Senior Manager - Application Security Research

American Express; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

American Express is seeking a highly technical Senior Manager of Application Security Research to advance vulnerability discovery and threat analysis across applications, APIs, AI/ML, and emerging tech. You will lead security research, mentor staff, and collaborate with SOC and engineering teams to protect the enterprise.

The role requires hands-on expertise in reverse engineering, secure code review, and incident response, with a focus on translating findings into actionable security

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, IS, cyber or equivalent; advanced degree preferred.
• Knowledge of regulatory compliance and security standards.
• Experience in cybersecurity operations and application security.
• Experience with SCA/SAST/DAST/MAST/API security.
• Experience with cloud security and threat intelligence.

Responsibilities

• Monitor application security systems for threats and vulnerabilities.
• Manage app security platforms and ensure robust protection.
• Lead adoption of new security tech and best practices within the team.
• Oversee vulnerability management and remediation prioritization.
• Develop and maintain security policies, standards and procedures.
• Collaborate with product and business teams to align tech initiatives with business goals.

Skills

Regulatory compliance

Cybersecurity operations

AI-enabled security

Vulnerability research

Secure code review

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / Cybersecurity

Tools

Nessus

Qualys

Rapid7

Burp Suite

Wireshark

Metasploit

Job description

Job Description Joining Amex Tech means discovering and shaping your contribution to something big. Here, you can work alongside talented tech teams and build a unique career with the Powerful Backing of American Express. With a range of opportunities to work with the latest technologies, and a commitment to back the broader engineering community through open source, our mission is to power your success. Because Amex Tech is powered by our technology, our culture, and our colleagues.

Job Description Joining Amex Tech means discovering and shaping your contribution to something big. Here, you can work alongside talented tech teams and build a unique career with the Powerful Backing of American Express. With a range of opportunities to work with the latest technologies, and a commitment to back the broader engineering community through open source, our mission is to power your success. Because Amex Tech is powered by our technology, our culture, and our colleagues. The Technology organization enables and accelerates the company’s growth strategies, delivering global capabilities and services in support of Amex’s customers and colleagues, while maintaining 24/7 servicing and availability to ensure an uninterrupted, high-quality customer experience. Technology provides the foundation for everything we do in the company while driving differentiation through building and leveraging innovative technology and data insights. At American Express, our mission is to deliver the world’s best customer experience every day. At the heart of this mission is our Information Security organization, enabling exceptional experiences built on a foundation of trust, service, and security. We leverage advanced technologies and data-driven insights to stay ahead of an evolving threat landscape. We foster a culture of passion, curiosity, and courage—empowering you to innovate, grow, and help shape the future of a Fortune 100 company. Trust. Service. Security. American Express is seeking a highly technical and innovative Senior Manager of Application Security Research to help advance our application security research, vulnerability discovery, and threat analysis capabilities. Reporting to the Director of Application Security, this role will lead and actively contribute to advanced security research focused on identifying, analyzing, and mitigating vulnerabilities across applications, software components, APIs, AI/ML, and emerging technologies. The ideal candidate combines deep hands‑on expertise in reverse engineering, vulnerability research, secure code review, and software engineering with the ability to translate technical discoveries into actionable security intelligence. This position works closely with the American Express Fusion Center, Security Operations Center (SOC), Cyber Threat Intelligence, Incident Response, and engineering teams to identify emerging threats, develop indicators of compromise (IoCs), improve detection capabilities, and proactively protect American Express against sophisticated cyber threats. This is a hands‑on technical leadership position requiring strong research capabilities, engineering expertise, and the ability to investigate complex security challenges independently while guiding others.

