Vice President, Engineering, API Gateways, Secure File Transfer & Agentic Platforms

Job Description

Job Description


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 core of our company is not just the products we offer, but the personal connections our customers have with our brand. You can create digital experiences - from payments to rewards to servicing - that keep us connected to our customers and serve them at every touchpoint. From digital servicing and lifestyle features to secure, frictionless payment options, you can make a meaningful difference in our customers' lives and help set us apart in the industry.


We are looking for a Vice President of Engineering to lead our API Gateways and Secure File Transfer (SFT) platforms. This role is critical to evolving how systems, services, and intelligent agents securely interact-powering high-volume, real-time, and event-driven data exchange across payments, partner integrations, and regulatory environments.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities

• Set Vision for Next-Gen Integration Platforms

• Define and execute the strategic roadmap for API Gateway, Secure File Transfer, and agentic communication platforms

• Enable secure, policy-driven interactions between services, partners, and AI/agent-based systems

• Advance American Express's transition to cloud-native, event-driven, and zero-trust architectures

• Enable Agentic Communication & Flows

• Build and scale platforms that support autonomous, multi-step workflows across APIs, events, and file-based systems

• Establish patterns for agent-to-agent and agent-to-system communication, including orchestration, state management, and observability

• Ensure governance, guardrails, and auditability for AI-driven or agentic transactions and decision flows

• Partner with AI/ML and product teams to operationalize secure, reliable agentic capabilities at enterprise scale

• Lead World-Class Engineering Teams

• Build, lead, and inspire a diverse organization of engineering leaders and engineers

• Champion a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement

• Drive talent development, succession planning, and inclusive leadership practices

• Deliver Secure, Scalable Architecture

• Oversee design and operation of highly available, low-latency, and globally distributed platforms

• Evolve API management capabilities including traffic control, authentication, authorization, and observability

• Modernize SFT capabilities across managed file transfer, encryption, orchestration, and auditability

• Champion Security, Compliance & Trust

• Embed security-by-design principles across APIs, file transfer, and agentic workflows

• Ensure compliance with standards such as PCI DSS, SOC, GDPR, and regional regulations

• Implement strong controls for identity, data protection, and agent behavior governance

• Drive Operational Excellence

• Own platform reliability with clear SLAs, SLOs, and SLIs

• Advance observability across APIs, file transfers, and agent-driven workflows

• Optimize cost, performance, and scalability across hybrid and cloud environment

• Collaborate Across the Enterprise

• Partner with Product, Cybersecurity, AI/ML, Infrastructure, and Business teams to align priorities

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on platform strategy and emerging technologies

• Engage with external partners, fintechs, and vendors as needed

Qualifications

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience with 5+ years in senior leadership roles (Director/VP)

• Proven track record leading large-scale, enterprise platform engineering teams

• Deep experience with API platforms (e.g., Apigee, Kong, AWS API Gateway, or custom solutions)

• Experience with Secure File Transfer / Managed File Transfer (MFT) systems

Technical Expertise

• Strong background in distributed systems, microservices, and cloud platforms (AWS and GCP preferred)

• Expertise in API security (OAuth2, OpenID Connect, mTLS, rate limiting, WAF)

• Knowledge of data exchange protocols (SFTP, FTPS, AS2)

• Experience with event-driven architectures, workflow orchestration, and service meshes

• Familiarity with agentic frameworks, orchestration engines, or AI-driven workflow systems (preferred but not required)

• Proficiency with DevOps, CI/CD, Kubernetes, and Infrastructure as Code

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in financial services or other highly regulated industries

• Exposure to zero-trust architectures and modern identity frameworks

• Experience enabling autonomous workflows, intelligent automation, or AI-integrated platforms

• Track record of improving developer experience and platform adoption at scale

Leadership Skills

• Enterprise mindset with a strong focus on security, resilience, and customer trust

• Ability to balance innovation (including AI/agentic systems) with risk management

• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills

• Data-driven decision maker with a bias for action and accountability

Depending on factors such as business unit requirements, the nature of the position, cost, and application laws, American Express may provide visa sponsorship for certain positions