Governance Manager

The Enterprise Technology Services 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. Are you a governance, risk, and process-oriented leader who enjoys solving complex problems? Do you bring curiosity, sound judgment, and a bias for action to support business change? Are you comfortable operating across legal entity, regulatory, and M&A integration environments? Then you could be the candidate we are looking for. Who We Are At our company, we believe success is built through strong collaboration, disciplined governance, and effective risk management. Our ICST team partners closely with Business, Legal Entity, Risk, Compliance, Technology, and functional stakeholders to drive innovation while ensuring new and existing entities are supported in line with AXP governance standards, regulatory expectations, and business priorities. This role will support governance for a newly acquired entity along with other existing Legal Entities/Joint Ventures, helping establish and embed effective post-integration oversight, legal entity governance routines, risk and regulatory controls, and business process improvements. The successful candidate will partner across AXP and the entities to define scope, identify key risks and dependencies, support documentation and control readiness, and drive practical solutions that enable a smooth transition into ongoing business-as-usual governance. Role Description The Governance Manager will support the establishment and ongoing management of governance, oversight, and operating processes for existing legal entities as well as any newly acquired Legal entity. The role will help translate M&A integration requirements into sustainable business-as-usual governance routines, ensuring alignment with AXP Legal Entity Governance, Risk Governance, Compliance, Third-Party Risk, and applicable regulatory expectations. This individual will manage documentation, governance forums, issue tracking, risk and dependency management, and process improvement activities to support effective post-close integration and ongoing entity oversight. Support the design, implementation, and ongoing operation of an effective Legal Entity Governance framework for the acquired entity, aligned with AXP Governance Standards and local regulatory requirements. Ensure governance routines are streamlined, clearly documented, and able to support business processes, change management, risk identification, control design, issue management, and PRSA/RCSA-related requirements. Support sound execution of Third-Party Lifecycle Management (TLM) and outsourcing governance for the acquired entity, including vendor risk assessments, issue closure, ongoing monitoring, and adherence to AXP third-party risk requirements. Partner with M&A, Business, Risk, Compliance, Technology, Legal Entity, and functional teams to define and deliver post-close governance, integration milestones, exit criteria, and transition-to-BAU requirements. Identify, track, and escalate integration risks, dependencies, issues, and decisions through appropriate governance forums, ensuring timely resolution and clear ownership. Develop, implement, and continuously improve business processes that support effective governance, regulatory oversight, control readiness, and sustainable operating practices for all legal entities Prepare governance materials, status updates, risk summaries, and decision papers for senior management, legal entity committees, and cross-functional stakeholders. Lead cross-functional working groups to align expectations, drive accountability, and ensure successful delivery of governance and integration outcomes. Create and maintain tools, trackers, process documentation, and governance artifacts that support consistent, standardized, and accurate oversight across the acquired entity and relevant AXP teams. Experience in M&A integration, post-close governance, legal entity governance, operational excellence, compliance, operational risk, or regulatory oversight; experience across more than one of these disciplines is preferred. Strong understanding of governance frameworks, risk and control management, issue management, PRSA/RCSA methodologies, and control testing expectations. Experience supporting regulated entities, acquired entities, or complex business transformation initiatives with multiple stakeholders and dependencies. Experience in business process improvement, control design, documentation, governance routines, and development of practical operating models. Knowledge of issuer products, processes, legal entity requirements, and AXP governance standards is desirable. Demonstrated ability to partner with a broad network of colleagues to drive effective issue identification, risk mitigation, and resolution across the three lines of defense. Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build trusted relationships across Business, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Technology, Finance, and functional teams. Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing materials for senior management and governance committees. Curious and improvement-minded, with a desire to understand industry best practices, regulatory expectations, and creative solutions that improve governance outcomes. Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, fluid business environment and manage ambiguity with structure, judgment, and urgency. Skills M&A Integration Governance Post-Integration Governance and Transition to BAU Legal Entity Governance Risk and Regulatory Oversight PRSA/RCSA and Control Management Third-Party Lifecycle Management / Outsourcing Governance Business Process Improvement Issue, Risk, Action, and Dependency Management Stakeholder and Committee Management Senior Management Communication Project / Program Management Non-considerations for sponsorship: Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the UK is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.