Responsibilities

• Monitors application security systems to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities, ensuring timely detection and prevention of software security defects
• Manages application security platforms and processes, serving as a subject matter expert to ensure robust protection and compliance with industry standards
• Promotes the adoption of best practices, new technologies, and innovative solutions within the team, fostering continuous improvement and a culture of excellence
• Oversees vulnerability management and/or application security testing to ensure remediation priorities align with organizational risk management strategies
• Oversees development, implementation, and maintenance of security policies, procedures, and standards to ensure compliance with industry best practices and regulatory requirements
• Plans event response efforts and ensures thorough investigation measures, remediation, and communication with stakeholders
• Contributes to the development and continuous improvement of the organization's application security program, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and business objectives set by senior leadership
• Supports the onboarding of new products, data, processes, or tools by identifying requirements and integrating them into operations (processes, playbooks, and training)
• Conducts and manages periodic security assessments and audits to identify vulnerabilities and risks and develop mitigation strategies
• Provides strategic recommendations to senior leadership to align on key security objectives, policies and integration of security measures into business processes
• Provides key inputs on creating security training programs, provides gap analysis and suggested learning interventions to increase awareness in application security best practices
• Writes, reviews, and directs colleagues on publishing reports / dashboards / documentation on application security events, findings, and recommendations for improvements, providing valuable insights for management and stakeholders
• May or may not oversee and mentor a team of Cybersecurity Operations & Assurance colleagues, enabling a culture of continuous learning, growth opportunities, and inclusivity for individual colleagues and teams through mentoring, feedback, and metrics, and ensuring adherence to best practices and standards
• May or may not provide direct leadership and coaching to Cybersecurity Operations & Assurance teams, supporting training and development of best practices
• May or may not manage resource allocation, project timeline, and budget for projects, ensuring alignment with organizational goals
• May or may not collaborate with senior leadership to hire top talent for the team, ensuring a high-functioning and cohesive unit, implementing strategies for talent retention and professional development
• Collaborates and co-creates effectively with teams in product and the business to align technology initiatives with business objective
• Leads adoption of AI-enabled cybersecurity operations capabilities to improve threat detection, incident response efficiency, vulnerability prioritization, and operational decision-making across security processes, while ensuring appropriate validation of AI-generated outputs before operational use
• Leverages AI-assisted analytics, threat intelligence, and workflow automation tools to enhance security monitoring, threat hunting, reporting, and remediation activities while maintaining appropriate governance and oversight, and validation of AI-generated findings, recommendations, and decisions
• Provides guidance on the secure and responsible use of AI-enabled technologies within cybersecurity operations, including expectations for validating AI-generated outputs, ensuring alignment with organizational policies, regulatory requirements, and risk management strategies
• Establishes and promotes effective Prompt Design practices across the team, guiding colleagues in the use of structured prompts to improve threat detection, incident response, operational reporting, threat intelligence analysis, and cybersecurity workflow efficiency while ensuring appropriate human oversight and validation

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, and/or comparable experience; advanced degree preferred
• Knowledge of regulatory compliance and security standards
• Knowledge of Identity & Access Management
• Knowledge of Security Architecture Management
• Knowledge of Security Governance and Operations
• Knowledge of Security Testing & Remediation
• Knowledge of Cloud Security Management
• Knowledge of Data Privacy & Protection (DPP, GDPR)
• Knowledge of AI-enabled cybersecurity operations platforms, automated threat detection techniques, and AI-assisted security analytics capabilities
• Understanding of AI security risks, responsible AI governance principles, and the operational implications of AI-enabled technologies within cybersecurity environments
• Experience in cybersecurity operations and application security
• Experience in Technical Writing and Documentation Development
• Experience with SCA/SAST/DAST/MAST/API Security
• Experience in network security, understanding of network security principles, including firewalls, VPNs, and network segmentation
• Experience in vulnerability scanning tools (e.g., Nessus, Qualys, Rapid7) and remediation processes
• Experience with penetration testing using industry-standard tools (e.g., Burp Suite, Wireshark, Metasploit, SQL map) for ongoing monitoring and compliance
• Experience in working on incident response efforts, including forensic analysis, malware analysis, and threat hunting
• Experience in securing cloud environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and implementing cloud security best practices
• Experience in regulatory requirements and standards (e.g., PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, NIST) and their application in cybersecurity operations
• Experience in Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery
• At least one security related certification preferred like: GCPN, GWEB, GMOB, GOAA, GPEN, GWAT, GPEN, GXPN, GREM, CEH, C|ASE .NET, C|ASE Java, OSCP, OSWA, OSWE, CSSLP, other

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