Director – AI Engineering, Enterprise AI Platforms

American Express

. Lead the strategy, architecture, and execution of agentic AI systems across Amex Technology .

Posted 9/25/2026full-timeUnited StatesLead💰 $144,250 - $256,250 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates extensive experience in leading the design, architecture, and execution of agentic AI systems, with a strong focus on building and managing high-performing engineering teams. Proficient in navigating complex technical decisions and delivering scalable, reliable solutions across multiple products and teams.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Agentic AI Systems LeadershipLarge-Scale Distributed SystemsEngineering Team DevelopmentTechnical Direction InfluenceAI-Assisted Development Workflows

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

LLM SystemsBackend SystemsAPIsData PipelinesCloud InfrastructureWorkflow EnginesAsync ProcessingQueuesStreaming SystemsModel Optimization

Soft Skills

CoachingMentoringNegotiationInfluencingProblem-Solving

Tools & Technologies

PythonJavaGoTypeScriptAWSGCPKubernetesKafkaPyTorchTensorFlow

Industry Keywords

FintechRegulated IndustriesOpen-Source AI ContributionsAutonomous SystemsAgentic Frameworks

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AirflowAWSCloudDistributed SystemsGoogle Cloud PlatformGRPCJavaKafkaKubernetesPythonPyTorchTensorflowTypeScriptGo

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead the strategy, architecture, and execution of agentic AI systems across Amex Technology
Build and lead high-performing engineering teams defining how agentic AI solutions are designed, built, and operated at enterprise scale
Set technical direction and establish architectural standards for reliable, scalable agentic AI platforms
Hire, develop, and manage engineering talent while cultivating strong engineering culture
Guide system design, review critical architectures, and oversee complex technical decisions across multiple teams
Partner with Product, UX, and enterprise stakeholders on the vision and roadmap for agentic AI experiences
Influence investment strategy, platform direction, and cross-team integration
Drive architecture patterns, autonomy boundaries, and system design for agentic AI initiatives
Design, build, and operate production-grade agentic AI systems used across multiple products
Own shared agentic AI capabilities including agent frameworks, orchestration, planning, tool use, memory, RAG pipelines, LLM infrastructure, inference, model gateways, evaluation, observability, and safety tooling
Lead technical design reviews and navigate tradeoffs involving autonomy, safety, reliability, scalability, and cost
Deliver cross-cutting agentic AI initiatives from concept to production
Evaluate emerging models, techniques, and agentic patterns and translate them into enterprise-ready improvements
Lead HR processes such as performance reviews and talent development
Recruit top technical talent
Lead teams in iterative product development using lean principles
Mentor senior engineers and raise the technical bar for agentic AI development

Requirements

What you’ll need

10+ years of experience building large-scale distributed systems with strong experience in LLM systems, agentic workflows, or advanced ML infrastructure
Strong experience leading and growing engineering teams through complex deliveries
History of taking projects through the entire software development lifecycle from inception to delivery as a technical leader
Experience coaching, mentoring, and developing technical professionals
Ability to lead engineering teams and negotiate or influence across organizational boundaries
Proven ownership of complex, cross-cutting agentic systems spanning multiple teams or products
Strong engineering fundamentals across backend systems, APIs, data pipelines, and cloud infrastructure
Deep experience across the agentic AI stack, including planning, tool use, memory, and evaluation
Fluency with AI-assisted and agentic development workflows
Ability to operate in ambiguous problem spaces and translate them into shipped, reliable autonomous systems
Ability to influence technical direction and align teams without formal authority
Experience in workflow engines, async processing, queues, and streaming systems
Preferred: experience building agentic systems in fintech or other regulated industries
Preferred: experience as a founding engineer or early technical leader in AI-driven products
Preferred: demonstrated success delivering technically complex autonomous systems customers actively rely on
Preferred: meaningful contributions to open-source AI or agentic frameworks
Familiarity with fine-tuning, model optimization, and inference pipelines is a plus
Comfort with Python, Java, Go, TypeScript, REST, gRPC, tRPC, AWS and/or GCP, Kubernetes, Kafka, LangGraph, LangChain, AirFlow, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel, CrewAI, PyTorch, Hugging Face, TensorFlow, Pydantic, and Zod
Visa sponsorship may be provided for certain positions depending on business unit requirements, position, cost, and applicable laws

Benefits

Comp & perks

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
Equity (if applicable)