Global Sanctions Investigations is responsible for identifying, assessing, and resolving potential sanctions concerns escalated through enterprise screening, referral, and investigative channels. The team triages potential sanctions matches, conducts enhanced due diligence, reviews internal and external information, evaluates ownership and relationship linkages, assesses transactional activity, and determines whether customer relationships should be retained, restricted, suspended, terminated, blocked, rejected, or escalated. Through timely investigation, consistent decisioning, complete documentation, and coordination with key partners, Global Sanctions Investigations helps ensure potential sanctions risks are appropriately identified, actioned, reported, and closed in alignment with enterprise standards and regulatory expectations.
Working closely with the Global Sanctions Director, the Manager of Sanctions Investigations within Global Sanctions will be responsible for overseeing the end-to-end investigation, escalation, decisioning, and closure of potential sanctions matters. This role acts as a sanctions subject matter expert and primary decision-maker on whether to retain, restrict, suspend, terminate, or escalate customer relationships based on sanctions risk. By leading consistent investigative standards, strong documentation practices, timely regulatory escalation, and effective analyst oversight, the Manager helps ensure sanctions risks are identified, assessed, and resolved in alignment with enterprise standards and regulatory expectations.
ResponsibilitiesLead the Global Sanctions Investigations team responsible for triaging, investigating, escalating, decisioning, and closing potential sanctions matches and referrals.
Serve as a sanctions subject matter expert and primary decision-maker for escalated cases involving potential sanctions concerns, confirmed matches, risk-based exits, blocked property, rejected transactions, and related regulatory considerations.
Oversee investigation quality, ensuring analysts perform appropriate internal and external research, ownership and relationship analysis, transactional review, and risk-based decisioning.
Ensure all investigative conclusions, decision rationale, supporting evidence, case actions, and final dispositions are complete, accurate, and clearly documented to support audit, exam, and regulatory review.
Partner with General Counsel, Market Compliance, LOBCO/LECO, Enterprise Bank Servicing, GFCSU/FIU, and other stakeholders to resolve complex investigations and determine appropriate customer, account, reporting, or escalation actions.
Partner with 1LOD teams to ensure appropriate cancellation, suspension, blocking, restriction, or other customer/account actions are executed timely and accurately when supported by sanctions investigation outcomes.
Manage inventory, service-level expectations, and case aging to ensure sanctions matters are reviewed and resolved in a timely manner, with appropriate escalation for high-risk or overdue items.
Identify investigation trends, quality gaps, process issues, and training needs; develop action plans to improve consistency, critical thinking, documentation quality, and operational effectiveness.
Support regulatory reporting obligations, voluntary self-disclosure assessments, blocked property analysis, rejected transaction reviews, and other sanctions-related escalation requirements, as applicable.
Provide coaching, feedback, and development to analysts to strengthen sanctions expertise, investigative judgment, decision consistency, and performance against team objectives.
Additionally, the candidate will need to successfully manage a team of analysts responsible for sanctions investigations, ensuring work is completed accurately, consistently, and within applicable service-level expectations.
QualificationsMinimum Qualification:
- Ability to manage multiple tasks, take on additional responsibilities, and prioritize work in a deadline-intensive environment.
- Ability to work on multiple work streams across multiple business lines at the same time.
- Ability to operate in a complex matrix environment.
- Strong people-leadership skills with the ability to motivate, engage and influence.
- Support business initiatives by building and maintaining strong relationships with peers and key partners outside of the compliance organization.
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Excellent problem-solving and organizational skills.
- Excellent attention to detail.
- Strong personal integrity and work ethic.
- Strong computer knowledge; excellent MS Word, Excel, Visio, and PowerPoint skills.
- Must be self-motivated, dependable, adaptable and detail oriented with a proven ability to work independently or within a team environment.
Experience:
- 5+ years of sanctions, financial crimes, compliance, or related investigative experience.
- Experience conducting or overseeing sanctions investigations, alert adjudication, referrals, escalations, customer/account reviews, transactional analysis, or risk-based decisioning preferred.
- Experience managing investigative inventory, service-level expectations, case quality, documentation standards, and analyst performance preferred.
- Significant project, process improvement, or operational leadership experience.
- Bachelor’s degree and/or relevant professional qualification preferred (Law Degree, Compliance/AML Diploma, CAMS Certification with a Legal/Compliance/Investigations/Control/Auditing background).
Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the United States is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.
About UsAt 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
- 5+ years of sanctions, financial crimes, compliance, or related investigative experience
- Experience conducting or overseeing sanctions investigations, alert adjudication, referrals, escalations, customer/account reviews, transactional analysis, or risk-based decisioning
- Experience managing investigative inventory, service-level expectations, case quality, documentation standards, and analyst performance
- Significant project, process improvement, or operational leadership experience
- Bachelor's degree and/or relevant professional qualification (Law Degree, Compliance/AML Diploma, CAMS Certification)
- Strong computer knowledge; excellent MS Word, Excel, Visio, and PowerPoint skills
- Strong people-leadership skills with ability to motivate, engage, and influence
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to manage multiple tasks, prioritize, and work in a deadline-intensive, matrixed environment
- Authorization to work in the United States without visa sponsorship
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 — Pay is often viewed as attractive when combined with comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage that supports day-to-day needs. The benefits package is also framed as especially helpful for those supporting dependents.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits are positioned as a meaningful part of total rewards through a 401(k) plan with company matching. Financial wellness services and coaching are also highlighted as strengthening longer-term financial security.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off is repeatedly characterized as generous and a valued component of the overall package. Time off and flexibility are presented as helping the total rewards feel more complete beyond base salary.
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.
