Director Program Management

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

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.
Organizational Context

The Data Center Infrastructure (DCI) organization provides centralized leadership for core and regional data centers and critical technology environments. Our data centers are the foundation of American Express' technology platforms, a critical component in providing continual services to our customers while protecting their most confidential and personal information. DCI is a component of the Global Infrastructure (GI) organization. GI is comprised of Mainframe and Data Center Infrastructure, Cloud Engineering & Operations, Core Infrastructure Engineering, Data Services, Global Technology Operations, IT Service Management & Risk, and Program Management. GI works in partnership with Global Technology and Business Unit CIO teams to provide American Express with premier data center environments.
Range of Impact/Influence

Millions of customers depend on our infrastructure, we depend on you. The success of our entire company rests on our systems, networks, and people. Our Program Managers know that delivering on that promise takes a resilient, scalable and efficient Infrastructure. So if you're an authority on infrastructure and know the value of supporting technology and the people who depend on it, join our team. The best infrastructure isn't built in a day or even a year and it's certainly not built without a team. Here's just some of what you'll do: Contribute to the analysis of business, application, and infrastructure requirements. Design, build, enhance, and integrate the critical systems infrastructure required to support global technology infrastructure. Participate in bringing consistent approach to capacity monitoring, availability assessment, maintenance plans, remediation activity, and capital project execution.

We are looking for an individual to lead our Critical Technology Environments capability, joining the DCI leadership team focused on delivering consistently across the portfolio and driving the evolution, operation, and governance of AmEx's critical environments. The end-to-end ownership of engagement related to critical technology environments, and a local/regional/global financial approach that encompasses premises and technology P&Ls, will drive maximum efficiency and value. As a subject matter authority, you will be responsible for providing a comprehensive view of datacenter operational optimization initiatives and TCO of datacenter strategies, while partnering with aligned technology teams and real estate partners.

This role will be responsible for establishing a program focused on centralizing support for global critical technology processing environments and identification of operational efficiencies. As a domain authority, you will provide Leadership and expertise while contributing to infrastructure solutions that meet best in class outcomes. You will be responsible for establishing and driving standardization, solving implementation and capacity issues, direct ownership and management of DC construction/critical systems buildouts, and building strong relationships with aligned technology teams and real estate partners.
Responsibilities

In this role you will be specifically responsible for:

• Defining, implementing, and maintaining global engineering processes and procedures for Data Centers and Critical Technology Environments.
• Conducting infrastructure assessments, and ensuring outcomes are supervised, reported, and driven toward remediation.
• Providing thought leadership in the analysis and diagnosis of infrastructure issues and problems, while ensuring proper criticality during outages or system degradation.
• Ensuring adherence to quality guidelines throughout infrastructure design and selection, construction and major buildouts, implementation, and maintenance of critical systems environments.
• Aligning strategic technology roadmap discussions with lines of business, partner organizations, and other vital parties toward industry standard infrastructure methodologies.
• Providing leadership to ensure the data centers deliver critical business services with optimal cost efficiency through the prioritization, completion, and leadership of projects to budget and plan.
• Direct management of colocation contracts and 3rd party spend, i.e. premises, smarthands, etc.
• Providing strategic leadership in evaluation of long-term commercial transactions supporting wholesale lease / colocation / edge strategies.
• Coordinating roadmaps and financial alignment with lines of business, partner organizations, and other necessary parties.
• Development and evaluation of comprehensive business case option analysis.
• Assisting in the development of an overall strategic data center plan and the execution of it.

