Director, Project Process and Compliance Property Development

American Express; New York (NY); On-site; USD 130,000 - 205,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company is seeking a Process and Compliance Director to oversee the integrity and compliance of large-scale design and construction projects. This role involves developing project frameworks, ensuring governance, and maintaining adherence to compliance standards while working closely with cross-functional teams and executives.

Benefits

20+ weeks paid parental leave

Competitive base salaries

Free financial coaching

Comprehensive medical, dental, vision insurance

Flexible working model

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in real estate, engineering and project management.
• Proven experience designing project governance frameworks.
• Effective leader capable of driving cultural change.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of a comprehensive Project Delivery Framework.
• Ensure compliance with procurement and contract management processes.
• Facilitate project stage-gate reviews.

Skills

Project Governance

Risk Management

Compliance

Leadership

Strategic Thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business, or related field

Master's degree preferred

Job description

At American Express, our culture is built on a 175-year history of innovation, sharedvalues 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.

About Global Real Estate & Workplace Experience (GREWE)

Global Real Estate and Workplace Experience (GREWE) is a global team at American Express (Amex) responsible for the full lifecycle of planning, execution, and operations of Amex real estate. GREWE supports over 75,000 Amex colleagues and contractors in over eight million square feet of property located in 59 countries. Our real estate portfolio consists of large full-service campuses, office buildings, sales offices, airport lounges and data centers. The global GREWE team is comprised of ~100 Amex full time staff that leverage ~5,000 contractors and is part of the broader Global Servicing Group organization which delivers shared business services to colleagues across the enterprise. GREWE’s key priorities include:

GREWE Vision: Provide the world’s best workplace experience for every colleague, at every site, every day

GREWE Mission: Enable profitable growth by anticipating business needs and co-creating flexible, vibrant, inspiring environments at a competitive cost

Strategic Priorities:

• Portfolio: Best buildings in the best places at the most competitive costs
• Environment: Tailored spaces that inspire innovation and strengthen connections between colleagues, customers, and brand
• Hospitality: Frictionless experiences for colleagues across moments that matter
• Operations: Operational excellence to deliver enterprise value, accelerate time to market, reduce disruption, and mitigate risk

Global Leadership and Governance Responsibilities

A summary of key responsibilities include:

The Process and Compliance Director plays a critical leadership role in ensuring the integrity, consistency, and compliance of large-scale design and construction project delivery. The role will lead the development and implementation of a Project Delivery Framework (PDF), including standardized processes, tools, documentation, controls, and governance mechanisms to manage high-risk areas such as procurement, contracting, and audits.

Working closely with the VP Property Development and cross functional project teams, the Director ensures that all capital projects teams are trained and implement consistently the Project Delivery Framework and the Director stands up a robust stage-gate process to drive transparency and alignment with compliance, reporting, and audit standards.

Other deliverables include:

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive Project Delivery Framework (PDF) tailored to large-scale design and construction.Adopt and include Amex’s enterprise project governance and execution framework.
• Lead the definition and deployment of process controls and compliance requirements related to the full lifecycle of the project with a focus on high-risk areas including but not limits procurement, contract management, change management, and audit trails.
• Establish internal assurance and readiness reviews at key project milestones developing tools, templates and training to implement and govern.
• Develop standards for documentation, reporting, and data management to ensure traceability and transparency
• Explore and support the assessment and implementation of project management applications to support process and governance.
• Design and roll out stage-gate methodology, ensuring consistent quality control and decision-making criteria at each phase of the project.
• Facilitate these stage gate reviews with GREWE leadership and project teams.
• Collaborate with Engineering & Design, Construction, and Finance Leads to ensure all functional areas align with the overall governance model.
• Provide training and guidance to project managers and team members on the proper use of frameworks, templates, and control tools.
• Monitor adherence to approved processes including Archer and Process Risk Self Assessment: methodology used to identify, assess, document risks & Controls to mitigate operational risk. Providing escalation support and corrective action plans when noncompliance is detected.
• Serve as primary liaison with audit, legal, and compliance teams during internal and external reviews.
• Facilitate cross-functional working groups to continually improve and update process standards.

Executive Engagements

This role will have frequent interaction with the SVP of GREWE.This leader will demonstrate the ability to interact with senior executives with ease, and also dive deep into details when necessary, interacting with project team members at all levels.The role is expected to frequently present to the GREWE SVP.

Major Duties & Responsibilities

In order of importance, briefly describe, in sentence form, the essential functions/major responsibilities of this position (principal duties and responsibilities of the position) as it exists today.Describe the job, not the person in the job.Each item listed below should be an essential function/major responsibility of the position, not a day-to-day activity.

• Develop initial compliance plan and risk register
• Define high-level stage gate criteria and required approvals
• Ensure preliminary cost and procurement strategy reviews
• Finalize project-specific process controls
• Implement document management and reporting structures and identification of applications, tools to enhance contorl
• Conduct procurement and contracting compliance setup
• Support contract risk assessments
• Confirm all stage-gate criteria are met before progression
• Implement supplier onboarding controls
• Lead readiness reviews for audit and procurement compliance
• Conduct routine compliance audits (e.g., cost tracking, change orders, procurement)
• Oversee data integrity checks for reporting and dashboards
• Adhere to Archer & PSRA in compliance with AMEX risk approach
• Monitor contract administration and control adherence
• Ensure final audit and compliance documentation is complete
• Validate closeout documentation per standards
• Support lessons learned capture
• Lead post-project compliance and business value realization assessment
• Update process documents and stage-gate tools based on feedback and findings
• Report on performance KPIs and compliance metrics

Minimum Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in real estate, engineering and project management on large-scale capital projects; at least 5 years in a senior leadership capacity.
• Proven experience designing and implementing stage-gate or project governance frameworks.
• In-depth knowledge of construction procurement, contract administration, and audit practices.
• Effective leader and influencer with the ability to work cross-functionally and drive cultural change.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, with a strong sense of accountability.
• Strategic, analytical mindset with a hands-on approach to problem-solving.
• Deep commitment to ethical, transparent, and compliant project delivery.
• People Leadership experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business, or related field.; Master's degree preferred
• Industry experience in Construction Management, and or Finance
• Proficiency in Project Management and reporting platforms (e.g., Primavera, Power BI, SAP/ERP).

Salary Range: $130,000.00 to $205,000.00 annually + bonus + equity (if applicable) + 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 U.S. is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for this position.