Vice President of Customer Acquisition Technology

Digital Customer Acquisition is a core strategic focus for American Express and a critical driver of long-term, sustainable growth. American Express is transforming how customers discover, apply for, and onboard to its products by building intelligent, scalable, and secure digital platforms that deliver exceptional experiences while maintaining the highest standards of trust, reliability, and compliance.

The Vice President of Customer Acquisition Technology will define and lead the global technology strategy for all customer acquisition platforms, spanning card and non-card products, including credit and charge cards, personal loans, savings, and checking products. This role owns the end-to-end acquisition technology ecosystem across Consumer, Small Business, and Corporate segments, ensuring platforms are modern, resilient, and extensible across geographies. As such, we are targeting candidates who have specific experience in card approvals/authorizations, card-based applications or banking operations. 

As a senior technology executive, this leader will drive enterprise-wide modernization through cloud-native architectures, agentic AI systems, and large language models (LLMs) to enable adaptive, personalized, and data-driven acquisition journeys. The role partners closely with executive leadership across Product, Marketing, Risk, Analytics, Finance, and Operations to align technology investments with growth objectives, regulatory requirements, and long-term platform sustainability.

Technology Strategy & Architecture

• Define and execute the end-to-end technology vision for customer acquisition platforms, from digital application experiences through onboarding, orchestration, and post-acquisition enablement.

• Lead modernization across acquisition platforms for different segments, ensuring reusable, scalable, and segment-agnostic capabilities where appropriate.

• Modernize Java-based backend systems and React-based front-end applications, evolving legacy platforms into microservices and micro-frontend architectures.

• Architect highly available, fault-tolerant, and globally scalable systems that meet enterprise standards for performance, security, data integrity, and cost efficiency.

• Drive adoption of cloud-native, API-first, and event-driven architectures across the acquisition ecosystem.

AI, Automation & Intelligent Platforms

• Champion the use of agentic AI, large language models (LLMs), and intelligent automation to enhance acquisition experiences, decisioning, fraud prevention, and operational efficiency across all product lines.

• Partner with data science and analytics teams to embed AI-driven personalization, orchestration, and real-time decisioning into card and non-card acquisition workflows.

• Establish governance and responsible-AI practices that meet regulatory, risk, and compliance standards across global markets.

Engineering Excellence & Delivery

• Lead multiple global engineering organizations, fostering a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement.

• Define and track engineering KPIs across delivery velocity, quality, availability, security, data management, and cost optimization.

• Set standards for software development, automated testing, CI/CD, DevOps, and site reliability engineering (SRE).

• Drive continuous improvement to accelerate time-to-market while maintaining enterprise-grade quality and stability.

Talent & Leadership

• Build, scale, and retain high-performing, diverse engineering teams in competitive global markets.

• Develop senior engineering leaders through coaching, mentorship, and succession planning.

• Foster a culture of innovation, learning, and collaboration across distributed teams.

Business & Stakeholder Partnership

• Partner with Product, Marketing, Risk, Compliance, Finance, and Operations leaders across card and non-card businesses to align technology strategy with growth priorities.

• Communicate technology strategy, trade-offs, and delivery roadmaps clearly to executive leadership.

• Ensure acquisition platforms meet security, privacy, regulatory, and risk management standards across Consumer, Small Business, and Corporate segments

• 15+ years of progressive experience delivering large-scale, distributed enterprise systems, including senior engineering leadership roles supporting card approvals/authorizations, card-based applications or banking operations. 

• Deep hands-on experience building Java-based backend services and modern React-based front-end applications at scale.

• Strong expertise in microservices architectures, distributed systems, and enterprise API design.

• Proven experience leading application modernization initiatives, including modernizing legacy and mainframe-based systems to Java-based, cloud-native architectures.

• Demonstrated experience with Pega platforms, including modernizing or migrating Pega-based workflows and orchestration to modern Java microservices.

• Proven experience designing and operating high-availability, fault-tolerant, cloud-native platforms.

• Experience leading global engineering teams in complex, regulated environments.

• Demonstrated ability to translate business strategy into executable technology roadmaps across multiple product lines.

• Strong understanding of Agile delivery, DevOps, CI/CD, and modern engineering practices.

• Experience integrating AI/ML capabilities, including LLMs, into production platforms.

• Proven ability to hire, develop, and retain top engineering talent.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience using AI-assisted or AI-driven code modernization, including the use of LLMs or model-based tooling to accelerate refactoring, migration, and testing.

• Experience modernizing mainframe and BPM-based platforms (including Pega) into Java microservices and cloud-native architectures.

• Experience with agentic AI systems, LLM orchestration, and intelligent workflow automation.

• Familiarity with event-driven architectures, distributed caching, and modern data platforms.

• Experience in financial services, fintech, or regulated consumer banking environments, including card, lending, and deposit products.

• Strong understanding of risk, compliance, security, and data governance at enterprise scale.

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.

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

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.

We 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.