrity, privacy, and regulatory compliance, including assurances for the validity of different potential analyses.
  
  

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, analytics, information systems, computer science, engineering, or any other data-related field.
  

• 3+ years of work experience relating to the creation and execution of formal data governance and/or data management programs.
• Advanced verbal and written communication, leadership, organizational, interpersonal, presentation, and problem-solving skills.
• Proven track record of understanding business challenges and strategies, connecting those to data and capabilities, and driving meaningful improvements in business value through data management and strategy.
• Proven track record of documentation skills and transparency. Enjoyment of understanding and documenting details in a way that other colleagues can benefit.
• Ability to work with white space to design and execute solutions to solve complex challenges.
• Ability to put enterprise thinking first, connect the role’s agenda to enterprise priorities and balance the needs of customers, partners, colleagues & shareholders.
• Demonstrated learning agility, ability to make decisions quickly and with the highest level of integrity.
• Willingness to test, learn, fail and improve.

• Must have a positive, collaborative leadership style with colleague and customer first mindset.
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in business, analytics, information systems, computer science, engineering, or any other data-related field.
• 5+ years of direct work experience in large scale/enterprise data projects, with at least 3 years of direct experience leading the creation and execution of formal data governance and/or data management programs.
• Certification as a Data Management Professional (CDMP) or other similar data management certification.
• Strong working knowledge of current and upcoming data governance, data management and data product techniques and trends, with a point of view on the evolving concepts and best practices.
• Program management experience, with stakeholders across a diverse, global set of business units.
Certifications and experience working within the Collibra Data Intelligence Platform, MANTA, or other similar Data Governance tools.

• 
  

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.