Manager - Operational Excellence

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At American Express, we know that with the right backing, people and businesses have the power to progress in incredible ways. Whether we’re supporting our customers’ financial confidence to move ahead, taking commerce to new heights, or encouraging people to explore the world, our colleagues are constantly redefining what’s possible — and we’re proud to back each other every step of the way. When you join #TeamAmex, you become part of a diverse community of over 60,000 colleagues, all with a common goal to deliver an exceptional customer experience every day.

Analytics & Reporting Analyst - GMNS Operational Excellence

The Global Merchant and Network Services Group brings together all the American Express businesses that serve our key partners – merchants, banks, and strategic partners – to enable a sharp focus on using the power of our network to provide unique value to all our mutual customers. The objective of the GMNS Operational Excellence team is to drive risk-based decisioning and management of control and compliance objectives to support business priorities while promoting a strong risk culture. To that end, the team is to be responsible for developing and improving analytics and reporting strategies along with data capabilities for the GMNS business, with a strong focus on driving automation. The role will also support core control & compliance tracking by developing improved reporting and analysis to drive valuable insights and effective risk mitigation strategies. This includes developing C-suite reporting, root cause analysis, and ensuring GMNS is effectively achieving control & compliance ratings. The position requires the ability to support global initiatives and participate in special projects across multiple regions and time zones. The Manager will help turn data into decisions that improve learning performance and business outcomes. The candidate will have the ability to collect, organize and interpret data to generate actionable business insights.

Key accountabilities & areas of focus:

• End to end risk management on GMNS Third Parties starting from onboarding till termination.
• Partner with multiple stakeholders like Risk SMEs, TLM team etc to ensure right risk assessment and mitigation on third parties.
• Partner closely with the GMNS business and stakeholders to implement enhanced and automated MIS reporting solution and analytics.
• Identify process improvements and implement prevention strategies to mitigate operational risk in close partnership with the broader Operational Excellence team and GMNS teams.
• Perform advanced data analytics to identify trends, composition, leading indicators, and outlook in operational risk.
• Leverage unstructured data sources to identify potential process breakdowns and opportunities area.
• Create recurring, consistent leadership Control and Compliance reporting and insights.
• Uplift root cause analysis framework and create enhanced analytics and insights.
• Continually track control & compliance metrics to improve rating and inform risk-based decision making.
• Provide support for targeted projects advised at improving the control environment, mitigating, and remediating risk.
• Proactively analyze data to answer key questions from stakeholders.
• Development of reports and presentations – including gathering data, extrapolating critical elements, and presenting findings in an actionable format.
• Coach team and be a catalyst in team learning and development.

Qualifications:

• 3-4+ year of experience with data-driven analytics
• Preferred experience in financial services, risk management, internal control
• Preferred Postgraduate degree in Statistics/Mathematics/Economics/Engineering/Management
• Knowledge of risk management and key risk metrics
• Strong proven understanding of MS-Excel and Tableau. Ability to handle sophisticated data incl. unstructured data using programming languages such as SAS, SQL, Python or another similar programming language.
• Should be a person with strong analytical thinking and skills who can undertake below steps independently:
• Identify problems/opportunities at hand
• Gather information on process flows, data, systems, and related losses/events.
• Develop hypothesis to opportunities/problems identified.
• Use data analytics to prove your hypothesis, identify root cause (if applicable) and size the opportunities/problems (if applicable)
• Draw conclusion based on analysis conducted.
• Be able to solve business problems in complex and unstructured environment.
• Team player with strong communication skills, and ability to develop relationships with colleagues.
• Self-motivated with the ability to operate independently and handle multiple workstreams and ad-hoc tasks simultaneously.
• Experience compiling information and developing thoughtful material for presentation.
• Understanding of the merchant business, related regulatory landscape, and emerging trends/models is preferred.
• Knowledge of operational risk concepts and programs, balanced with the ability to drive assessment of risks against effective controls and tests.
• Proven ability to adjust quickly to shifting priorities, multiple demands, ambiguity, and rapid change.
• Problem solver and agile decision-maker with solid analytical skills.
• Technical Skills and Platform Knowledge: Expertise in MS- Excel, Tableau, HIVE, SQL and / or SAS, Python, Cornerstone
• Application of statistical techniques preferred.

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 work arrangements and schedules with hybrid and virtual options with Amex Flex
• 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

At American Express, you’ll be recognized for your contributions, leadership, and impact—every colleague has the opportunity to share in the company’s success. Together, we’ll win as a team, striving to uphold our company values and powerful backing promise to provide the world’s best customer experience every day. And we’ll do it with the utmost integrity, and in an environment where everyone is seen, heard and feels like they belong.

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.