Job Description

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, colleagues, and communities. As part of

Team Amex

, you'll experience this powerful backing through holistic well-being, continuous learning, and opportunities to grow as a leader and define the future of American Express.


We are seeking a

strategic and hands-on Director of Data Engineering

to lead the

Lumi Migration and Accelerator Engineering

initiatives, based in

Chennai, India

. This leader will drive Lumi's data modernization journey by developing automation frameworks, accelerators, and validation tools that power large-scale migrations from legacy systems to Lumi's

cloud-native (GCP) platform

. The ideal candidate combines deep engineering expertise with platform vision and strong execution capabilities to deliver automation-first, scalable, and resilient data transformation solutions.


This role will closely partner with the

Lumi Product team

on the enterprise data migration roadmap, the

UDM team

to leverage and enhance the Data Ingestion Framework (DIF), and the

Lumi Platform team

to coordinate platform-level engineering and integration efforts.

Key Responsibilities

Lead design and delivery of

Lumi data accelerators

automating migration, transformation, and validation at scale. Own the

end-to-end migration lifecycle

-- from planning and execution to validation and post-migration stabilization. Build

reusable tools, APIs, and frameworks

that standardize modernization workflows and enable self-service onboarding. Develop

automation pipelines

for metadata extraction, schema mapping, lineage, and code conversion to

GCP-native services

(BigQuery, Dataproc, Dataflow). Collaborate with

Lumi Product

,

UDM

, and

Platform

teams to ensure alignment of frameworks, governance, and platform capabilities. Define and enforce

engineering standards

for scalability, performance, and cost efficiency. Create

validation and reconciliation frameworks

ensuring accuracy, completeness, and data quality during and after migration. Integrate

data governance, lineage, and compliance controls

across all automation pipelines. Implement

observability and reliability engineering practices

using Prometheus, Grafana, or Stackdriver. Oversee

migration operations

, ensuring SLA adherence, data integrity, and proactive incident management. Define and track

KPIs/OKRs

for automation adoption, migration velocity, and operational excellence. Mentor and develop

high-performing teams

focused on automation, GCP engineering, and platform innovation. Foster a culture of

engineering excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement

across Lumi's global teams.

Minimum Qualifications

10-15 years in

Data Platform Engineering, Software Development

, or

Cloud Automation

, leading large-scale data migration or tooling initiatives. Bachelor's or Master's degree in

Computer Science, Engineering

, or a related field. Proven expertise in

automation frameworks, validation tools

, and

data migration engineering

. Strong experience with

distributed data frameworks

(Spark, Beam, Flink) and

GCP services

(BigQuery, Dataproc, Dataflow, GCS). Background in

metadata management, lineage

, and

governance integration

(Collibra, Apache Atlas, Informatica). Proficiency in

CI/CD

and

Infrastructure-as-Code

(Terraform, Jenkins, Argo, GitHub Enterprise). Solid understanding of

observability, SRE, and fault-tolerant design

for large-scale data platforms. Strong stakeholder management skills and proven ability to lead

Agile, globally distributed

engineering teams.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in

BFSI or FinTech

data modernization or cloud migration programs. Exposure to

AI/ML data pipelines

for analytics, fraud, or risk modeling. Experience implementing

FinOps

and cloud cost-optimization strategies. Knowledge of

data compliance and risk management

in enterprise environments.

GCP Professional Data Engineer

or

Cloud Architect

certification.



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

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.


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