Vice President, Engineering, SDLC AI Enablement or AI-DLC Enablement

Company: American Express
Location: Phoenix
Posted on: February 26, 2026

Job Description:

American Express invites you to share your resume so you can be considered for future Agentic AI opportunities in the Enterprise Technology Services organization. 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, youll 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. If you are energized by leading transformative change and shaping the future of how software is built, governed, and scaled across a global technology organization, this role offers a unique opportunity to make enterprise wide impact. You will drive the modernization of our Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) by embedding AI augmented capabilities, strengthening governance frameworks, and enabling efficient, compliant, and developer friendly delivery at scale. We are seeking a Vice President, SDLC AI Enablement who will serve as a strategic and hands on leader responsible for reimagining how engineering teams design, build, test, and deploy software. You will champion the adoption of intelligent automation, GenAI driven tooling, agentic frameworks and advanced control mechanisms to elevate SDLC maturity, accelerate delivery, and proactively reduce risk across the technology ecosystem. In this role within American Express Technology, you will work across AI experts, engineering, risk, compliance, and product teams to define the next generation of AI-augmented developer experience and SDLC. Your mandate includes driving productivity and developer satisfaction, optimizing processes for scale, and innovating the SDLC through AI powered insights and automation, while also strengthening risk and meeting regulatory requirements. This position reports into senior Technology leadership and serves as a critical partner in our modernization and regulatory alignment agenda. Key Responsibilities: • Drive AI enabled transformation of the end to end SDLC, optimizing how software is designed, built, tested, and released to accelerate delivery while strengthening quality and compliance. o Lead the enterprise toward a unified, AI optimized SDLC by standardizing developer tools, frameworks, and CI/CD capabilities—ensuring governance at scale while maintaining a frictionless, high productivity developer experience. o Strengthen security, compliance, and risk management across the SDLC by embedding AI enabled control frameworks that elevate software development excellence including institutionalizing structured, AI augmented toll gate models (Plan, Permit, Build, Operate, Execute) to drive consistency and quality. o Assess and deploy next generation AI based tools and automation capabilities that enhance engineering productivity across the SDLC. o Lead enterprise wide adoption of AI solutions across the Software Development Lifecycle, guiding change management, and fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation. o Be on the frontier of designing and building software that keeps pace with innovations in agentic commerce, orchestration, open-source frameworks, and the demand of scaling out internal agentic and Gen AI use-cases at Amex. o Drive Architecture best practice and lean Architecture governance that enables Gen AI and agentic workflows at scale o Build Foundational technology components to enable scaled integration of AI capabilities into new and existing ecosystem o Be a thought-leader and influencer bringing expertise on best-practices for fast-evolving technology ecosystem, as we engage with partners and internal stakeholders on adoption o Partner with the senior technology, AI, engineering, infrastructure, and risk leaders to drive firmwide adoption of modern SDLC standards and AI best practices, ensuring alignment, transparency, and sustained cultural change. Qualifications : • Masters in a quantitative field (Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, Operation Research, etc.) with hands-on experience leveraging sophisticated analytical and machine learning techniques. • 10 years of experience in SDLC and ML-Ops, developing and tuning machine learning algorithms for scalable and performant models • 7 year experience in leading the development of Data Science or AI platforms and use-cases • Experience working with machine learning/statistical algorithms to build performant applications • Experience working with Agentic AI Frameworks, and building platforms that enable Gen AI and agentic workflows at scale. • Demonstrated ability to frame business problems into mathematical programming problems, leverage external thinking and tools (from academia and/or other industries) to engineer a solution and deliver business insights. • Sound analytical thinker with a proven track record of providing actionable insights and clear strategic direction • Ability to convey complex, technical subject matter in a clear and straightforward manner; demonstrated ability to effectively communicate through written and oral presentations with all levels of the organization • Solid project management skills with the ability to juggle multiple priorities simultaneously in a fast-paced environment • Capable of collaborating on innovation or open source while producing IP such as architectural patterns, patents, Journal and/or Conference publications • Ability to train, mentor, and develop others Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the U.S is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions 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

Keywords: American Express, Avondale , Vice President, Engineering, SDLC AI Enablement or AI-DLC Enablement, IT / Software / Systems , Phoenix, Arizona