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.
The Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) organization partners with every part of the American Express business to power the company’s growth and innovation with trust and efficiency, and drive competitive differentiation with speed. We support the delivery and operations of technology, digital, and data capabilities, platforms, and services globally. Specifically, our team is responsible for the company’s technology engineering, architecture, and infrastructure, providing 24x7 support to ensure an uninterrupted, high-quality experience for customers and colleagues. We also provide product management for core enterprise platforms, and lead technology risk and information security, enterprise data governance and platforms, digital product and design, and enterprise AI platforms on behalf of the company.
Within ETS, the Enterprise Design & Research (ED&R) team is a global team of highly talented, multi-disciplinary designers and researchers. We are highly embedded within the digital product management organization and lead design efforts from concept through to production for the largest servicing channels for American Express, across web, mobile and push.
ResponsibilitiesThe Director, Design Strategy will lead a multidisciplinary team of experience strategists, service designers, and prototypers focused on shaping the future of American Express experiences.
Working upstream of product delivery, the team will lead time-boxed discovery efforts to explore opportunities, frame complex problems, define future-state experiences, and mobilize product and design teams for execution.
This role will partner closely with Product, Technology, Research, Brand, and business leaders to turn complex opportunities into experience strategies, prototypes, and executive narratives that inform investment decisions.
Responsibilities:
- Lead and develop a multidisciplinary Design Strategy team spanning experience strategy, service design, systems thinking, and rapid prototyping.
- Lead time-boxed discovery engagements focused on emerging customer needs, business opportunities, technologies, and experience models.
- Frame ambiguous business challenges into clear customer problems, strategic hypotheses, and actionable opportunity areas.
- Develop future-state experience concepts that connect customer needs, business priorities, brand, and technology.
- Apply service design and systems thinking to understand end-to-end journeys, ecosystems, capabilities, and dependencies across products and channels.
- Use rapid prototyping and experimentation to make future experiences tangible, test hypotheses, and accelerate learning and decision-making.
- Explore the implications of emerging technologies, including AI and new interaction models, on the future customer experience.
- Create strategic narratives, experience visions, frameworks, and executive-level artifacts that simplify complexity and support senior leadership decisions.
- Facilitate strategic working sessions with senior leaders and cross-functional teams to create alignment around problems, opportunities, and future direction.
- Partner with Product, Technology, Research, Brand, and business teams to ground strategies in customer insight, business priorities, and technical possibilities. Translate discovery into experience principles, opportunity areas, prototypes, and product recommendations.
- Build a culture of curiosity, experimentation, collaboration, and customer-centered thinking while elevating the role of Design as a strategic partner across the organization.
10+ years of experience in design strategy, experience strategy, service design, product design, innovation, or a related discipline, including leadership of multidisciplinary teams.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex strategic design initiatives from ambiguous problem spaces through clearly articulated strategies, concepts, and recommendations.
- Deep expertise in strategic design, service design, systems thinking, experience strategy, or product innovation, with the ability to lead across design disciplines.
- Experience developing future-state customer experiences that span products, channels, services, and organizational boundaries.
- Strong understanding of human-centered design and the ability to connect customer insight with business strategy and technology.
- Demonstrated ability to synthesize complex information into clear, compelling strategic narratives and executive-level communications.
- Exceptional facilitation, storytelling, and communication skills, with experience influencing senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
- Proven ability to navigate ambiguity, establish direction, and mobilize teams around complex problems and emerging opportunities.
- Experience partnering closely with Product Management, Engineering, Research, Brand, and business strategy teams.
- Strong people leadership skills with demonstrated success attracting, developing, and leading high-performing multidisciplinary design talent.
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Business, Strategy, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
- 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.
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. From delivering differentiated products to providing world-class customer service, we operate with a strong risk mindset, ensuring we continue to uphold our brand promise of trust, security, and service.
As part of Team Amex, you’ll experience our 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.
About the TeamWe 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
- 6% Company Match on retirement savings plan
- Free financial coaching and financial well-being support
- Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability benefits
- Flexible working model with hybrid, onsite or virtual arrangements depending on role and business need
- 20+ weeks paid parental leave for all parents, regardless of gender, offered for pregnancy, adoption or surrogacy
- 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
For a full list of Team Amex benefits, visit our Colleague Benefits Site.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of experience in design strategy, experience strategy, service design, product design, innovation, or a related discipline
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams
- Ability to lead complex strategic design initiatives from ambiguous problem spaces through strategies, concepts, and recommendations
- Deep expertise in strategic design, service design, systems thinking, experience strategy, or product innovation
- Experience developing future-state customer experiences spanning products, channels, services, and organizational boundaries
- Strong understanding of human-centered design and ability to connect customer insight with business strategy and technology
- Ability to synthesize complex information into strategic narratives and executive-level communications
- Exceptional facilitation, storytelling, and communication skills
- Experience influencing senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders
- Ability to navigate ambiguity, establish direction, and mobilize teams around complex problems
- Experience partnering with Product Management, Engineering, Research, Brand, and business strategy teams
- Strong people leadership skills and experience attracting, developing, and leading multidisciplinary design talent
- Bachelor's or master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Business, Strategy, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
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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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage and wellness resources are broad, combining comprehensive medical, dental, and vision with mental-health support and virtual care. These offerings are cited as a core strength of the overall package.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave for all parents, backup childcare, eldercare support, and adoption or fertility assistance create a family-forward package. These resources are viewed as generous and practical for caregivers.
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Retirement Support — A competitive 401(k) match alongside options like profit sharing, stock bonuses, and pension or retirement savings plans strengthens long-term security. Retirement programs are positioned as a meaningful complement to base pay.
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.
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