Role Description
American Express is building the next generation of enterprise AI capabilities, and Forward Deployed Engineering will be critical to turning that vision into reality.
We are seeking an exceptional Vice President to build and lead our Forward Deployed Engineering organization, accelerating adoption of our Agentic AI Platform and delivering transformative business outcomes across the enterprise.
This leader will operate at the intersection of engineering, product innovation, and business transformation—partnering with senior executives and platform teams to translate ambitious AI opportunities into production-ready solutions at scale.
- 10+ years of engineering or technology leadership experience, with a proven track record building and scaling high-performing teams.
- Demonstrated success leading complex, enterprise-scale technology deployments and driving measurable business transformation.
- Strong technical foundation in modern software engineering, cloud platforms, distributed systems, and emerging AI technologies.
- Experience partnering with product and platform engineering organizations to bring innovative technologies into production.
- Exceptional executive presence, strategic judgment, and ability to influence across large, complex organizations.
- An entrepreneurial mindset, bias for action, and passion for building organizations that deliver exceptional results.
Preferred Experience
- Leadership experience in Forward Deployed Engineering, applied AI, customer engineering, or enterprise technology deployment.
- Familiarity with Generative AI, agentic systems, enterprise AI platforms, and modern AI development frameworks.
- Experience operating in financial services or other highly regulated environments.
What Success Looks Like
- You will build a world-class FDE organization that accelerates enterprise AI adoption, consistently delivers measurable business value, and becomes a strategic bridge between American Express business leaders and its AI platform teams.
Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the U.S is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions
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, you’ll experience our 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.
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 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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About Forward Deployed Engineering
Forward Deployed Engineers are embedded directly with customers to build custom solutions, integrate products into existing infrastructure, and bridge the gap between product engineering and customer success. The role combines deep technical skills with the ability to operate in client environments and translate business requirements into working software.
Originally pioneered by Palantir, the FDE model has spread across AI, enterprise SaaS, and cloud infrastructure companies. FDEs write production code, architect integrations, train customer teams, and feed product insights back to the core engineering organization. At companies like OpenAI, Salesforce, and Databricks, FDE teams are treated as elite engineering units that can ship custom solutions in days rather than quarters.
Typical FDE stack: Python, TypeScript, SQL, REST/GraphQL APIs, cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure), and increasingly LLM APIs and AI orchestration frameworks. Strong communication and the ability to context-switch between technical and business conversations are as important as coding ability.
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