Manager - Grants Systems, Risk & Operations - Corporate Sustainability - job 1 of 12

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. As part of Team Amex, you'll 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. 

The American Express Corporate Affairs & Communications (CA&C) team is a strategic function that works to enhance and protect the continued strength of the American Express brand through public relations, social media and content, colleague communications and corporate sustainability (CS).

The Corporate Sustainability (CS) team is hiring a Manager, Grants Systems, Risk and Operations, to report to the Director, Sustainability and Impact Systems, Operations and Controls. This role will be responsible for management of grant making and global giving and payments systems to support the Community Impact team. The role will also support risk, controls, compliance and vendor management across the Corporate Sustainability team. This is an exciting role working with a global team and across multiple enterprise functions.

How will you make an impact in this role?

The Manager will be a member of the Systems, Operations and Controls team, which is responsible for departmental budgeting activities, financial and impact reporting, risk and compliance linked to grantmaking and sustainability processes, audit readiness, and vendor management, working across the Community Impact and Global Sustainability functions. The team works closely with multiple enterprise functions within American Express including finance, procurement, operational risk, compliance, payments and legal teams.

The ideal candidate must be a dynamic, solutions-oriented, highly organized, creative and flexible individual, with strong attention to detail and who is comfortable working with ambiguity and complexity.  The ideal candidate will have a track record of building strong relationships, leading and operating in a dynamic environment, being resourceful, and precise.

Day-to-day responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

Grant Making and Global Giving Systems

• Act as a subject matter expert in global giving and grant making software including Smart Simple and Benevity.

• Identify and project manage necessary changes to the grant system including Smart Simple software, offering insights and suggestions for enhancements, consolidating feedback across the team and making changes, or coordinating with the vendor for updates, and perform user testing as changes are executed.

• Act as a subject matter expert for the broader Community Impact team grant making processes and alignment with system requirements.

• Facilitate the completion of grant applications, grant agreement templates, and grant reports in coordination with team members including program officers, directors and VPs, engaging with GCO as needed.

Risk, Controls and Compliance

• Act as a subject matter expert for the team on risk and controls providing coordination, support and leadership as required, engaging closely with the risk and controls team. 

• Lead coordination of Process Risk Self-Assessment (PRSA) processes with input from subject-matter experts across Corporate Sustainability.

• Lead on due diligence enhancement processes including identifying and assessing risks, making relevant suggestions and leading where necessary on process changes.

• Conduct and coordinate compliance reviews for all grantmaking including Bridger scanning, GuideStar, and reviews of audited financials.

• Lead Business Self Testing processes, working with Controls and Compliance to deliver all testing materials in a timely and accurate manner, leading the response to follow up questions and outstanding items to ensure resolution.

• Support record management processes and act as a relationship manager for Iron Mountain. Ensure documents, both digital and physical, are appropriately managed.

• Identify and support processes to ensure audit readiness and support.

Vendor Management + TLM

• Lead compliant vendor management for all third-party vendors across Corporate Sustainability including onboarding, offboarding and coordination of consultants and service providers including, Smart Simple, Benevity, Watershed, etc. in collaboration with team members.

• Lead Third-Party Lifecycle Management (TLM) processes working closely with the TLM team to manage the approval processes for new or renewed third party vendors for Corporate Sustainability 

Minimum Qualifications

• 5-7 years of related experience

• Experience with grantmaking software such as Smart Simple and Benevity and ability to learn new software

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

• Experienced in Excel and other MS products with an interest in learning other systems and tools

• Self-motivated, autonomous, with an ability to lead and prioritize multiple tasks

• Proactive problem solver with an ability to collaborate to find solutions that work for multiple stakeholders

• Curious about the how and the why and willing to challenge the status quo

• Detail oriented with a compliance mindset

• Strong project management and coordination skills

• Understanding of vendor and risk management

• Deadline oriented

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with vendor management

• Experience with risk and controls

• Experience with Philanthropic processes

• Experience in a large corporate setting

Salary Range: $80,000.00 to $155,000.00 annually + bonus + benefits

The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we’ll consider your location, experience, and other job-related factors.

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

For a full list of Team Amex benefits, visit our Colleague Benefits Site.

American Express is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability status, age, or any other status protected by law. American Express will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with arrest or conviction records, in accordance with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including, but not limited to, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. For positions covered by federal and/or state banking regulations, American Express will comply with such regulations as it relates to the consideration of applicants with criminal convictions.

We back our colleagues with the support they need to thrive, professionally and personally. That's why we have Amex Flex, our enterprise working model that provides greater flexibility to colleagues while ensuring we preserve the important aspects of our unique in-person culture. Depending on role and business needs, colleagues will either work onsite, in a hybrid model (combination of in-office and virtual days) or fully virtually.

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