Senior Manager, Third Party Strategic Initiatives

For Amex to be "Welcomed Everywhere and Used Every Day", we collaborate with teams across Merchant Services to help build unique experiences for merchants through effective client management, third-party acquiring partnerships, world-class analytics, promotions and marketing initiatives. The team partners closely with senior business leaders and plays a key role in strengthening the U.S. Merchant value proposition. Leveraging analytics and insights and combining that with product and industry expertise, the team delivers data driven recommendations and builds strategies to drive acceptance, coverage, acquisition, retention and satisfaction of Merchants.

With a focus on Merchant Services US profitably retaining and growing a high value portfolio of over 35M Merchants that collectively deliver $1.3T in annual charge volume, this role represents a unique opportunity to be the analytics expert yet collaborate closely with business colleagues to drive the growth strategies. The person will have the opportunity to influence the overall strategy of the organization and occasionally adopt the hat of a consultant.

Responsibilities

• Owning Strategic Initiatives across Third Party Partner (TPP) space: Identify, scope, and lead high-impact initiatives that drive partner growth, optimize acquisition strategy and drive coverage

• Shaping and Influencing Business Strategy: Partner with US Partnerships leadership to define where to play and how to win—using data-driven insights to influence investment decisions and strategic priorities.

• Acting as a consultative Thought Partner: Engage senior stakeholders as a trusted advisor, bringing structured thinking, challenging assumptions, and providing clear, actionable recommendations.

• Translating Insights into Strategic Action: Use Insights to uncover opportunities in merchant and partner behavior, and convert those insights into tangible business actions and initiatives

• Defining and Evolving Performance Frameworks: Establish KPIs and measurement approaches that not only track performance but inform planning, forecasting and strategic decision-making across the TPP landscape.

• Driving Cross-Functional Execution: Work across GMNS: Technology, pricing, finance, data science, and external partners to align on priorities and ensure successful delivery of strategic initiatives

• Advancing Data Driven Decision Making: Champion the use of advanced analytics, big data, and machine learning to enhance how decisions are made—integrating structured and unstructured data to unlock new value.

Qualifications

• 5–8+ years of experience in strategy, consulting, analytics, or business operations with demonstrated impact on business outcomes

• Strong consultative and strategic mindset with the ability to structure ambiguity and influence decisions

• Exceptional storytelling and communication skills, with the ability to distill complex data into concise, impactful narratives tailored for senior executive audiences

• Experience working with senior stakeholders and driving alignment without direct authority

• Analytical fluency (SQL, Python, Big Query, Tableau, etc.) with the ability to translate data into business strategy

• Proven ability to lead initiatives end-to-end in a matrixed, fast-paced environment

Preferred:

• Master’s degree in quantitative or business discipline preferred

• Financial Services, Banking or Consulting experience would be highly advantageous

Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the United States is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.