Joining Amex Tech means discovering and shaping your contribution to something big. Here, you can work alongside talented tech teams and build a unique career with the Powerful Backing of American Express. With a range of opportunities to work with the latest technologies, and a commitment to back the broader engineering community through open source, our mission is to power your success. Because Amex Tech is powered by our technology, our culture, and our colleagues.
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At American Express, our mission is to deliver the world’s best customer experience every day. At the heart of this mission is our Information Security organization, enabling exceptional experiences built on a foundation of trust, service, and security. We leverage advanced technologies and data-driven insights to stay ahead of an evolving threat landscape. We foster a culture of passion, curiosity, and courage—empowering you to innovate, grow, and help shape the future of a Fortune 100 company.
Trust. Service. Security.
Director, Cybersecurity IAM Engineering provides leadership and guidance to senior cybersecurity colleagues, leading high-performing teams in the strategic engineering of Identity and Access Management solutions for the enterprise.
ResponsibilitiesThe Identity & Access Management (IAM) Engineering Leader is responsible for leading the strategy, architecture, delivery, and operation of enterprise IAM platforms and services. This role oversees a team of engineers responsible for identity governance and access lifecycle management. The leader partners closely with cybersecurity, infrastructure, application development, risk, compliance, and business teams to ensure secure, scalable, and user-friendly access solutions across the organization.
Key Responsibilities:
Leadership & Team Development
- Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of IAM engineers and technical specialists.
- Establish clear goals, performance expectations, and career development plans.
- Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, operational excellence, and continuous learning.
- Recruit, retain, and develop top IAM engineering talent.
IAM Strategy & Architecture
- Define and execute the enterprise IAM roadmap aligned with business and security objectives with a specific focus on transforming IAM controls and processes using Agentic AI.
- Drive modernization initiatives including Zero Trust, adaptive access controls, and cloud identity services.
- Establish IAM reference architectures and engineering best practices.
- Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends to improve security posture and user experience.
Engineering & Delivery
- Oversee design, implementation, and support of IAM platforms, specifically Identity Governance and Administration (IGA), Directory Services (Active Directory, Entra ID, LDAP), and API and agentic Identity management.
- Ensure solutions are scalable, resilient, secure, and compliant and leverage Agentic AI Technology
- Drive automation and Infrastructure-as-Code practices to improve efficiency and reduce risk.
Security & Risk Management
- Partner with Cybersecurity teams to implement strong identity controls and access governance.
- Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and internal security policies.
- Lead remediation efforts related to identity-related audit findings and security risks.
- Support incident response and investigations involving authentication or access control issues.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Collaborate with executive leadership, security teams, application owners, and business stakeholders.
- Communicate IAM strategy, risks, metrics, and program progress to senior management.
- Influence enterprise-wide adoption of identity standards and best practices.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Engineering, or related field.
- 8+ years of experience in Identity & Access Management, Cybersecurity, or Infrastructure Engineering.
- 3+ years of people leadership experience managing technical teams.
- Deep understanding of IAM concepts including authentication, authorization, federation, identity governance, and privileged access management.
- Strong understanding of cloud security and identity services across AWS, Azure, and GCP, Active Directory, RACF as well as authorization structures used within applications.
- Experience leading large-scale IAM transformations and modernization initiatives.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with DevSecOps, API security, and identity automation.
- CISSP, CISM, CIAM, CCSP, or equivalent certifications.
- Experience implementing Zero Trust security architectures.
- Knowledge of regulatory frameworks such as SOX, PCI-DSS, NIST, ISO 27001, and GDPR.
- Experience leading deployment of Agentic AI solutions for Information Security process and controls.
Depending on factors such as business unit requirements, the nature of the position, cost and applicable laws, American Express may provide visa sponsorship for certain positions.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Engineering, or a related field
- 8+ years of experience in Identity and Access Management, Cybersecurity, or Infrastructure Engineering
- 3+ years of people leadership experience managing technical teams
- Deep understanding of authentication, authorization, federation, identity governance, and privileged access management
- Strong understanding of cloud security and identity services across AWS, Azure, and GCP
- Experience with Active Directory, RACF, and application authorization structures
- Experience leading large-scale IAM transformations and modernization initiatives
- Experience with DevSecOps, API security, and identity automation
- CISSP, CISM, CIAM, CCSP, or equivalent certification
- Experience implementing Zero Trust security architectures
- Knowledge of SOX, PCI-DSS, NIST, ISO 27001, and GDPR regulatory frameworks
- Experience leading deployment of Agentic AI solutions for information security processes and controls
American Express Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about American Express and has not been reviewed or approved by American Express.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered generally solid for many, with frequent mentions of good compensation alongside strong benefits. Overall sentiment points to many employees feeling adequately paid even if it is not viewed as top-of-market.
American Express Insights
What We Do
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 striving to uphold our powerful backing promise to our customers and each other every day. These beliefs have been our North Star for 170 years as our business transformed – from helping evacuate travelers during World Wars, to ensuring the safety of our customers’ funds during the Great Depression in the U.S., to creating the Shop Small® movement to help small businesses recover from the Financial Crisis, to providing aid to communities impacted by many natural disasters and so much more. For generations, the key to our success has been the determination and resilience of our American Express colleagues. Now, as a globally integrated payments company, we work together to provide customers with access to products, insights and world-class experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Join us and let’s lead the way together.
