Director - Technologies (Phoenix)

Job ID: 26010209Posted: 2026-07-02Location: Phoenix, AZ, United States; Palo Alto, CA, United States; New York, NY, United StatesSalary: $144250 - $256250 annually + bonus + equity (if applicable) + benefitsJob Function: Engineering & ArchitectureSchedule: Full timeWorkplace: HybridCareer Area: TechnologyCompany: American ExpressDescriptionAt 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 this 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.Technology at American ExpressAs part of our diverse tech team, you can architect, code, and ship software that makes us an essential part of our customers’ digital lives. Here, you can work alongside talented engineers in an open, supportive, and inclusive environment where your voice is valued, and you make your own decisions on what tech to use to solve challenging problems. American Express offers a range of opportunities to work with the latest technologies and encourages you to support the broader engineering community through open source. And because we understand the importance of keeping your skills fresh and relevant, we give you dedicated time to invest in your professional development. Find your place in technology on #TeamAmex.About the AWS Public Cloud (Platform Services) Engineering TeamAmerican Express Enterprise Cloud Engineering team is looking for innovators to help us build world-class applications, cloud platforms, and infrastructure supported by integrated CI/CD, observability, and security capabilities.ResponsibilitiesAs the Director Software Engineering – AWS Public Cloud (Platform Services), you will define and lead the strategic vision, design, and implementation of our AWS Cloud services and platform including Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) and other AWS services related to compute, storage, serverless etc. This role requires cross-functional collaboration across engineering, cloud security, network engineering, cloud operations, FinOps and Cloud product to implement resilient, secure, scalable enterprise platforms.Lead the AWS platform engineering team to enhance the Amex EKS Platform and enable AWS native serviceswith focus on customer experience.Partner with security, architecture, SRE, and application teams to define and implement cloud best practices.Optimize AWS spend across all services including compute, storage, networking and managed services.Define and implement standardized patterns for Gen AI, AI/ML, AI OPS use cases across the public cloud.Continuously evaluate and optimize cloud infrastructure to improve reliability, efficiency, reduce costs, and maintain security posture.Partner with product team to develop and implement OKR’s and key results for AWS.Produce and present recurring executive-level reports and insights that inform senior leadership decisions.Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement within the organization.QualificationsBachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field.15+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience, including 8+ years driving Amazon Web Services (AWS) large engineering team at scale, building and managing large fleet of EKS clusters, successfully leading teams responsible for highly reliable, resilient, and enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure.Deep understanding of cloud technologies (such as AWS, Google Cloud) and experience with cloud orchestration and automation tools.Experience with DevOps practices and methodologies, including CI/CD pipelines, configuration management, and infrastructure as code.Experience with observability tools such as Prometheus, Splunk, ELK, and Dynatrace.Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot complex issues and drive resolution in a fast-paced environment.Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams and influence decision-making at all levels of the organization.Certifications such as AWS Cloud Professional Architect, Kubernetes certified professional or other relevant certifications are a plus.