Staff-Software Engineer

American Express; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Bonus incentives

Flexible working model

Job summary

American Express is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the design, evolution, and adoption of enterprise platform capabilities that enable engineering teams to build, deploy, secure, and operate software at scale. This role focuses on creating world-class developer platforms, driving engineering excellence, and shaping the future of software delivery across the enterprise.

You will mentor engineers, define technical strategy for platform engineering, and collaborate with cross-functional

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred or equivalent practical experience).
• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant experience designing distributed systems.
• Proven experience leading large-scale platform engineering or infrastructure engineering initiatives.
• Deep expertise in one or more programming languages such as Java, Go, Python, or Kotlin.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, microservices, event-driven architectures, and API design.
• Experience designing highly available, fault-tolerant cloud-native applications.
• Expertise with Kubernetes, container orchestration, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Experience building CI/CD platforms and software delivery pipelines.
• Strong understanding of Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar technologies.
• Experience implementing observability using metrics, logging, tracing, and monitoring platforms.
• Knowledge of modern authentication, authorization, secrets management, and enterprise security practices.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with demonstrated ability to influence executive and engineering leadership.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the technical vision and roadmap for enterprise platform engineering capabilities.
• Design and build scalable, resilient, secure, and highly available platform services used by hundreds of engineering teams.
• Lead architecture and implementation of developer platforms, CI/CD systems, infrastructure automation, and cloud-native services.
• Drive platform standardization, reusable engineering patterns, and self-service capabilities that improve developer productivity.
• Establish engineering best practices around software architecture, reliability, observability, security, and operational excellence.
• Lead cross-organizational technical initiatives involving multiple business units and engineering organizations.
• Provide technical leadership during architecture reviews, design discussions, and critical production incidents.
• Mentor Senior Engineers while fostering technical excellence across engineering communities.
• Partner with Product, Security, Infrastructure, and Enterprise Architecture teams to ensure platform capabilities align with business and regulatory requirements.
• Champion automation across the software development lifecycle, reducing manual effort and improving engineering velocity.
• Drive adoption of cloud-native technologies, Infrastructure as Code, container platforms, and modern deployment strategies.
• Influence technology direction through RFCs, design documents, technical standards, and engineering governance.

Skills

Java

Go

Python

Kotlin

TypeScript

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

Docker

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

Job description

Job Description

The Enterprise Technology Services organization partners with every part of the American Express business to power the company’s growth and innovation with trust and efficiency, and drive competitive differentiation with speed. We support the delivery and operations of technology, digital, and data capabilities, platforms, and services globally. Specifically, our team is responsible for the company’s technology engineering, architecture, and infrastructure, providing 24x7 support to ensure an uninterrupted, high-quality experience for customers and colleagues. We also provide product management for core enterprise platforms, and lead technology risk and information security, enterprise data governance and platforms, digital product and design, and enterprise AI platforms on behalf of the company.

Job Description

American Express is seeking an experienced Staff Software Engineer to lead the design, evolution, and adoption of enterprise platform capabilities that enable engineering teams to build, deploy, secure, and operate software at scale. This is a highly influential technical leadership role focused on creating world-class developer platforms, driving engineering excellence, and shaping the future of software delivery across the enterprise.

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will partner with engineering leaders, architects, product managers, and infrastructure teams to define the technical strategy for platform engineering while mentoring engineers and driving adoption of modern engineering practices.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the technical vision and roadmap for enterprise platform engineering capabilities.
• Design and build scalable, resilient, secure, and highly available platform services used by hundreds of engineering teams.
• Lead architecture and implementation of developer platforms, CI/CD systems, infrastructure automation, and cloud-native services.
• Drive platform standardization, reusable engineering patterns, and self-service capabilities that improve developer productivity.
• Establish engineering best practices around software architecture, reliability, observability, security, and operational excellence.
• Lead cross-organizational technical initiatives involving multiple business units and engineering organizations.
• Provide technical leadership during architecture reviews, design discussions, and critical production incidents.
• Mentor Senior Engineers while fostering technical excellence across engineering communities.
• Partner with Product, Security, Infrastructure, and Enterprise Architecture teams to ensure platform capabilities align with business and regulatory requirements.
• Champion automation across the software development lifecycle, reducing manual effort and improving engineering velocity.
• Drive adoption of cloud-native technologies, Infrastructure as Code, container platforms, and modern deployment strategies.
• Influence technology direction through RFCs, design documents, technical standards, and engineering governance.

Technical Skills

Languages

• Java
• Go
• Python
• Kotlin
• TypeScript

Cloud & Infrastructure

• AWS (preferred)
• Kubernetes
• Docker
• Terraform (Must have)
• Helm
• GitHub Actions
• Jenkins
• or similar CI/CD tools

Observability

• OpenTelemetry
• Prometheus
• Grafana
• Splunk
• Datadog

Architecture

• Distributed systems
• Event-driven architecture
• REST and gRPC APIs
• Domain-driven design
• Platform APIs

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred or equivalent practical experience).
• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant experience designing distributed systems.
• Proven experience leading large-scale platform engineering or infrastructure engineering initiatives.
• Deep expertise in one or more programming languages such as Java, Go, Python, or Kotlin.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, microservices, event-driven architectures, and API design.
• Experience designing highly available, fault-tolerant cloud-native applications.
• Expertise with Kubernetes, container orchestration, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Experience building CI/CD platforms and software delivery pipelines.
• Strong understanding of Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar technologies.
• Experience implementing observability using metrics, logging, tracing, and monitoring platforms.
• Knowledge of modern authentication, authorization, secrets management, and enterprise security practices.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with demonstrated ability to influence executive and engineering leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs).
• Experience with Backstage or similar developer portal technologies.
• Familiarity with service mesh technologies such as Istio or Linkerd.
• Experience implementing platform engineering practices aligned with DevSecOps.
• Knowledge of FinOps, platform cost optimization, and cloud governance.
• Experience operating large-scale Kubernetes platforms.
• Contributions to open-source projects or engineering communities.
• Experience working within highly regulated industries such as financial services.

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

About Us

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.

About The Team

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
• Support for financial-well-being and retirement
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability benefits (depending on location)
• Flexible working model with hybrid, onsite or virtual arrangements depending on role and business need
• Generous paid parental leave policies (depending on your location)
• 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

Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.