Senior Auditor (FinCrime)

About the Internal Audit Group at American Express 

Our Internal Audit Group is a worldwide function with 300+ team members and offices across nine countries within American Express. Our mission is to protect and enhance organizational value by providing independent, objective, risk-based assurance, advisory services and to influence the way the company manages risk.

We are committed to growing our audit staff significantly as we continue to expand and enhance the Internal Audit Group. Our assurance and risk professionals have diverse backgrounds including internal controls, consumer compliance, technology, operational risk, financial accounting, data analytics, and banking operations. Our audit teams align to key risk areas and business units to ensure IAG can provide comprehensive and risk-based audit coverage. In addition, IAG has a Professional Practices group responsible for managing audit operations, quality, and standards; regulatory relations; reporting; training and professional development; and key internal capabilities and technologies.

About the Role

Our Internal Audit group is seeking a Senior Auditor to assess compliance, operational, financial, and technological risks, ensure compliance with regulations (eg. Bank secrecy act, AML, US related financial crimes regulations), and improve internal controls. The ideal candidate will have strong problem-solving skills, excellent attention to detail, and the ability to utilize effective challenge when conducting audit work.

Key Responsibilities

• Participate as a key team member on audit projects, independently owning audit tasks such as documenting processes under review, developing workpapers, and executing audit tests in accordance with policies and procedures
• Assist Senior Managers / Managers in the execution of assigned audit tasks in line with American Express' Internal Audit procedures, internal policies and standards, and regulatory expectations throughout the audit lifecycle with guidance; maintain audit proficiency through ongoing professional development, including data analytics literacy skills, technology, and banking best practices
• Review prior audit results and relevant business monitoring materials to support Audit Planning activities; executes and actively participates in walkthroughs by asking thoughtful questions, leveraging effective challenge and critical thinking
• Execute audit tests (e.g., process, governance, oversight testing) and clearly document test results in accordance with internal policies and procedures to evaluate the control design and effectiveness; draft work papers, demonstrating the ability to use automated work papers and other department and company tools
• Identify and escalate issues as appropriate throughout testing and audit execution; draft audit issue documentation
• Develop an understanding of American Express' business model, products, services, and organizational units
• Document and evaluate audit observations and findings; support routine client status meetings, audit request, and other administrative tasks
• Understand how corrective actions / Management Action Plans (MAPs) are impactful and sustainable; execute validation of MAPs
• Communicate task status, roadblocks, challenges, and potential solutions to Senior Managers/Managers and leadership as appropriate
• Demonstrate ability to work proactively and take initiative on next steps
• Provide guidance to staff auditors and review and provide feedback on work as appropriate
• Understand how to draft test steps, audit findings, and the audit report and drafts as needed with guidance

Minimum Qualifications

Candidate should have prior experience of working in Financial Crime and an understanding of emerging regulations and their impact on control practices.

• 5+ years of audit experience
• Prior experience working at a Big Four / G-SIB
• Demonstrates strong written and verbal communication skills to deliver deliverables with quality
• Works independently, within the team and across various teams in a fast-paced environment to drive business results, employing creative thinking, and the ability to work on competing priorities
• Learns how to break-down problems into components, and solve using data analysis, process, risk control knowledge, and experience to drive risk-based conclusions and decisions
• Develops knowledge and experience in applying control theory and professional auditing practices throughout the audit lifecycle
• Develops understanding of regulations, regulatory risks, accounting, and financial industry best practices, including technology and data implications

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with data analytic tools, data visualization, key risk indicators (KRIs), key performance indicators (KPIs), information systems / technology, and scorecards / dashboards, etc.
• Interest in working with data, interpreting results, analytic best practices and experience with data analytics tools and data visualization.
• Experience with Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365 Copilot extensibility, OpenAI APIs, custom GPT platforms, agent frameworks, or comparable generative AI development tools.