Senior Manager - Product Operations & Strategic Initiatives

Join Team Amex and let's lead the way together.

In U.S. Consumer Services (USCS), our product is Membership—delivering benefits and services that are essential to our Card Members across travel, dining, entertainment, and retail. We compete by providing a differentiated Membership experience that drives loyalty and long-term growth. USCS brings this to life through our premium, cobrand, cash back, and lending portfolios, Membership Rewards, Travel & Lifestyle Services, the Centurion Lounge network, Global Dining, U.S. Consumer Banking, Amex Offers, Amex Ads, and best-in-class marketing programs.

How will you make an impact in this role?

Amex Ads enables third-party brands to reach Amex Card Members through advertising on our digital properties (e.g., Amex Travel, Resy, Amex App). The Senior Manager, Product Operations & Strategic Initiatives will sit within the Amex Ads team and report to the Vice President, Amex Ads Product & Operations.

This individual will coordinate the end-to-end launch of new advertising products. In this role, you will lead cross-functional initiatives spanning Product, Technology, Legal, Compliance, Go-to-Market, Sales, and other teams, driving alignment on strategy, launch plans, timelines, responsibilities, and key decisions to ensure new products are ready to bring to market.

Beyond supporting individual launches, you will help the Amex Ads Product team scale by improving product management processes and tools, leading annual planning, managing technology budgets, overseeing relationships with third-party vendors, and developing executive presentations on product strategy and delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Initiatives & Program Management

  • Lead end-to-end execution of new advertising product launches, coordinating across Product, Technology, Legal, Compliance, Go-to-Market, Sales, and other teams to ensure products are ready to bring to market.

  • Align teams on launch strategy, plans, timelines, responsibilities, and key decisions; track dependencies, resolve issues, and maintain accountability through launch.

  • Partner closely with Control Management, Compliance, and other stakeholders to navigate governance processes and ensure new advertising products meet applicable requirements before launch.

  • Develop business cases, operating models, and processes needed to support new products and capabilities.

• Product Operations & Planning

  • Improve Product team effectiveness by standardizing key artifacts, adopting tools to streamline workflows (e.g., Jira, Airtable), and identifying opportunities to leverage AI.

  • Lead annual planning by gathering product requirements, developing overview materials for engineering teams, collecting effort estimates, and synthesizing findings for Product leadership to inform investment decisions.

  • Monitor technology spending and forecasts across delivery teams, identify budget variances, and support leadership decisions on additional funding requests and budget reallocations.

  • Manage relationships with select third-party technology vendors, ensuring commitments are met and coordinating periodic compliance reviews.

• Executive Communications

  • Develop executive presentations, business updates, performance reporting, product roadmap narratives, and strategic recommendations that clearly communicate progress, risks, and decisions needed.

  • Create materials for partner teams explaining Amex Ads products, recently launched capabilities, and the future roadmap.

Minimum Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in product operations, program management, business operations, consulting, product management, or a related field.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives, managing plans, dependencies, risks, and stakeholders.
• Exceptional attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Familiarity with product development lifecycles, including Agile methodologies and sprint planning.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to navigate ambiguity and translate complex challenges into actionable plans.
• Excellent executive communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams.
• Proficiency in PowerPoint and Excel; familiarity with project management tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence, AirTable) and AI-enabled productivity tools.
• Experience developing business cases, operating models, and scalable processes.
• Experience in digital advertising, commerce media, or advertising technology (adtech).
• Experience managing budgets, tracking forecasts, and supporting investment decisions.
• Experience managing third-party technology partners.

• Experience leading governance and compliance approval processes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing business cases, operating models, and scalable processes.
• Experience in digital advertising, commerce media, or advertising technology (adtech).
• Experience managing budgets, tracking forecasts, and supporting investment decisions.
• Experience managing third-party technology partners.
• Experience leading governance and compliance approval processes.