Qualified applicants are likely to possess the following background and qualifications:

• Consistent track record of integrating with Global Real Estate, Global Security Ops, and technology organizations.
• Background in DC MEP infrastructure, with engineering focus.
• Understanding of technology financial drivers within a large-scale enterprise technology organization.
• Consistent record of developing option analysis and evaluating business cases to support multi-year, multi-site modernization programs.
• Proficiency with running sophisticated P&L structures supporting major construction and DC builds.
• Commercial negotiation experience to support large scale hosting environments.
• Success leading data center infrastructure engineering and design, including establishing design requirements, defining area-specific aspects of contracts and identifying risks.
• Experience in RFP/ RFI processes for outsourced labor, datacenter premises and software ELAs.
• Active knowledge of 3rd party datacenter markets, leading vendors, current pricing models.
• Extensive professional experience in a global organization, with a successful track record in leading organizations and influencing people with an emphasis on teamwork.
• Experience managing and working with culturally diverse and geographically distributed teams
• Developed strategic solutions meeting or exceeding pre-defined quality requirements and falling within budgetary and quality parameters.
• Conceived, initiated, and led projects with widespread impact on infrastructure design, innovation, and implementation.
• Set standards for engineering design and established standard methodologies in operations. Driving process improvements across the organization.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills and the ability to create and deliver senior management messages.
• Experience defining and implementing operational metrics; facilitate a data-driven decision-making environment.
• Adept at operating in matrixed organizational constructs.
• Ability to think creatively while maintaining focus on practicality.
• Active in industry forums and standard/guideline setting organizations.

Other Requirements

• Minimum of 10 years' experience with large-scale DC operations or large-scale compute facilities.
• Experience in data center engineering, construction, and integration within a large-scale environment.
• Experience in data center management and implementation within a large-scale environment.
• Leadership experience in leading large cross-functional teams and the flexibility to influence people at a variety of levels internally and externally.
• Ability to perform risk analysis and availability calculations for colocation and next-gen data center environments.
• Understanding of MEP concepts for datacenters with an ability to financially evaluate engineering solutions to optimize cost and risk.
• Proficient support of operations including utilization, efficiency, and fail-over analysis on critical systems.
• In depth knowledge of data center technologies and associated environmental tooling and monitoring.
• Experience in evaluating datacenter outsourcing proposals and outsourced technology labor.
• Financial optimization assessments of enterprise level software, labor and third-party service agreements.
• Contractual knowledge of key terms and risk mitigation clauses for 3rd party datacenter contracts.
• Continually refine and adapt minimum requirements according to evolving business needs.
• Ability to compile and report site assessments, legacy facility upgrades, and general capital endeavors.
• Continually refine and adapt minimum requirements according to evolving business needs.
• Professional expertise and working root-cause failure analysis associated with CSE equipment failures
• Work with local agencies having jurisdiction to ensure compliance with federal, state, and municipal requirements and building codes.
• Fundamental knowledge of network design and layout.
• Strong analytical skills, organization, and decision-making skills.
• Demonstrated collegial capabilities.
• College degree in Engineering or related discipline and/or minimum 10 years of experience directly related to data center, real estate, or critical facility design/operation.
• Proactive problem diagnosis and creative problem-solving skills on highly complex problems.
• Experience with the design, construction, operation, and/or maintenance of data centers.
• Previous consultant and jurisdiction negotiation skills associated with design, construction, and project execution.
• Expertise in developing financial control views covering capital management, Work in Progress, accelerated depreciation / write-off and other financial treatments to support technology transformation initiatives.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills.
• Strong customer support and results oriented.

We back our colleagues with the support they need to thrive, professionally and personally. That's why we have Amex Flex, our enterprise working model that provides greater flexibility to colleagues while ensuring we preserve the important aspects of our unique in-person culture. Depending on role and business needs, colleagues will either work onsite, in a hybrid model (combination of in-office and virtual days) or fully virtually.

If the role you are applying for is designated as hybrid or onsite, you will be required to demonstrate that you have completed your primary COVID-19 vaccination series (i.e., 2 doses for Moderna/Pfizer and 1 dose for J&J) and, for medically eligible* colleagues, a booster shot, in order to work in or visit any of our offices. This requirement is subject to legally required accommodations.

Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the U.S. is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.

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